Scottish League Divison 2, Cappielow, Greenock
Saturday, 11 August 2001
Oops - I Did It Again!
FIRST HALF
Accies put their sizeable travelling support through the emotional wringer on Saturday when they blew a 2 goal lead down at Cappielow. Accies manager Ally Dawson had restored the regular players who had missed out on the midweek defeat at Peterhead, with Martin Bonnar, Allan Russell, Michael Moore and Stuart Callaghan all coming back into the team.
The Bankies line-up contained a surprising amount of experience for an allegedly hard-up club. As well as veteran 'keeper Henry Smith, they featured many experienced players such as Mark McNally, Rab McKinnon, manager Derek Ferguson, Brian Hamilton, George Shaw, Paul McGrillen and Ally Graham in their selection. These players might not be spring chickens but they certainly know what they're doing.
Accies got off to a cracking start and nearly took the lead in the opening minutes when David McFarlane did well to beat the Bankies' antiquated goalkeeper Henry Smith to a short passback. He was forced wide of the goal and his cutback in the vague direction of Michael Moore was easily thumped away by a grateful defender. I'm sure that a more confident McFarlane would have gone for goal. Accies were not to be denied for long, however, and took the lead after only 6 minutes with a scrappy effort by Michael Moore. A corner from Accies left was not defended well and the ball broke to Michael about 10 yards out. His low shot should have been saved easily by old Henry but it squirmed from his grasp and over the line.
It got even better for the hoops 13 minutes later. Stuart Callaghan fired in a brilliant cross from the left. Allan Russell got to the ball ahead of the Bankies defender and his superb downward header made the score 2-0.
So things looked pretty good for Accies and the fans were delighted at this improvement in their play after a couple of recent disappointments. But Accies lost a daft goal just 4 minutes later when Graham Potter could only flap at a Derek Ferguson corner and it flew into the net.
Despite this blunder by Potter, he made a couple of good saves before half time to preserve Accies lead. The best of these was from a snap shot from Brian Hamilton which was heading for the top corner before Graham plucked it out of the air.
The other notable feature of the first half was the performance of the referee (C Thompson) and, more interestingly, the Accies fans interpretations of his decision making. Both Allan Russell and Stuart Callaghan were booked for fouls on Derek Ferguson. Naturally there were howls of derision from many Accies fans, with one cerebrally challenged supporter saying that an Accies player should really get his studs into Ferguson as retribution. Quite how this would have helped the cause I'm not too sure.
So at half time Accies still had their slender lead but looked more than capable of at least maintaining their advantage.
SECOND HALF
The second half seemed to be a much more even affair. The Bankies created a few chances but were unable to take them, while Accies also came close on a few occasions. The best chance fell to David McFarlane who was left with only Henry Smith to beat. The ancient 'keeper did well and Accies only gained a fruitless corner. At the other end of the park the Accies goal had a narrow escape when Graham Potter was forced out of his penalty area to clear and the Bankies forward was unable to hit the open target from long range.
Not long after half time, Accies arch-nemesis Paul McGrillen went down with an injury right beside the Accies fans. This had happened when HE tackled an Accies player. He seemed to be really groggy and was eventually stretchered off and got pelters from the Accies fans for his pains. However, he seemed quite chirpy at the touchline 15 minutes later, back in his suit.
Allan Russell was replaced just before the hour following another patchy display and the eager Alisdair Graham took his place. Graham did well on the right side of the park and should be a useful member of the squad.
With 13 minutes left, Michael Moore was replaced by Wale Kwick Ajet, who immediately jinked his way through the Bankies defence before his shot was blocked. There seemed at this point to be little danger of Accies blowing the game but then the whole match was turned on its head by a spirited Clydebank fightback.
First of all, with only 8 minutes remaining, Derek Ferguson scored with a cracking low shot from about 22 yards. He then saluted to the Accies fans, which was out of order for an experienced player and supposed Accies fan. The goal followed some more poor goalkeeping from Potter, who flapped at a cross before it broke to Ferguson.
With the clock approaching 4.45, some more poor play from Potter gave Alex Burke the chance to lob the ball towards the net. It was certainly going in and was tipped over the bar by Eddie Cunnington. Eddie had to take the long walk and Alex Burke rolled the penalty low into the corner as Potter went the wrong way.
So once again we had to endure the sight of Accies blowing a winnable game, the umpteenth time they've done this in the last couple of years. Graham Potter had a poor game, although I think his confidence has been undermined by poor man-management by Ally Dawson.
IN CONCLUSION
Without wanting to be harsh on Graham Potter, it was clear to see why Ally Dawson has been so keen to sign a new goalie as backup to Faldo. However, as stated above I think his confidence has been shattered by his manager's behaviour.
The defence was really dodgy in this game. In the first half, Steven Renicks did quite well but was often caught out of position in the second half. The centre back pairing of Ross Maclaren and Paul Gaughan just couldn't cope with the height of Ally Graham and he won virtually everything in the air. Eddie Cunnington did his usual job on the left side of the defence and was applauded by many fans for sacrificing himself for the penalty at the end. I suppose if the penalty had been missed, he'd have a been a hero, but as it is he will now miss what has become a vital match against Cowdenbeath next Saturday.
Allan Russell was his usual "enigmatic" self and Martin Bonnar and Jim Sherry chased and tackled anything that moved. But they didn't actually create much in the way of chances. Stuart Callaghan did reasonably well on the left and seems to be building up a good partnership with Eddie Cunnington.
Up front, I thought that Michael Moore and David McFarlane had poor games and appear to be lacking in confidence.
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