Accies 3 Peterhead 0: Saturday, 20 January 2001

TEAM NEWS

Accies manager Ally Dawson made three defensive and one attacking change following the calamitous defeat at Buckie.

OUT! went Gary Clark

OUT! went Mark Nelson

OUT! went Keith Hogg

OUT! went Alex Eadie

There were two players making their debuts. Neil Oliver (who had previously turned out for Accies half a dozen times in 1999) was signed from Berwick Rangers in midweek after falling out of their first team plans. (Is this a sign of the times - Accies taking Berwick rejects?) Neil has joined Accies until the end of the season.

In addition, experienced former Kilmarnock defender Dylan Kerr made his first appearance, apparently as a trialist. (Although given that his name was announced at the start I think he may have signed a short term contract.)

Elsewhere, Michael Martin made a surprise return to the team in place of Mark Nelson, who had appeared in every Accies game so far this season. Michael had made a couple of brief appearances as substitute but not been in the starting 11.

Up front, there was no surprise with Alex Eadie being replaced by Michael Moore.

FIRST HALF

The first half was a fairly dodgy 45 minutes of football. Neither team was able to claim that they were really in charge and there were a couple of half chances at both ends.

For Accies, it was clear that their best chances were created when they were able to use the width of the park to full effect. On several occasions, crosses from Stuart Callaghan and Allan Russell flashed across the face of the goal with no-one able to get that crucial final touch.

Allan Russell had a good chance when put clear on the right but his powerful shot hit the side netting and the chance was lost.

Peterhead had an amazing miss in the first half. A deep cross to the back post found their burly striker (I've no idea of his name). His header beat Ian Macfarlane but hit the post. The ball fell to the striker again - his shot was blocked and when it rolled across the goal it was thumped clear by a relieved Jim Sherry. I have to confess that the Accies fans were wetting themselves at the incompetence of the Peterhead attack.

A major feature of the first half was the pernickity nature of the referee, Cammy Melville. It seemed to be his personal quest to remove any hint of physical contact from the game. Michael Moore was penalised several times without good reason. He must have had about 6 fouls awarded against him in the first half alone and yet he wasn't booked for persistent fouling.

SECOND HALF

I don't know about you, but I really hate it when my team score while I'm still drinking my Bovril. What are you supposed to do? Drop it? (Actually, I did just that when Accies scored against Cowdenbeath at Douglas Park in the '70s - it landed the right way up and I was able to finish it.)

On this occasion, I held on and was therefore unable to applaud the excellent football which brought the opening goal after about 46 minutes. David McFarlane released Stuart Callaghan down the left wing. Stuart hit a great cross into the penalty box where it was thumped home by Allan Russell.

Accies responded well to this and increased their lead 15 minutes later. More good play on the right wing by Allan Russell ended with him hitting a superb ball low into the 6 yard box. There was a "stramash" and the ball trundled into the net past the diving 'keeper. At the time, opinion was divided. The announcer took his time before saying that Michael Moore had got the last touch, although the Ceefax appears to agree with several Accies fans in saying it was an own goal by Kevin Tindal. Who cares? It was 2-0 and the game was safe. (Although anyone who's been to see Accies over the last couple of years knows that 2-0 is never enough.)

On this occasion, however, Accies went on to increase their lead even further. Good play down the left wing ended with Martin Bonnar crossing the ball back into the penalty box. The ball came to Davie McFarlane about 8 yards out. He took his time, lifted the ball over the last defender, before lashing it past the exposed 'keeper. Not quite Matthew Le Tissier, but damn good all the same.

With Accies leading 3-0 I was expecting them to start sitting back to mop up the attacks from Peterhead. It did happen for a while - and the deep defending brought back memories of the last 10 minutes in the recent match against Albion Rovers.

To give them due credit, Peterhead did mount several reasonably dangerous attacks towards the end of the match, but Ian Macfarlane didn't really have to break sweat to deal with them.

Accies did have a couple of good chances to increase their lead even further. Martin Bonnar was the unlucky man on both occasions. First of all he was sent clear inside the penalty box with only the 'keeper to beat, but the Peterhead goalie did very well to smother his shot. Then he did very well on the edge of the penalty box and hit a great shot which hit the post and bounced to safety.

IN CONCLUSION...

The importance of this victory to Accies shouldn't be underestimated. Following the trauma of Buckie, it would have been easy for them to put on a lacklustre display. This game showed once and for all that Accies are, in lower league terms, a decent team - particularly on the excellent surface available at Firhill.

They're now only one point behind Brechin - and I would guess that City are quite nervous about that. The new signings played well. Oliver was particularly good although Kerr looked as if he's not fully fit.

The defence will take a little more time to bed in properly but things were looking pretty good. I still think we need something more in midfield. Although Jim Sherry and Martin Bonnar did better than in recent weeks, I would still like to see someone in there who can provide more chances for our promising strikers.

Up front, I thought Michael Moore had a decent game despite the officious referee. David McFarlane is simply an excellent player and I was delighted to see the great goal he scored.

Accies : Macfarlane, Martin, Callaghan, Gaughan, Oliver, Kerr, Sherry, Russell, Moore, McFarlane and Bonnar.

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