Accies 1 Forfar Athletic 1: Saturday, 25 August 2001

Scottish League Division 2, New Douglas Park, Hamilton

Saturday, 25 August 2001

A bad day at the office for Accies. They had another team there for the beating but could not take their chances and paid the price for some poor defending.

FIRST HALF

The pre-match news about Accies was that Ross Maclaren was out with a bad back injury - he was replaced by experienced defender Mark Nelson. New signing Sean Sweeney was on the bench. Michael Martin was left out for the return of Eddie Cunnington after suspension.

Forfar turned out in their Norwich City style away kit of lurid yellow and green. I have to confess that the only familiar faces in their line-up were former international midfield man David Bowman and well travelled striker Paul Tosh.

There was an odd start to the game. After only a couple of minutes the game was held up because the far side linesman appeared to have pulled a muscle. It was nearly 10 minutes before a replacement could be found - former Fifa referee Jim McCluskey.

The pattern of play in the first half was of almost total domination by Accies. They used the width of the park to get players like Allan Russell and Stuart Callaghan into good positions to make telling crosses. With a superb wide pitch and perfect playing conditions, it was a huge disappointment to see these players having difficulty in putting a decent cross into the penalty area.

The best chances came from deep crosses from corner kicks. Accies had several of these in the first half, with good deep crosses by Stuart Callaghan being met by players at the back post. However, nothing came of them.

Accies nearly took the lead midway through the first half when a cracking shot by David McFarlane fizzed past the post. I have to confess that from my seat behind the goal it looked in all the way and I was on my feet ready to celebrate when it just scraped past the post. I get the feeling that when Davie does score it will be the first of many.

Accies looked the better team and they duly took the lead after 31 minutes with a well worked goal. Some poor defensive play by Forfar left a huge gap in the inside left channel. Stuart Callaghan spotted it, Eddie Cunnington supplied the excellent pass and Callaghan fired in a low shot which went in off the foot of the far post.

The goal should have settled everyone's nerves. In fact Accies came close to extending their lead when Alisdair Graham got his foot to a cross from the left. He didn't make great contact though, and the Forfar 'keeper was able to tip the ball over the bar.

Forfar had a couple of sporadic attacks of their own in the first half. Any danger to the Accies goal was, however, caused by poor defending (including players falling over) rather than their great skill. Colin Stewart was helped out on more than one occasion by clearances from within the 6 yard box.

A couple of Forfar players were booked in the first half, one of them being David Bowman for a crunching tackle on an Accies man. From my vantage point, I could clearly hear the referee tell him, "You would have got away with it if you had used one foot. But you went in with both feet."

SECOND HALF

The brief reviews in the papers will have you believe that this was a game of two halves with Forfar being much stronger after the break. To be honest, I think Accies were still the dominant team for most of the second period and had several decent chances to extend their lead.

As with the other games we've played so far, they just didn't have their shooting boots on. Stuart Callaghan had a couple of good shooting opportunities but still has problems in keeping the ball down. Despite Accies territorial domination, they seemed unable to force the Forfar goalie into making any worthwhile saves. The crosses were still poor. Most of them were either overhit or sliced out of play.

But the most notable feature of the second half was, I am afraid to say, the poor display from several players. Steven Renicks was caught out of position on several occasions and vulnerable to diagonal passes down the right. Ally Dawson was either oblivious to this or not concerned. I felt that Michael Martin should have been brought into the action soon after half time. But he wasn't the only one. Allan Russell continues to frustrate. He CAN do the right things well, but just doesn't seem to try hard enough. He has enough talent to have a decent career in the game but unless he applies himself...

Forfar were a bit more enterprising after the break, although most of their attacks were on the counter-attack. I'm sure nobody expected them to do anything in the game so it was a real shock to the system when they equalised after 69 minutes. A long ball through the middle caught out the Accies defence and Paul Tosh had the goal at his mercy about 12 yards out. Mark Nelson fouled him and the referee correctly sent off the Accies defender for the professional foul. Tosh himself cracked home the penalty, sending the 35 Forfar fans into delirium.

Naturally, this gave Accies a real fright and Ally Dawson immediately hauled off Stuart Callaghan (his most threatening forward player) and replaced him with journeyman central defender Sean Sweeney, making his debut for the club. This did add stability to the centre of the defence, although the downside was that Accies were now a man short up front.

It's got to be said that for the next 15 minutes or so, Forfar used their extra man well and generally ran the game. Colin Stewart looked a bit nervous in goal and I think this uncertainty quickly spread throughout the team. Despite their numerical advantage, however, they were unable to create any decent chances.

Accies came more into the game towards the end and tried for a winner. But the Forfar defence held out and the game ended in another disappointing draw.

IN CONCLUSION

I suppose that a draw was a fair result but Accies could, and should, have won this game easily. I would hope that Ally Dawson will take advantage of the two-week break before our visit to Berwick to get some hard work done on the training pitch. All areas of the team need to improve.

The defence looked uncomfortable and Steven Renicks had a poor match. In midfield, Allan Russell didn't pull his weight and up front Wale Kwick Ajet just doesn't look like a good player.

The Accies fans (myself included) thought that the team would do well this season. I still think that they can given the quality of the squad. But points will only be won if they put in a shift on the park on a Saturday but also during the week in training.

Perhaps this fortnight's layoff is the best thing that could have happened.

The Teams

Referee : Kevin Toner

- Read the fans' memories, or add your own, via this link.

- Please contact us if you have any information that will improve this page or if you spot any mistakes.

Images

Videos

Links and References