Hamilton Accies v Inverness Caley Thistle: Smith hopes hosts replicate 'best display of the season' in cup tie

Lewis Smith hopes Hamilton Accies can rediscover the form from their 'best performance of the season' to sink Inverness in cup and league clashes over the next week.

Accies beat Inverness 1-0 in the Highlands in October with a strong showing and Smith reckons that was the best the team have played since John Rankin took the reins at the start of the season.

And they now face Billy Dodds' men in the fourth round of the SPFL Trust Trophy this afternoon, before welcoming the Caley Jags back for league business on December 17.

Sadly for Accies, their form in the league has been poor and the result on October 18 was the last time they tasted victory in the Championship.

It is the cup where they have enjoyed better fortunes of late, defeating Rangers B 3-0 in the last round of the SPFL Trust trophy on November 8 and then beating East Kilbride 4-0 in the third round of the Scottish Cup on November 26.

But Smith is hoping the display they produced against Inverness last time out, when Andy Winter netted the winner, can be repeated.

The midfielder, who will make his 100th appearance for Accies if he plays, said: "That performance was probably our best of the season.

"We fully deserved to win that game and we should take confidence from that because if we play like that again, we can hopefully get the same result.

"It seems to be a team we do well against.

"That was the last time we won a league game so hopefully we can do the same over the next two games.

"These two games with Inverness are huge for us in terms of trying to regain confidence.

"The cup gives you a break from the league. In the EK one we got a few goals and hopefully we can do that again this weekend."

Inverness are struggling with injuries and have already announced they will be forced to field a youth team against Accies today.

Smith added: "Obviously we've seen what Inverness have said. You can't miss things like that but I don't think it affects our preparation for the game.

"We will still do everything we usually do and treat it like every other game."

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