Dundee manager Barry Smith blamed himself for the defeat that all but confirmed the Dark Blues will miss out on promotion to the SPL.
The Dark Blues crashed to a 3-1 loss to Hamilton at New Douglas Park, failing to capitalise on a Ryan Conroy penalty goal after half-an-hour. Mark McLaughlin, Jon McShane and Mark Stewart all subsequently found the target for Accies.
Smith shouldered all the responsibility for a result that makes life even easier for First Division leaders Ross County, who have a commanding 15-point lead at the top of the table with only eight matches left for them and Dundee.
”I will take the blame for it,” said Smith. ”Probably our preparation for the game wasn’t what it normally is and I maybe changed things during the game a bit early. So I will take the blame for the result.”
He added: ”The boys were in training but maybe we should have done other things towards the game.”
As for the penalty award, which gifted them the opener but seemed harsh on Hamilton, he said: ”It has been given. You take it if it comes your way. The referee has made the decision and you just get on with it.”
Smith conceded that Dundee didn’t seem to get a boost from taking the lead.
“I said to the players that the whole thing was flat,” he added. ”It is disappointing because the boys are better than that.
”It is also frustrating because we had such a good performance against Morton on Saturday. But, as I say, I take full responsibility for it.”
Smith was asked if he would now agree that the title is beyond them.
He replied: ”We don’t speak about promotion. We did speak about how (before going to Morton and winning) we wanted to win the last 10 games of the season.
”We can’t do that now but we will continue to try to win every game between now and the end of the season.”
Accies boss Billy Reid was delighted with the victory but not so pleased with ref Alan Muir’s penalty award.
”Sometimes referees make mistakes and that was a mistake but thankfully it has not affected the outcome of the game,” he said.