Dumbarton 1 Accies 2: Saturday, 21 April 2001

Saturday, 21 April 2001

FIRST HALF

If Accies are to gain promotion this season, this will be looked back on as one of the games that got them there. It was the kind of game that could have gone badly wrong.

Dumbarton had been playing really well recently and there was a bigger than usual crowd in their new stadium, thanks to a large contingent from Hamilton. (Referring back to my tirade at Bill Leckie a couple of weeks ago, the crowd of 904 was the biggest at the ground since the opening day. Cowdenbeath attracted a gate of almost 400 less when they played at Dumbarton in March.)

Accies manager Ally Dawson restored Ross Maclaren to the heart of the defence after a lengthy absence and also decided to bring back Martin Bonnar in the midfield, with Michael Martin on the bench.

The big crowd and my relatively late arrival (plus a visit to the pie stall), meant that we had crap seats right at the front. However, this did give us a good close-up view of the much maligned pitch at The Rock. It's in such a poor state that the Rangers under 21 matches have been moved to Airdrie. I'm no agronomist (?), but it really was in a poor state despite only having been in use since early December. (Although it perhaps needs a full growth to be ready for use.)

The pitch cup up into huge, sandy, divots at the slightest excuse and could have been used as a convenient excuse if Accies had failed to win the game. It ruined any ideas anyone had of this being a great game of football. A couple of incidents showed just how bad it was. First of all, a long kickout from ex-Accie john Hillcoat in the home goal was allowed to bounce harmlessly through to Ian Macfarlane at the other end. Just as he was about to collect it, the ball hit a divot and failed to bounce at all, forcing Faldo to dive to save. Nearly an ironic repeat of his famous goal at Methil a couple of weeks ago.

Secondly, a Dumbarton midfielder was happily running through the centre circle with no Accies player near him, when he tripped over and landed flat on his face.

Anyway, to the action. Dumbarton took the lead after 3 minutes when Joe Robertson sent over a lovely cross from the left which was bulleted low past Faldo by lanky striker Craig Lynes. The Sons fans celebrated as you would expect. This could have been the cue for recriminations from the Accies fans, but thankfully they continued to get behind the team.

Accies really got stuck into Dumbarton after the goal. The midfield of Kelly, Bonnar and Sherry doesn't possess the greatest amount of skill but they are able to chase, harass and provide the ball for Stuart Callaghan and Davie McFarlane. Callaghan had a field day, particularly in the first half, when he made the poor right back's life a misery. There was even one time when he had so long on the ball that he was able to build a sandcastle and eat a choc ice before crossing into the box. Honest!

Accies best chances were created by Callaghan on the left and one superb bit of play ended with him hitting a low cross right into the path of Michael Moore. Sadly, his shot was easily smothered by Hillcoat. An equaliser looked certain, but the goal that we got was certainly a bit fortuitous. A cross into the box from, I think, Ross Maclaren was headed right to the unmarked Davie McFarlane by a home defender, and he lashed the ball past the exposed Hillcoat.

Before half time, Jim Sherry was booked for a foul in the centre circle and the Dumbarton right back was also booked for one too many fouls on Callaghan. In fact, he could have been off for a body check on Callaghan had the Accies player not made such a meal of the contact.

HALF TIME

Despite the pitch being in an atrocious state, both sets of substitutes were allowed to use the goalmouths for the usual kick-in at half time. This led to the Accies fans ironically cheering Alex Eadie whenever he got the ball past Graham Potter in the goal. The big guy took it well and everyone had a laugh.

One man not laughing at half time was the match referee, Alan Gemmill. He had gone down clutching his head for no apparent reason just before half time and decided to retire at half time. One of the assistants took over, with supervisor Dougie Hope donning the dodgy trackie and running the line on the far side in the second half. He made a decent job of it too.

SECOND HALF

It took Accies only 7 minutes of the second half to take the lead. Accies won a free kick about 35 yards from goal. Just as we wondered whether it was too far out for a shot at goal, Accies scored the kind of goal that they don't normally get. Over the last few years, Accies have scored plenty of goals but very few of them have been classic long range efforts. The goal in this game was an absolute belter.

Several players stood around the ball and it was rolled sideways into the path of defender Dylan Kerr. Dylan absolutely hammered the ball and it flew, straight as a die, into the postage stamp corner past the flailing fingers of John Hillcoat. It didn't seem to dip or swerve as it raced into the net. PANDEMONIUM!!

All of the Accies outfield players mobbed Dylan, he kissed the badge for a laugh and the fans went berserk. (There's a great picture of the celebrations on the picture special.)

That was the final goal of the game, although both sides did have their chances. Davie McFarlane was unlucky to see a great shot tipped over the bar by Hillcoat and had another chance to run at the Sons defence but stood on the ball! Some great play, particularly by Martin Bonnar, set up a good chance for Michael Moore to seal the game, but his shot went into the side net. Moore really needs a goal soon to restore his confidence.

Towards the end, Steven Renicks was being given the run around by the diminutive Sons substitute and some nervy defending could have cost us the points. It seemed to me that we were defending too deep and should have been more attack minded. Perhaps, though, it was good play from Dumbarton that caused this.

Whatever. Accies held on for a thoroughly deserved victory and the fans applauded the team off the park at the end. Funnily enough, it was the players who only joined the club during the season, Stuart Callaghan and Dylan Kerr, who seemed to appreciate the ovation the most, with Dylan kissing the club crest on his shirt again at the end.

With Cowdenbeath surprisingly losing heavily at home to East Stirlingshire, the league has been blown wide open again. Now, all three of the competing teams can be certain of promotion if they win their remaining games. With Accies playing Elgin and Montrose (twice), they can only blow it now.

It's also quite handy that Cowdenbeath play Brechin on the final day. If Accies can continue to play as they did against Dumbarton, promotion will be ours for the taking - and maybe even the title too.

The team:

Jim Sherry was booked for a foul in the first half.

Alex Eadie replaced Michael Moore near the end.

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