Accies 2 Morton 2: Saturday 29 September 2001

Bells League Division 2

New Douglas Park, Hamilton, Saturday 29 September 2001

Accies finished the first quarter of the season with another lacklustre performance against lowly opposition. Things will have to improve, and quickly, if the club is to have any chance of gaining promotion.

FIRST HALF

Three of Accies key players returned to the team after injury, with Eddie Cunnington, Sean Sweeney and Jim Sherry replacing Michael Martin, Mark Nelson and Johnny Walker. Morton had their fair share of experienced players in their team, with Allan Moore, David McPherson, Stephen Frail and Dylan Kerr amongst those in their nasty yellow and blue away kit.

There was a bigger than usual crowd at the game, with the numbers being swelled by a fair number of Morton fans and a great turnout of pupils and parents from the nearby Beckford St Primary School.

As has been the case in quite a few matches recently, Accies came out of the blocks at a cracking pace. Unfortunately, it seemed that they had left their shooting boots in the dressing room. Shot after shot peppered the wall behind the goal at the North Stand end, with Morton goalkeeper Craig Coyle only rarely called into action. Ally Graham got himself into decent shooting positions on several occasions but was unable to threaten the goal.

However, Accies took the lead with a great goal in the 17th minute. If you weren't at the game, I'll just describe it as "Dylan Kerr's goal at Dumbarton." This was a classic move where a free kick was rolled into Stuart Callaghan's path and his low shot beat the keeper low down at his left hand post. Dylan Kerr was raging at his team mates for not blocking the shot. The rest of us just lapped it up!

Despite the goal, the Accies defence looked a bit ropey whenever Morton made an attack. Accies still had most of the ball and were unlucky to see Gareth Armstrong crack the ball home from an offside position. So it was against the run of play that Morton equalised after 28 minutes. A good through ball saw one of their attackers forced wide by Graham Potter. He took his time, though, and picked out the head of diminutive forward Allan Moore with a pinpoint cross. Moore did the rest from close range.

This goal was to prove to be the turning point of the game. Ponderous defender David McPherson was injured in the build up to the goal and was replaced by Garry Tweedie. It's not that Tweedie was great - it was just that manager Peter Cormack moved Derek Collins into the back 4 and he proceeded to have a great game.

Accies still looked to be the better team and they retook the lead just before half time. Eddie Cunnington swung over a superb cross from the left and Michael Moore rose high to head the ball past the helpless Morton goalie. So it was 2-1 at half time with Accies on the ascendancy. Great.

SECOND HALF

I don't know what Ally Dawson said to his players at half time, but whatever it was it certainly didn't fire them up. If anything, Morton were the hungrier team in the second half.

Ten minutes after the break, Morton equalised with a simple goal. Derek Collins lofted a ball over the Accies defence and Sean O'Connor drilled it past the exposed Graham Potter from an acute angle. Some of the Accies fans thought it was offside and Eddie Cunnington was booked for giving the linesman a mouthful. Whatever happened, the Accies defence were caught flat footed.

That goal really seemed to knock the heart out of Accies. They never really looked like scoring in the second half. In fact, I would say that Morton created far more chances than Accies in the second half, but found Graham Potter in good form in the Accies goal.

As time went on, Accies manager Ally Dawson understandably decided to freshen things up with a few substitutions. They were bizarre in the extreme.

First of all, he hauled off Ally Graham after 68 minutes and replaced him with the fresh legs of Michael Martin. That one was reasonable, although I thought Graham had done well. What was not at all reasonable was his decision to replace our most effective forward, Michael Moore, with probably the worst striker we've had for years, Wale Kwick Ajet. Moore looked stunned when he saw his number being held up and the fans were not slow to voice their disapproval of Dawson's decision. I hardly need tell you that Kwick Ajet failed to make any impact on the game whatsoever.

Dawson's next questionable decision was to replace Stuart Callaghan with defender Mark Nelson. This was also met with a chorus of boos from the crowd. He changed his tactics at that point but it made no improvement in Accies fortunes.

These substitutions led to moments of high farce near the end of the match. With the game at 2-2 and no time left, Accies won a couple of corners. On both occasions, the players lined up in the middle for the crosses without first checking that SOMEONE WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO TAKE THE CORNER!! With Callaghan and Graham off the park by now, you would hope that someone would have the gumption to race over and take it. The kicks were eventually taken by Eddie Cunnington but he should have shown more urgency.

With the game drifting towards a draw (and plenty of Accies fans drifting towards the car park), Morton came very close to knicking all three points. An Accies attack on the right broke down when Steven Renicks mishit a pass to Michael Martin. The ball broke to Derek Collins in midfield and his superb through ball gave Allan Moore a one-on-one with Graham Potter. Martin Bonnar saw the danger and took the only action available to him. With no attempt to play the ball whatsoever, he tripped Moore just outside the penalty area. The inevitable red card followed quickly and he left the pitch to applause from the Accies fans. He had sacrificed himself for the next match but saved a point for Accies in the process.

The resultant free kick was taken by Dylan Kerr. I feared that he would make a poignant return to Hamilton by scoring a last minute winner but his shot sailed harmlessly over the bar. (Incidentally, I heard after the game that Dylan had shared in a bit of banter with an Accies fan during a break in play. The fan had told him he should still be with Accies and Dylan replied that he would've been if it hadn't been for that w*nk*r in the dugout. Er, allegedly.)

CONCLUSION

Accies fans who thought that their team would be among the leading contenders this season will now have realised that this is very unlikely to happen. Apart from the fact that some of the team simply aren't very good and can't score goals, my impression is that there is very little team spirit among the squad. They can't seem to battle their way to victory as they should do. Perhaps they get this attitude from their laid-back manager.

It's just not good enough for Accies. With a bumper crowd in the stadium, the team should have been desperate to impress. With even the diehards getting disgruntled, I can't imagine that newer fans will hang around too long if they have to suffer games like this.

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