Martin Canning is eyeing experienced reinforcements after Hamilton's winless run reached six games with a 2-1 defeat to Lanarkshire rivals Motherwell.

Saturday's defeat leaves the Accies two points above the bottom two as the Ladbrokes Premiership stops for a winter break.

And Hamilton's boss is hoping to find the right players to add to his squad in January to help stave off the the threat of relegation.

"We are a young side and lack a bit of quality," Canning said.

"On Saturday our lead lasted only four minutes but with the way that Motherwell have been playing recently we should have held the lead for 15 minutes and put some pressure on them. But we didn't and that makes it difficult for ourselves.

"I need to add two or three senior heads but it is a difficult time of the season to find players who are fit. We can only afford free agents, who will not have played much, and we would need to spend some time to get them up to speed.

"We need to finish as high up the league as we can, and at the minute that is looking like 10th."

Motherwell recovered from Dougie Imrie's early opener as Tom Aldred's double secured the visitors a first win in four league games.

And manager Stephen Robinson is relieved his side have some time to get players fit before their next game.

"We need the break as we have 12 or 13 players injured and aim to get them fit for the Ross County cup game on January 19," said Robinson.

Andy Rose was playing his last game for Motherwell before joining Major League Soccer club the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Robinson added: "Andy was asked to play one more game and the club would like to thank him for that and his contribution and wish him all the best for the future."