Hamilton manager Billy Reid believes encouraging good football is the key to continuing their fight against relegation.

Accies have shown a resilience in the face of adversity by taking 10 points from their last four matches to raise hopes of an unlikely escape - it had taken 23 games to collect their previous 10 points. They go into Tuesday night's game against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park knowing that achieving a better result than St Mirren at Aberdeen will give them a realistic chance of avoiding relegation.

But Reid will keep the emphasis on performances rather than focusing on his players' mentality, and he said: "The one thing we'll try to do is go and try to play. The important thing is how you play and in recent weeks some of our play has been excellent."

He added: "Our style of play has been pleasing, we are scoring goals, we have kept clean sheets in the last two games.

"It's all credit to the players, a big issue now is that Alex Neil is back.

"We are playing exactly how we did, just having Alex back and leading the team is a big influence."

Captain and central midfielder Neil's return from a hip injury has helped Accies close the deficit on St Mirren from 12 points.

"People maybe thought it was done and dusted," Reid said. "We always thought we could go on a run and maybe win four or five on the bounce.

"People looked at that and asked how can that be the case when we've won two games all season?

"But we have a belief in what we do and how we play. We have put a wee bit of pressure on St Mirren but it's all in their hands, they can only chuck it away."

Source: PA