Accies 0, Falkirk 2 Saturday: 30 January 1999

Report by George Grandison

Not for the first time this season, what started out promisingly eventually turned into yet another depressing Saturday afternoon.

Accies started brightly and after only 5 minutes a shot was half blocked and the ball broke to Tommy Tait at the corner of the box. His first time effort was heading for the top corner until Paul Mathers stretched to fingertip the ball over for a corner. Accies then had a couple of half chances from crosses after the Falkirk defence had been caught square and trying to play offside but Steven McCormick failed to worry the keeper. Michael Geraghty was holding the ball up well and showed a few nice touches but Accies were relying on quick breaks and never managed to exert any sustained pressure. Nicky Henderson managed to get some space breaking from halfway and as he drew the defence to the left McCormick cleverly peeled off to make some space at the edge of the box. Henderson threaded the ball through perfectly but McCormick, clearly lacking any self confidence whatsoever, tried to take an extra touch and turned inside rather than try an early shot and the chance was gone.

Until this point, Falkirk had been pretty quiet - Accies were looking eager and were chasing around to close them down as they had done in the previous Firhill fixture. Falkirk did have an excellent chance midway through the first half as the defence went to sleep, leaving Marino Keith with the keeper to beat. John Hillcoat half blocked the shot and namesake Chris stepped in to boot the ball off the line. The first goal came on 34 minutes out of nothing - a floated cross from the right byeline and David Moss jumped higher than Berry and Hillcoat to easily head home from about 5 yards. Berry in particular was upset with John Hillcoat for not coming to claim the cross. Before half time came the best piece of skill of the match - Kevin "Crunchie" McAllister twisted past two defenders at the edge of the box and hammered a shot goalwards for Hillcoat to dive full length and palm away.

After the break, the game continued to be quite even until McCormick was brought down just outside the penalty area. As the players jostled in the 6 yard box waiting for the cross, the linesman's flag shot up and I looked across to see a Falkirk player lying holding his face and Wolfie standing over him - a red card quickly followed and Wolfie disappeared up the tunnel along with our chances of saving the game. It's a bit ironic that the match programme editorial commented on our poor discipline this season (that's 7 red cards now) and Colin Miller said "the discipline issue has been addressed at the club and a red card will now cost a lot of money". Obviously Wolfie had nipped to the loo during that part of this weeks team meeting!

Thereafter there isn't much to report. Michael Moore came on and put a header just wide while at the other end, McAllister was put through with the keeper to beat and dribbled round him, only for the keeper to stay on his feet, scramble back and make a great diving save. Eventually, Marino Keith was left in acres of space, beat the keeper to the through ball and rolled home the clincher with 13 minutes to go.

Overall a much better effort than for some weeks but there is till a dreadful lack of any sort of cutting edge. For once there was a positive attitude at the start but that soon faded away. Tommy Tait worked hard in the first half in both penalty areas and Nicky Henderson got more of the ball after the break and at least he usually manages to pass to a team mate. Michael Moore looked lively when he came on although why McCormick stayed on the pitch and Geraghty was withdrawn remains a mystery to all bar the Accies dugout - the decision was loudly booed by the Accies supporters and rightly too. McCormick's running off the ball is good but that alone can't justify getting a full 90 minutes.

Assistant boss Ally Dawson was interviewed after the game on Radio Scotland and feels that once the first win comes, more will follow. What he didn't say was where that first win will come from!

The team was : Hillcoat, J; Renicks; Cunnington; Hillcoat, C; Berry (sub Thomson); McKenzie (off 57); Clark (sub Davidson); Tait; Geraghty (sub Moore); McCormick; Henderson N.

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