Accies 6 Montrose 0: Saturday, 19 August 2000

Accies went clear at the top of the table with this crushing win over very poor opposition from Angus. Accies lined up with Jim Sherry returning in midfield and Alex Eadie relegated to the bench. For the second home game in a row, the game actually started a few minutes before 3 o'clock inconveniencing people like me who tend to cut it a bit fine.

Anyway, to the football. From the beginning it was clear that Montrose were not very good. However, in the first half they did have their fair share of possession and forced several corners, none of which came to anything. I was impressed by their centre forward who, although being a bit portly, did have a fair bit of skill. Mind you, any half chances created by Montrose ended in poor shots which went well wide of the goal or tamely into Ian McFarlane's arms.

The best chances of the half fell to Accies, and Michael Moore in particular. For the first one, he avoided the Montrose offside trap and ran towards their goalie. He reached the edge of the area and was about to shoot, but just as we all screamed "MAN ON" he was superbly tackled by a Montrose defender and the chance was lost. The other opportunity he had was quite similar, although at more of an angle. This time the end result was even worse and he sliced his shot well wide of the goal.

Accies were rather unfairly booed off the park at half time. In fact, the abuse started after only 20 minutes, which I thought was totally out of order.

Accies started the second half with Davie McFarlane and Alex Eadie replacing Gary Clark and Jim Sherry. This double substitution was certainly a bit radical. Either Ally Dawson is a tactical genius and spotted a flaw in the Montrose formation (not hard really), or the players who went off were unfit/injured. I'm not too sure. This meant that Accies had four recognised strikers on the field, although McFarlane and Russell played a bit deeper with Eadie and Moore up front.

Accies continued to dominate and another two one-on-one chances were created and missed, the culprits being subs Alex Eadie and Davie McFarlane. The first goal was not delayed for too long, however, with Davie McFarlane opening the scoring after 52 minutes. Alex Eadie showed some good footwork on the right wing before crossing to Michael Moore about 15 yards out. He teed it up for McFarlane, who hit a low shot into the corner.

Accies were well in control by this time and the second goal followed 6 minutes later. Paul Gaughan hit a superb crossfield pass to Alex Eadie on the left wing. He cut inside and fired a low shot which was saved by the Montrose 'keeper. Sadly for him, he spilled it and Michael Moore was on hand to thump home the loose ball.

The third goal, after 71 minutes was a beauty. Michael Moore skinned the left back and his cross to the back post was volleyed in off the post by Allan Russell. It was a bit of a procession towards the Montrose goal by this time - one of those magical days when you expect your team to score every time they go up the park.The fourth goal arrived five minutes later - and it had me in fits of laughter. Davie McFarlane had a clear run towards the Montrose goal and was stunned to see that the 'keeper made no apparent attempt to narrow the angle. So he simply placed it to his right with the outside of his boot.

Accies were taking the mickey now and scored a fifth goal with five minutes left. It was very similar to the previous one, with Davie McFarlane completing an excellent hat-trick with a simple low shot past the Montrose 'keeper. Allan Russell wrapped things up near the end with the goal of the game. Good play on the left ended with the cut back running away from goal just outside the box. Just as this writer screamed "Just hit the f***ing thing", Russell obliged with a screamer into the top corner. Alex Eadie had a header cleared off the line before the end but the scoring was complete.

It would be churlish to criticise Accies at all after this performance. If this level can be achieved consistently then promotion will be a formality. Life's not that easy, of course, and there will certainly be some slip-ups between now and next May.

But today, particularly in the second half, they were very good indeed.

Comedy highlight No 1 : Richard Gordon of BBC Radio Scotland said that two of the Accies goals were scored by Ian McFarlane! If only....

Comedy highlight No 2 : 2 of the Montrose subs were involved in a half-hearted punch-up at half time, with one of them seeming to sustain a facial injury!

Accies : McFarlane, Clark (Eadie), Nelson (Hillcoat), Davidson, Gaughan, Russell, Grant, Sherry (McFarlane), Bonnar, Moore and Lynn.

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