Accies 2 Stranraer 0: Saturday, 15 January 2000

Report by Gilbert Mowat

Accies went into this game with a strange team selection by Ally Dawson. With all of the recognised strikers injured, Ally Dawson went for diminutive midfield man Gerry Crossley up front and packed the midfield. The fans were delighted to see little Jose Quitongo back in the hoops after his unhappy spell at Hearts - and I'm sure this added a couple of hundred to the gate.

Accies had the better of the play in the first half. The best of it seemed to revolve around Jose. Although he's not had much match practice in the last couple of months, his two years of good training at Hearts are bound to have helped him develop. There were several good moves involving real teamwork and Gerry Crossley did very well at times to hold the ball up to bring others into the play. At other times, however, the standard second division ball was used (i.e. the big punt to the front men), which was obviously a waste of time.

There were, however, a couple of occasions when Stranraer very nearly scored. One was a bad miss by their No 11 when he only had Chris Reid to beat and scuffed his shot tamely into Reid's arms and the other was caused entirely by Reid himself. Paul Gaughan rolled a tame passback straight to the keeper, who inexplicably took his eye off the ball. The ball rolled under his foot and out for a corner. This was reminiscent of a similar mistake by Rab McCulloch in a match against Ayr at Douglas Park years ago, when the ball hit the post and came back into play.

The second half was quite enjoyable, with both teams showing an improvement on the first half. The play was much more open, with Stranraer's little No 7 continually skinning Eddie Cunnington on the right wing. However, Accies gradually began to take the upper hand and they nearly scored in the 62nd minute. Darren Henderson found Gerry Crossley on the left with a great pass and his low cross shot would have been tapped home by Jose but for a great interception by a Stranraer defender.

The opening goal was only delayed for a few minutes, however. Jose Quitongo had been tackled in the box just as he was about to shoot from a good position. The resultant corner was no more than a chip into the box, but the defence didn't clear it and big Paul Gaughan thumped the ball home from close range for his first goal for the club.

Gerry Crossley was then substituted by Ian Ferguson and received deserved applause for the shift he had put in. Having said that, it was good to see Ferguson back in the team after a long lay off because of an Achilles tendon injury. Ian McAulay then produced an outrageous piece of skill by nutmegging two Stranraer players within a couple of seconds. He was substituted with 7 minutes left by the club's longest serving player, Chris Hillcoat.

Accies put the game beyond Stranraer with three minutes left - and I have to say that I thought the goal was offside. Accies broke away after a Stranraer attack and Steve Thomson passed the ball forward towards, I think, Ian Ferguson. At this point, Martin Bonnar (who was further over) was in an offside position. The linesman probably didn't give him as offside because Ferguson had the ball. However, when Ferguson dummied it to let Bonnar run in on goal, the linesman should have raised his flag. He didn't, and Bonnar ran on to score with a low shot.

It was a good performance today and the whole team should get a lift by the victory. Certain players, such as Hunter and Thomson, were as good as ever and others, such as Gaughan, Crossley and Bonnar will be gaining in confidence. In addition, it was great to see Quitongo, Ferguson and Hillcoat involved today and this can only augur well for the second half of the campaign.

Accies : Reid, McLaren, Cunnington, Hunter, Gaughan (Kelly), Thomson, Bonnar, McAulay (Hillcoat), Crossley (Ferguson), D Henderson and Quitongo.

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