East Stirlingshire 1 Accies 4: Saturday, 27 January 2001

Scottish League Divison 3, Firs Park, Falkirk

Saturday, 27 January 2001

TEAM NEWS

Accies were unchanged following their good performance against Peterhead the previous week. The only known faces in the East Stirlingshire were former Accies winger David Lorimer and highly rated young striker Steven Hislop.

FIRST HALF

Accies got off to a cracking start and nearly took the lead within the first minute with a good Michael Moore header being well saved by the 'Shire goalie. It was clear that Accies were really in the mood for this game and they didn't hesitate to take the game to their opposition from the start.

To be honest, Accies didn't let up from the first whistle to the last. This wasn't one of those games where the other team has long spells of possession or lots of chances. East Stirlingshire might be a decent team, but they had no chance against superior opposition in this game. Accies dominated from the start, so it was a genuine surprise when East Stirlingshire opened the scoring after 9 minutes. It was very simple - a good ball into the penalty box was lashed home by inform striker Steve Hislop.

Now under other circumstances this would have been the cue for the Accies fans to turn on the players. To their credit however, the fans stuck behind them. They could see - as could a blind man in a coal cellar at midnight - that Accies deserved to be ahead rather than behind at this stage of the game. Their effort and work rate was incredible as they fought for every ball in the midfield.

Accies had all the play after the goal and must have forced at least 10 corners in the first half. Mind you, the home 'keeper didn't really have to make any particularly good saves. But all the pressure and good football was coming from the boys in the blue and green hoops.

An equaliser seemed inevitable, and it arrived about 7 minutes before half time. Accies won a free kick, it was tapped sideways for Davie McFarlane, and his low blockbuster took a deflection which eluded the home 'keeper. The goal itself might have been a bit jammy, but it was no more than Accies deserved.

SECOND HALF

At half time, the small crowd had to endure a 12 minute speech by the Firs Park announcer. This covered the half time scores from all Scottish games (including the Highland League), various announcements about forthcoming games for both 'Shire and Accies and even a sarky comment about a criticism from this site about the fact that he never bloody shuts up. There was also something I half heard about someone from Accies mortgaging their house to help the club??? He then mentioned Stephen Jay?? Next time buy some records mate, you spoke so much and so quickly that nobody listened.

Anyway, the match resumed with no changes on either side and Accies continued to impress. By this time, the Accies fans were having some sport with the linesman on the farside, who looked to be about 18. (Maybe this is a sign of ageing, when the linesmen look young!) At one point, Michael Martin ran half the length of the park before narrowly failing to cross the ball before it went over the line. Naturally, some of the Accies fans went ballistic, although how they were supposed to be in a better position than the linesman is beyond me.

It was only a matter of time before Accies superiority was to be turned into goals. After 59 minutes a cross from the left was aimed right at the head of one of the Accies forwards (probably Allan Russell, but I couldn't tell.) He was unceremoniously pushed from behind and the referee awarded a penalty kick. (Strangely, he took no disciplinary action against the defender despite his action having prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity.)

Anyway, Stuart Callaghan stepped up and thumped the ball into the roof of the net.

With Accies 2-1 up, the game was effectively safe. To be honest, apart from Steven Hislop and David Lorimer, I didn't know any of the home players. I don't expect to hear about them in the future.

Accies continued to dominate after this and scored a superb goal a few minutes later. Good play on the left from Dylan Kerr released Stuart Callaghan and his fantastic curling cross landed right on Davie McFarlane's forehead for 3-1. I just happened to be about 10 feet away from Stuart when he delivered the cross and received a "low 5" from him for which I'll be slagged forever. Who cares?? It was great to see the genuine joy on the huddle of Accies players as they celebrated a few feet away from me.

Shortly afterwards, Bill Davidson (on as a sub for Allan Russell) sent Davie McFarlane clean through on goal. Davie made no mistake and it was 4-1.

That completed the scoring and Accies were able to spend the rest of the afternoon playing Twister in the centre circle. (Actually, that's not true and I just threw it in to see if you were paying attention.)

They left the field at the end to sustained and well deserved applause from the Accies fans, who made up the majority of the 345 crowd at the game.

IN CONCLUSION...

This was a very professional performance from Accies. They played with real determination from the first whistle until the last. There were no failures in the team, with David McFarlane and Stuart Callaghan producing particularly good performances.

It was great to go to a wee ground like Firs Park, where you can see the players properly, hear their shouts and get really involved. This was a very enjoyable performance by Accies, they were full of passion and so were the fans.

Accies have now returned to the top of the league for the first time in ages. Cowdenbeath have two games in hand and will be tough nuts to crack. However, if Accies can reproduce this kind of form and attitude against Brechin City next week at Firhill, they'll be right back in there as favourites for promotion.

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

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