Peterhead 1 Accies 1: Saturday, 11 November 2000

Accies moved up to second place in the league table following this draw at chilly Balmoor, but the result must surely be looked upon as another two points dropped.

Poor results for promotion rivals Cowdenbeath and Brechin saw the Angus club fall below Accies into third place, but Ally Dawson's side had a real chance to go back to the top of the pile.

For the second consecutive week our opponents were forced to play most of the match with ten men, following the dismissal of Peterhead midfielder Kevin Tindal for a second bookable offence midway through the first half.

However once again Accies could not make effective use of the extra man. Manager Ally Dawson drafted in Gary Clark to cope with the current defensive injury crisis. Clark played as sweeper, allowing Keith Hogg to push up alongside Paul Gaughan and undertake a marking role in central defence.

Before receiving his marching orders, Tindal had time to play his part in giving the home side the lead. Accies failed to deal with a thirtieth minute corner from Craig Cooper and the ball landed at the feet of the Blue Toon midfielder on the edge of the area. He wasted no time in rifling the ball goalwards but saw his shot blocked by Gary Clark. However to the dismay of the travelling Accies support, the ball fell kindly for CraigYeats who tucked it past MacFarlane from close range. Peterhead were well worth their lead and had already come close to opening the scoring on a number of occasions. Derek Smith wasted a glorious opportunity when he controlled a Yeats cross with his head before blasting powerfully over the bar. That man Tindal was also unlucky not to find the net with a quick snapshot that had MacFarlane stranded but thankfully sneaked past the post.

Referee Steven Kaney then caused quite a stir amongst the home support when he failed to award Peterhead a penalty following a clumsy looking challenge by Keith Hogg on Derek Smith. It looked a stone wall spot kick but the official saw fit to book the Peterhead forward for diving.

However, with their numerical advantage, Accies began to push wing backs Stuart Callaghan and Mark Nelson forward and, four minutes from the interval, salvaged an equaliser with their first shot on target. The ever popular Robert Prytz tried to unlock the stubborn home defence with a weighted through ball but, when it was blocked by a home defender, the Swede went for goal himself firing home a shot which sailed into the 'keeper's top left hand corner. Accies were fortunate to be on level terms at the interval.

The second half, however was mainly one way traffic as Accies went in search of three points. Allan Russell, ineffective during the last two matches, seemed to have rediscovered some of his early season form as he tormented the Peterhead back line with a number of surging runs from midfield. Sadly though he couldn't find any real quality in his final ball, and wasted a number of good opportunities.

With only one Peterhead striker to mark Accies were able to push Paul Gaughan further up the park, and he came close to putting Accies ahead with a fine drive that had Ivor Pirie scrambling as it whizzed past the post. Alex Eadie, a second half substitute for Michael Moore, was again trying the patience of the Accies fans. He passed up his weekly share of goal scoring opportunities with some bizarre finishing. The most memorable being when he found himself totally unmarked at the back post but contrived to steer the ball hopelessly across the face of the goal and well wide of the target.

Mark Nelson might feel he too should have hit the onion bag as time ran out. Allan Russell unleashed a ferocious drive from twenty yards which was palmed down by Pirie and into Nelson's path. However the Peterhead 'keeper frustrated the former Alloa man with another stunning block.

However the visitors' best opportunity fell to the normally reliable David MacFarlane with around ten minutes left. A Stuart Callaghan corner was met by a glancing header from Alex Eadie. The ball came off the underside of the crossbar and fell into a crowded goalmouth. MacFarlane, with his back to goal, was quickest to react but lazily back heeled the ball wide of the far post.

Having survived that scare Peterhead might have stolen all three points for themselves late in the match. Keith Hogg, having a stinker, complacently knocked the ball across the field in search of Gary Clark in a bid to build a late attack.. To his horror though Yeats intercepted the pass and headed for goal. He was perhaps guilty of shooting too early and cursed his luck as his low drive from the edge of the area thumped Ian MacFarlane's right hand post and bounced to safety.

Accies : Macfarlane, Nelson, Callaghan, Hogg, Gaughan, Clark, Russell, Prytz, Moore (Eadie 57), McFarlane and Bonnar.

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