HAMILTON ACCIES were left licking their wounds after a Parkhead pasting at the weekend.

But youngster James McCarthy has insisted the Accies will take to heart the lessons from the 4-0 defeat at the hands of Gordon Strachan's side.

Billy Reid's side play St Mirren after the international break and then take on Rangers, and McCarthy believes that they have to learn from the experience of the weekend... and fast.

Reid didn't mince his words in the aftermath of the defeat when he insisted it was one of the most depressing days for him as Accies manager.

And McCarthy knows that Hamilton can ill afford any repeat performances if they are to survive in the top flight.

"It was a difficult day for us," he said. "I don't think we ever really managed to get into it. It was probably one of the worst displays we have ever put in.

"Nothing went for us and Celtic were all over us from the first minute. But we have to learn from it.

"The game against St Mirren now looks as though it is going to be massive for us, and then we have Rangers. I know that by then we will have watched the tape and gone over this a couple of times and hopefully we will have taken a few things on board."

"We have made a decent start to our SPL campaign but I think you always feel as though you could do better," said McCarthy. "But I do think we have shown that there are good players at this club.

"James McArthur missed a penalty on Saturday against Celtic but he has been brilliant for us this season.

"He rightly won the Young Player of the Month award for August, he has been outstanding for us. He was really gutted after the Celtic game but it was just one of these things.

"Some of the best players in the world have missed penalties and I don't think there were many of us who felt that we played well against Celtic. As a team and as individual players we know we could have done better.

"But we have to pick ourselves up now and there are some big games for us. Getting something from the St Mirren game will be vital, especially after they had such a good result against Rangers at the weekend.

"We play Rangers after St Mirren and I hope that we give a better account of ourselves than we did against Celtic."