Accies 1 Stranraer 0: Saturday, 17 April 1999

By George Grandison

At long last - a victory! The first in the league since beating Raith Rovers in October and the first home league goal since November 21st against Hibs. It was hardly a vintage display of flowing football but it did continue the improvement shown in the last two games and was pretty much deserved on the balance of play.

Accies started brightly again, appearing much more eager than their already relegated opponents. A few early corners didn't really threaten the Stranraer goal but the midfield were finding much more space to play in than they've been used to and Thomson and Nicky Henderson tried to push up at every opportunity. The goal came in twenty minutes. Some neat play on the left created space for Darren Henderson, who frankly until that point had looked dismal. This time, though, he looked up and saw Steven Thomson in the box and his pass found the right man. He produced a neat turn and an early left foot shot low and in off the back post leaving the keeper stranded and the Accies fans celebrating, as they remembered what it was like to take the lead in a match. It could have been two just a few minutes later following Accies most flowing move for months. A Stranraer corner was cleared to Gary Wales inside his own half and he quickly turned and sent Cunnington racing clear down the left. Once inside the Stranraer half he found Nicky Henderson with a perfectly timed pass and as Henderson ran into the box he knocked the ball diagonally across the six yard line for the inrushing McCormick only to see a Stranraer defender stretch back and get a toe to the ball to deflect it behind for a corner. Thereafter Stranraer decided to play a bit and the rest of the half was pretty scrappy with few real chances at either end.

Not much change at the start of the second half with Stranraer continuing to press and forcing a series of corners, all of which were comfortably dealt with by the Accies defence and keeper Chris Reid. Accies were starting to rely too much on quick breaks and passes were starting to go astray. On 57 minutes Steven Renicks misjudged a tackle leaving Stranraer's lanky number 9 to gallop through the inside left channel and bear down on goal but his shot from just inside the box was brilliantly saved by Reid and the defence got back to clear. Accies were starting to struggle, although a driven cross from Cunnington just eluded Darren Henderson at the back post, so Rajamaki was brought on to replace the tiring Nicky Henderson. Accies' pre-match injury problems meant no Michael Geraghty and the remaining two subs were Colin Miller and commercial manager/free transfer man Gary Clark, neither of whom were needed - thankfully.

Accies had a golden chance to seal the points with seven minutes left when Gary Wales was put through by a well-timed McAulay pass (not often you hear that!) but the Stranraer keeper did well to narrow the angle and got a hand to the shot, deflecting it for a corner. From the corner kick, the ball fell to Wales at the edge of the box and his firm shot was well held by the keeper. Stranraer then pressed forward and put the Accies defence under serious pressure in the last 5 minutes. They also had a good shout for a penalty when Neil Oliver seemed to handle the ball on his own 6 yard line but ref Bobby Orr thankfully waved the claims aside. Darren Henderson came close with a couple of long range shots at the death and Accies survived to fight again next week.

The defence looked pretty solid again with goalkeeper Reid looking calm and confident behind them. Two clean sheets in a row can't be bad, no matter how ordinary the opposition. Midget McAulay had a decent game, putting himself around a bit as usual, although his passing remains unpredictable at best. Steven Thomson had another solid game in midfield and Gary Wales had a lot of good touches up front. The real test will come next Saturday - here's hoping that Michael Geraghty recovers from his strain before then as Wales really does need some help in the front line.

Accies lineup : Reid, Renicks, Cunnington, Oliver, McLaren, Thomson, N Henderson (sub Rajamaki 73), McAulay, McCormick, Wales, D Henderson.

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