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Thu, Mar

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MARVIN Andrews this week assured Hamilton fans that his fledgling partnership with Izzy Iriekpen will flourish in time, but said Accies must learn from Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Kilmarnock.

Accies were caught cold at a set-piece, allowing Kevin Kyle to volley home early in the game, before the Killie striker added a sensational second early in the second half and Jamie Hamill scored the third.

Andrews was subbed for David Louhoungou in 55 minutes, and the giant defender said he was relieved to be withdrawn, as he only got back from international duty with Trinidad and Tobago the previous morning.

He said: “It was one of those days. They scored two very good goals and we were disappointed with the first one, but it wasn’t the best of starts for us.

“There’s a long season to go so we need to put that to the back of us and look forward. We can take positives out of the game and look forward to the next match.

“We have to learn from this and move on. It’s not the start we wanted but that’s how life is – it’s not about how you start, but how you finish, and we’ll take it from here.”

Andrews only returned from international duty on Friday morning, and said: “I was still a bit jet-lagged but that’s not an excuse.

“I wasn’t surprised that I got taken off because I was tired, so the best thing the manager did for me was to take me off!

“In that situation anything can happen, I could get injured or something, so I wasn’t surprised and it wasn’t my best game – but that’s football and I have no worries about that.

“It’s a team game and if I come off and somebody goes on and does a better job than me then that’s how the game works and I have no hard feelings at all.”

Andrews endured a rocky partnership with captain for the day Izzy Iriekpen, but insists their understanding will develop with time.

He said: “There were a lot of new guys coming in and we’ve got loads of players to come back in as well – we missed a few players on Saturday.

“We were rocky at times but we’re taking time to gel. This was only my second time playing with Izzy, and the fact that I was away last week won’t have helped.

“It’s going to come eventually so I’m not worried and I’m sure we’ll gel and become a strong team.

“We lost the game but we have to learn from it, move on, and look forward to the games coming up.

“We’ve got Aberdeen on Saturday, it’s our first home game of the season and we’ll have our fans behind us, so we’ll try to get a good result and put this behind us and kick-start our season.”