Accies 2, Stirling Albion 2: Tuesday, 3 March 1998

Accies slumped to yet another draw tonight, against bottom of the table Stirling Albion at Fir Park. The game opened brightly, and Accies scored two excellent goals in the first 12 minutes.

After only four minutes, John McQuade went on a mazy run right through the Stirling midfield, beating three men before laying the ball off to Paul Ritchie. Ritchie gave him the perfect return pass and John clipped the ball in off the post. Eight minutes later, Paul Ritchie was put clean through on goal and scored from about 12 yards.

As we sat back in the stand thinking that this was going to be easy and that the hoodoo would be over, it was clear that the players were also becoming complacent. Although we seemed at that stage to be cutting through the Stirling defence easily, the lack of a third goal was to come back and haunt us. Stirling scored ten minutes before half time, with a cracker of a free kick from the full back, Paterson. This gave Stirling a great boost and you could almost see the Accies heads going down.

In the second half, Accies were absolutely awful. There was only one team on the park hungry for a result, and it sure wasn't our boys. The midfield of Sherry, McEntegart, McKenzie and Cunnington were all terrible, and up front David McFarlane had one of his poorer games. He MUST be rested, but sadly it would appear that the first team squad are guaranteed a game nowadays, such is the lack of depth in the squad. Up front, Paul Ritchie played pretty well and Gary Clark certainly improved things when he came on midway through the second half. John McQuade was his usual self, sometimes fantastic, sometimes dreadful. I think he's trying too hard to impress and always tries to beat three men rather than play the simple pass.

In the end, of course, Stirling scored a good goal a few minutes from time. It was richly deserved. Not for the first time do we have to be very grateful for the great start we made to the season. It's obvious that we are now one of the worst teams in the league and I'd be surprised if we manage to win again before the end of the season.

Finally, having been thwarted by Jim Watson when he wouldn't accept the petition, the Accies fans waved red cards at him on several occasions during the match. This led to an unpleasant atmosphere, particularly at the end of the game, when the fans weren't sure who to boo, the team or the board.

Accies : Ferguson, Thomson, Renicks, McEntegart, Cunnington, Craig, McFarlane (Clark), Sherry, Ritchie, McQuade and McKenzie.

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