St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson admits his players were simply not good enough to take anything from their Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with Hamilton.

And he has urged an improvement ahead of the trip to Ibrox to face Scottish champions Rangers next week.

Saints had netted 11 goals in their last four matches but could not find the back of the net against Accies, who claimed a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Marco Paixao and Martin Canning.

"We have had a lot of plaudits in recent weeks with the performances and results," said MacPherson.

"But if you start in that manner and you give a team the encouragement and a goal in that manner, it's going to be a tough afternoon and that's the way it panned out.

"We got nowhere near the standards we have set in recent weeks and that's disappointing.

"We don't need a reality check - we know what our strengths are and today we have shown what our weaknesses are.

"We have to get back to what we know we are capable of doing. When the standards drop you should be hurting and there are a lot of players in there who are hurting."

A mounting injury list no doubt played a part, with MacPherson naming just six substitutes on the bench and admitting he is running out of options.

"It's a problem," he said. "We've got a small squad but we've just got to deal with it.

"When you get injuries, you run out of options and that's the difficult thing. The players who were there today were the players who were fit, there were no other players."

Adding to his woes was a straight red card for Lee Mair for a last-man challenge on Mickael Antoine-Curier, which rules him out of the meeting with Rangers.

"I've not got a problem with it," said MacPherson when quizzed about the dismissal.

"It just means we've got less options."

Accies boss Billy Reid knows referee Stephen Finnie stuck to the law when he produced the red card but admits he would probably have been disappointed with the decision had it been one of his own players who was sent off.

He said: "It's not really one for me to comment on. There are rules the referee has to stand by.

"Would I have been disappointed? Maybe. He was through but had a long way to go. But the referee makes the decision and it would be wrong for me to say anything about that."

The win allowed Hamilton to move four points clear of bottom-side Falkirk and Reid felt his players were due some luck.

He said: "They say goals change games and we have struggled at times to get a break.

"Performance-wise over the last few weeks we haven't go what we deserved but you make your own luck and we took our chances today.

"We didn't play well in the first half, St Mirren controlled and dominated, but we win in 2-0 up and that's how it works. But over the 90 minutes we probably deserved the three points.

"There is a lot of work to be done but we are certainly moving in the right direction."