Accies 2 Morton 1: Saturday, 2 February 2002

Scottish League Division 2, New Douglas Park, Hamilton

Saturday, 2 February 2002

Accies manager Ally Dawson made a fundamental tactical change for this game, with Ross Maclaren forming part of a back 5, with Mark Nelson and Sean Sweeney beside him and Steven Renicks and Michael Martin on the flanks. Martin Bonnar, Brian McPhee and Stuart Callaghan occupied their normal positions with Michael Moore and David McNiven up front. Ally Graham and Iain McCreadie were the unlucky ones who sat the game out.

For their part, Morton had former Accies favourite Dylan Kerr on the bench, with Derek Collins at the back and the potentially dangerous pairing of Warren Hawke and Paul Wright up front.

Accies got off at a cracking pace and scored an excellent goal after only two minutes. Some neat midfield play gave Michael Moore a chance to run in on the Morton 'keeper Craig Coyle, but he didn't have a decent angle to shot from. He ran inside the penalty area and then cut inside onto his right foot and shaped as if he would shoot. Instead he cut outside the defender again and took the ball to the byeline before whipping over a low cross. Martin Bonnar was the man who had followed up and he netted from a couple of yards out.

Things got even better for Accies after 15 minutes. Some fine play on the right involving Stuart Callaghan led to Steven Renicks sending over a good cross from the right. Michael Martin headed the ball over the out-of-position Coyle and Accies were 2-0 up. Just at this point I mentioned that I really wanted to see Accies hammer someone and this looked like a good opportunity. At this stage of the game Morton weren't getting a kick of the ball.

Accies had several good chances to extend their lead before the break, with Stuart Callaghan shooting just over the bar and a fine header from Brian McPhee clipping the top of the bar. Michael Moore came close too, with a turn and shot that was deflected just wide with Coyle nowhere. Morton never tested Ian Macfarlane in the first half. Their best efforts were a free kick from Wright that sailed 20 feet over the top and another effort that flew harmlessly over the bar.

While the first half had been generally pretty good for Accies, they huffed and puffed their way through the second period. Perhaps this was because Morton realised that they were in severe danger of sinking to the foot of the table if they lost this game. I was delighted to see Dylan Kerr come on at half time - Brian McPhee had had a relatively quiet half before the break and I thought he would rip poor Dylan apart. It didn't really work out that way in the second half, although Accies continued to create a fair number of chances.

Morton eventually got their first effort on target after about an hour - but the low trundler was easily held by Faldo. Accies came very close to extending their lead when Ross Maclaren and David McNiven had shots kicked off the line and Morton defender Stephen Frail headed the ball against his own goal post.

So the game was beginning to peter out when Morton suddenly scored. An Accies clearance was skied inside the penalty area and there was a bit of a scramble when it came down. The ball broke to substitute Aitken and he cracked the ball low past Macfarlane.

All of a sudden the visitors were back in the game and they gained total domination of the midfield. They forced a few corners that were mopped up by the Accies defence but didn't really look like getting that equaliser they craved. David McNiven hammered the ball high over the bar from about 10 yards out and was therefore selected for substitution with 13 minutes left. This gave Kris O'Neil a chance and he nearly made the most of it by bring a great save out of Coyle with a superbly controlled shot.

Morton's attempt to save the match was hampered by the sending-off of Stephen Frail 8 minutes from time after his second bookable offence.

However, Accies finished the game strongly and were, overall, well worthy of the three points. The league is now beginning to bunch up nicely at the top and Accies are far from out of it. But there are some really tricky away matches coming up and their victorious run may soon come to an end.

Finally, the referee, Ian Frickleton, was having a bit of a stinker. He eventually booked 6 players and red-carded Stephen Frail near the end for a second offence. But this was not a dirty game. Martin Bonnar was booked for an unnecessary trip, Brian McPhee saw yellow for dissent after being ruled offside and Michael Moore was booked in the second half for persistent fouling. But I suspect he'll be unpopular with the Morton fans too.