Accies made a promising start to their third division campaign with a 2-0 win against Dumbarton. Accies lined up with three players, Brian Vaugh, Alex Eadie and Mark Nelson making their debuts and with Jim Sherry on loan from Livingston to strengthen the midfield. Gary Clark was on the bench and Robert Prytz was missing, apparently on holiday.
I missed the first couple of minutes of the game because, for some bizarre reason, it kicked off at 5 to 3. Accies looked to be the much stronger team in the opening stages but were unable to penetrate the well organised Dumbarton defence. The best chance of the first half fell to Martin Bonnar, but is shot was tipped round the post by former Accies John Hillcoat in the Sons goal. (Although the referee gave a goal kick).
However, the Accies defence did look a bit ponderous at times and on a couple of occasions Dumbarton had half chances which they could not take.
Accies looked much stronger after the interval and Brian Vaugh passed up a couple of good chances within as many minutes - once heading over the bar and the other one a shot over the top. It looked as though a goal would come - and when it did it was really very simple. Accies took (and totally wasted) a short corner on the right. Just as one supporter was having a blue fit at them taking another short corner, Accies scored. This time, Brian Vaugh played a short corner to Martin Bonnar. When he got the ball back from wee Stan, he struck a great inswinging cross to the back post where Alex Eadie climbed easily above the defender to bullet a great header past John Hillcoat.
Straight from kick off, Dumbarton had their most dangerous move of the match which led to one of their players running straight through on Ian McFarlane. He was tackled by Bill Davidson (the last defender) and tumbled to the ground with the referee giving a foul. Opinion was divided as to whether or not it actually was a foul (I couldn't tell), but the referee should have applied the laws properly by sending Davidson off. That he was only booked must have had a bearing on the eventual outcome of the game.
After this, it was all Accies. David McFarlane missed a couple of chances including a shot over the bar after a great move involving Alex Eadie. A second goal was inevitable and it duly arrived with only 5 minutes left. Jim Sherry found Allan Russell in acres of space on the wing with a superb crossfield pass. Russell ran on and, after refusing to square the ball for Eadie or McFarlane, cracked the ball low past the outrushing Hillcoat. A classic goal and his first for the club.
So it was a promising start for this new-look Accies team. It will be interesting to see how young players like Gary Lynn and Allan Russell cope with extended runs in the top team - they both did very well in this game. The new players had solid debuts and Jim Sherry looked as if he'd never been away.
On the down side, I thought Martin Bonnar had a poor game today. It just seemed that everything he tried seemd to go wrong. Let's hope he can pull himself together before the next game.
Accies : McFarlane, Nelson, Lynn, Davidson, Gaughan, Vaugh (Kelly), Bonnar, Sherry, Eadie, McFarlane and Russell.
A reasonable start, apart from having to sit in a traffic queue on the M74 for half an hour - good idea to reduce the M73 slip road to 1 lane at the height of the holiday season. Anyway, I'm told nothing much happened in the first 10 minutes anyway.
The game was quite even, with both sides occassionally threatening to threaten, and wearied it's way to 0-0 at half time. As the second half wore on, Accies gradually began to get slightly the better of the play. The lead came from a good Russell cross from the right which Alex Eadie took very well with his head in front of the Dumbarton centre half.
A good passing move almost saw Accies stretch the lead, but David McFarlane side footed the ball over from six yards. The most threatening moment at the other came when a great through ball sent through a Sons forward near the left of the penalty area, and Bill Davidson was booked for leaving his leg in to end the move - Dumbarton fans obviously thought it should have been a red card, but I don't think their forward was completely clear of everyone.
Anyway, the game was sealed after a ball spread right to Russell was adjudged onside, despite about three other Accies players "not interfering" behind the Sons defence towards the centre of the park. Russell ran with the ball, and seemed sure to know the ball inside to one of his free team mates before opting to slam it home past John Hillcoat himself.
Bill Davidson hasn't lost any of his touch, and Jim Sherry didn't look to have changed much in spite of the injury. Despite the well taken goal, I thought Alex Eadie struggled to make much of an impression in this game, though the attack of David McFarlane behind Eadie and Russell will take a while to settle down - at least they are scoring. The game might not have been so comfortable had Accies not scored first, but Ian McFarlane had little to do but come and claim the ball a few times and watch a few speculative drives bobble well wide.
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