New Douglas Park, Hamilton, Saturday 27 October 2001
Accies 0
Attendance 2440
Berwick Rangers 1
Anthony
Recent world events have made some people question their religious beliefs. Today's fiasco of a performance from Accies will make many of the decent crowd of over 2400 question their allegiance to a team that simply didn't try.
Right from the start, the visitors from Berwick looked to be more up for the game than Accies. They tackled hard and when they hit their passes, generally found their team mate. On the other hand, I lost count of the passes from Accies players that went astray. Time and again an Accies player would get the ball in a decent position, before firing it beautifully to the feet of a Berwick man. Even worse was their inability to gain decent possession from throw-ins. On about 7 or 8 occasions an Accies player took the throw-in but only succeeded in having the ball intercepted.
Ally Dawson fielded the team that had rather fortuitously beaten Clydebank 7 days earlier, so it's not as though they don't know how to win. I think that the fundamental problem was that the complacent Accies players expected to win the game, while the Berwick men wanted to win.
Accies did come close on one occasion in the first half, when a good downward header by Michael Moore from a Stuart Callaghan free kick was scooped off the line by the Berwick 'keeper. Some of the players looked hopefully at the linesman but the "goal" was not given. The visitors did have some sporadic attacks in the early stages but they were easily mopped up by the Accies defence.
When the sucker-punch goal arrived it was thanks to some great skill by Marc Anthony as he dribbled past several defenders before cracking the ball past Graham Potter. But it has to be said that the "tackling" by the Accies men was decidedly powder puff and defensively the goal was a disgrace.
Accies left the field to a chorus of boos from the home support and manager Dawson took action to try to rejuvenate his team. He withdrew the lethargic Ally Graham and sent on 19 year old Alex Lurinsky to take over on the right wing. As it turned out, Lurinsky was to be Accies most energetic and skillful attacker with a couple of decent runs at the Berwick defence.
However, Accies didn't do enough to threaten the Berwick goal and although their 'keeper made a couple of saves they weren't anything that he shouldn't have got to. Berwick had a couple of attacks too but didn't look like extending their lead. Accies contributed to this with some "Keystone Kops" defending that gave the visitors a couple of good opportunities.
Stuart Callaghan was again captain in place of the injured Jim Sherry, but he didn't exactly cover himself in glory. He was his usual self. He has plenty of skill but has a dreadful temperament. He's quite happy to niggle players but reacts badly to anyone who has the temerity to foul him. He was booked for persistent fouling after about 80 minutes and a few minutes later inflicted an appalling tackle on a Berwick man. He became the 4th Accies player to be red-carded this season and was booed off the park by the understandably angered Accies fans.
That was effectively the end of the game. Accies fans left in droves - sensing that there was now no way back for the home team. Ally Dawson flung Paul McDonald and Gareth Armstrong into the action but these changes made no difference to the game.
CONCLUSION
It's hard to know where to begin. It could be that, come the end of the season, this will be regarded as one of those days when the wheels came off temporarily. But I don't think so. Accies were so totally lacking in imagination and effort that the majority of fans were disgusted.
The club got rid of Robert Prytz during the week but I suspect that the smarter move would have been to rid themselves of their inept manager. Ally Dawson seems unable either to organise or enthuse his team. His summer signings have not been a success and their appears to be little team spirit amongst the players. Dreams of promotion can be forgotten.
If Dawson can't get them to play with pride, I suggest that the club hire someone who can!
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