New Douglas Park, Saturday 28th July 2001
Accies opened their magnificent new stadium, New Douglas Park, on Saturday against a young Sunderland team. In footballing terms, it was really no contest with the Mackems second XI winning with something to spare.
I will confess right up front to not knowing who any of the Sunderland team were. But they were too good for the Accies team that played today and scored 4 going on 7.
Sunderland raced into a 2 goal lead thanks to a well struck penalty and some neat play to avoid the clumsy attempts by the Accies defence to catch them offside. Accies pulled one back before half time thanks to a well struck penalty by Stuart Callaghan, but that was followed quickly by a third goal from the visitors. This goal was lost when Accies 'keeper Ian Macfarlane pulled a muscle when racing out to clear the ball and he was beaten to it. He must be a doubt for the opening league match against Queen Of The South next week. Graham Potter took his place.
Accies got back into it in the second half thanks to a good header from Ross Maclaren from a free-kick by Callaghan, but an easy fourth goal by Sunderland wrapped things up well before the end. Lots of people left at that point (with 15 minutes left), although that might have been partly due to the proximity of the Celtic V St Johnstone game live on the telly.
Accies played quite well in patches of the game but really it was no contest. But that's the problem with friendlies; you can never tell who's really trying.
In the second half, we had the usual flurry of substitutions, with Allan Russell, Michael Martin and Kris O'Neil all making an appearance. But the highlight for me was the final appearance in the hoops of Chris Hillcoat, who played the last 15 minutes and must have savoured every second.
Here's the starting line-up :
Before the game, we had the pleasure (!) of the company of Accies fan Jock Brown as master of ceremonies. He interviewed various people but took on the persona of the dumb interviewer (you know, the one who asks how you felt when you fell out of the aeroplane!)
For example, he had a wee chat with Bobby Shearer, who played 74 games for the Accies and was later their manager but is best known as a Rangers "legend". Bobby admitted that he would probably go to more games at Ibrox than NDP and broke down when Jock asked him if he'd like to turn back the clock and play at the new stadium.
Jock then spoke to former Hamilton MP George Robertson, who was just back from sorting out the problems in Macedonia. He came up with the quote of the day, however, when he said that sorting out a peaceful conclusion to the Kosovo crisis had been easier than getting a new stadium for Hamilton Accies. I've heard it before, but it was a good one all the same!
Shame then, that the stadium development had nothing to do with him! (In fact, as far as I can remember he avoided the matter like the plague when he was our MP, on the grounds that Douglas park was not within his constituency!)
The final interview was with Accies captain Chris Hillcoat, whose testimonial match THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN!
Chris spoke very well, but unfortunately Jock asked him if he would rather be out on the pitch as a playing member of the Accies squad. Well, duuuhh!
The star of the day, without a doubt, was the new stadium. After 7 years of watching Accies struggle with low crowds under unfriendly circumstances it was absolutely fantastic to take my seat at New Douglas Park. The views are superb and the seats would appear to be able to accommodate the more ample fan with ease.
Having seen Accies play to really bad crowds at Cliftonhill and Firhill, I had a lump in my throat watching them at an almost full stadium in Hamilton. (I wish I was a better writer so that I could articulate the emotions properly.)
There are a few things that have to be sorted out, however. Most importantly, I originally thought that the club had done well with the facilities for disabled fans. They've been given space at pitch level with dedicated seats for them and their helpers. BUT, if there's a big crowd and big queues at the pie hut, they won't be able to see the game.
I accept that the problems were exacerbated by the enforced closure of the pie huts in the Spice Of Life Stand by the authorities and the much bigger than usual crowd. But this will have to be fixed pronto.
The most important thing was that the town of Hamilton recovered a bit of its soul on Saturday.
Accies are back.
Bring On The Doonhamers!
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