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Brian Rice was most recently assistant at St Mirren

Brian Rice has been appointed as Hamilton Academical's head coach as part of a new managerial set-up.

Rice, 55, succeeds Martin Canning, who left the Scottish Premiership club on Tuesday after four years in charge.

He will work under director of football Allan McGonigal in his first manager's job, having been assistant at Falkirk, Hibernian, Inverness CT and St Mirren.

He takes over with Accies two points off the bottom and a point above Saturday's opponents Dundee.

Rice had spells at Hibernian, Nottingham Forest and Falkirk during a 20-year playing career and was assistant to his former Bairns team-mate John Hughes at Falkirk, Hibs and Inverness.

St Mirren manager Oran Kearney said he was "indebted" to Rice for helping him adapt to Scottish football when he arrived in Paisley in September.

"It's an opportunity that obviously excites him in relation to being a head coach and the main man," Kearney said on Thursday.

"I kept Brian on board here when I arrived and built a good relationship with him. He was fundamental to the start when I arrived in relation to knowing the league and the personnel within the league. I am indebted to Brian for that and I thanked him very much for that last night."

Canning had kept Hamilton in the top flight since taking over from Alex Neil in January 2015, but they have struggled this season, picking up just one point from their past eight league matches.

Chairman Allan Maitland told BBC Scotland that the club wanted someone with experience of Scottish football who can inject some "flair" into the side.

Striker McMillan arrives on loan

Meanwhile Accies have signed Irish striker David McMillan on loan from St Johnstone until the end of the season.

The 30-year-old moved to Perth in December 2017 after a prolific spell with Dundalk in the League of Ireland, and has scored five goals in 23 games for Saints.

"We're delighted to add another striker to the squad - it's an area we've been looking to strengthen," said director of football McGonigal.

"David arrives with a proven goal-scoring pedigree and we're hoping he can continue that here at Hamilton Accies."