1997-11-15 Falkirk

Accies 1 Falkirk 1

Saturday, 15 November, 1997

This was a game in which Accies removed any doubts that they will be serious challengers for the first division title. Accies fielded the same team which had won at Ayr the previous week and were boosted by the return of captain Chris Hillcoat to the bench after a lengthy absence through injury.

Accies started the game at a terrific pace and were close to scoring twice in the early stages. The best of these was after only 4 minutes when Paul Ritchie skinned the left hand side of the Falkirk defence and squared the ball to Steve McCormick in front of goal. Unfortunately, Steve couldn't get a good enough contact on the ball and Paul Mathers in the Falkirk goal managed to recover. Things were going well at this stage, but then disaster struck...

After 25 minutes, Steven Renicks gave the ball away on the half way line to a Falkirk player, who then sent Paul McGrillen clear through on goal. Just outside the penalty box, Steven Renicks made contact with McGrillen's heels, tripping him. To his eternal discredit, McGrillen immediately leapt to his feet brandishing an imaginary red card at Renicks. This was completely unnecessary as Kenny Clark was already reaching for his real red card. There's no doubt that this was the right decision, although Renicks could scarcely believe it. To add further insult to injury, the free kick was squared to David Hagen, who cracked a low shot past Fergie.

Accies spent the rest of the first half chasing the game. Falkirk had all the possession, but made Allan Ferguson do very little. After half time, it was a different story. Clearly Sandy Clark had used the half time interval to reorganise and Accies were probably the better team in the second half. The equalising goal was the kind of fluke which we only get every couple of seasons. Good play down the left from Sean McEntegart led to Eddie Cunnington whipping a superb cross over to the back post where David Hagen and Neil Berry conspired to head the ball past a stunned Mathers.

The rest of the second half followed a familiar pattern, in that Falkirk had loads of the ball but never really threatened to hurt Accies. The highlights were a superb swinging cross from Eddie Cunnington which Mathers risked a fractured skull to keep out and another fantastic save by him near the end, this time from a thumping shot from Jim Sherry. Right at the death, Falkirk nearly stole the points but the Accies defence held firm and justice was done.

Although they hadn't won, the team thoroughly deserved their standing ovation at the end. (Even though we were standing anyway!) All ten players who played the full 90 minutes were heroes, but special credit must go to underrated men such as Steven Thomson and David McFarlane, who were immense. No wonder Sandy Clark had a cheesy grin on his face at full time.

The team were as follows :

Ferguson, Thomson, Renicks, McEntegart, McCulloch, Craig, McFarlane (Hillcoat 89), Sherry, Ritchie, McCormick and Cunnington.

Crowd : 1777

- Read the fans' memories, or add your own, via this link.

- Please contact us if you have any information that will improve this page or if you spot any mistakes.

Images

Videos

Links and References