Accies 1 Airdrie United 0: Saturday, 10 August 2002

Bell's Scottish League Division 2,

New Douglas Park, Hamilton

Saturday, 10 August 2002

Accies 1 Airdrie United 0

Armstrong 47

Attendance 427

Report by George Grandison

Accies held on for the 3 points against the newly formed Airdrie United today in a well-contested Lanarkshire derby at New Douglas Park. Gareth Armstrong scored the only goal just after the break and Accies withstood a strong finish that saw Airdrie's Marvin Wilson sent off at the death.

The match kicked off around 5 minutes late, allowing the visiting support to get through some traffic problems between Airdrie and Hamilton. Accies began brightly and had a couple of half-chances inside the opening 10 minutes, Iain McCreadie shooting wide from an Ally Graham (II) knockdown and Gareth Armstrong sending a looping header just over the bar.

Much of the first half was fairly scrappy and some of Airdrie's passing made them look a slightly better outfit at times but they often failed to get in a telling cross that might have had the Accies defence stretched. Accies' best chance of the half fell to McCreadie as some nice passing through the middle gave him some space to run forward into the box but his angled shot from 15 yards flew past and ricocheted back from the pole supporting the net.

Just before half time saw Airdrie get a good opening on the right and their number 7 had a shot well saved by MacFarlane. The ball spun towards the goal but help was on hand for the clearance. A shot from the edge of the box by the Airdrie left back came close as the half drew to a close.

Honours even at half time then and probably a fair reflection of the play. Airdrie's build up looked better but they weren't creating much up front. For Accies, Big Ally Graham was causing problems for the visiting defence but Armstrong wasn't really able to lend much support. Talking of support, Airdrie brought the largest visiting support to NDP so far, probably accounting for about half of the official attendance of 2366. Just a pity that some of them felt the need to bring along a Union Jack or 2, not to mention Union Jack bunting - why???

Accies made a change at half time with Paul McDonald coming on at left back in place of young Nicky Paterson and changing the pattern to 4-4-2 with young Ally Graham given a more orthodox role on the right hand side. Graham looked much more comfortable there and within 2 minutes of the restart had helped set up the opening goal. His clever play created space for himself on the touchline and a good cross was well controlled by Armstrong before he turned and hammered a great shot low past Mark McGeown in the Airdrie goal.

Armstrong came close to making it two when he again found space just inside the box but his rising shot was brilliantly tipped over by McGeown. Airdrie tried to up the pace and looked threatening on several occasions with McGuire shooting straight at MacFarlane a couple of times. At the other end, Armstrong's improved second half continued as he produced another great shot, this time from the right, which McGeown again did well to touch over the bar. Mahdi Elfallah came on to replace Ian McCreadie but he didn't see much of the ball as Airdrie went in search of an equaliser. They sent on an extra forward in place of a centre back but couldn't find a way through an Accies defence that was increasingly on the back foot.

Airdrie claimed a penalty as Walker and McGuire tangled on the edge of the box but the ref saw nothing amiss. Marvin Wilson was booked for a hefty tackle near the end and then foolishly tangled with Armstrong as the 2 challenged for a high ball. I was too far away to see the incident clearly but Armstrong went down holding his head and the ref wasn't hanging about with a second yellow. Wilson had a few words with the Accies man on the way past, obviously not happy with his reaction.

Accies survived one more late scare as a free kick on the edge of the box deflected off the wall but they held on to take the acclaim of the home fans who naturally gave them a well-deserved standing ovation at the finish. The sort of commitment and effort shown by Accies in the first 2 games won't necessarily see them win the majority of their games but it's certainly paying off at the moment. Hilly's touchline enthusiasm and motivation obviously gets through to his team and the fans certainly appreciate the efforts.

One more disappointing reaction from the Airdrie support to finish on. Near the end, Paul McDonald went down injured and Faldo kicked the ball out for a throw to allow treatment. Not only did the Airdrie fans boo and scream "cheat, cheat, cheat", but they also booed their own team when they gave Accies the ball back from the throw. Great to have them back, eh?

Accies: MacFarlane, Nelson, Paterson (sub McDonald), Dobbins, Sweeney, McCreadie (sub Elfallah), Bonnar, Walker (sub Davidson), Armstrong, Graham (II), Graham(I).

After Match Quotes

"I told the lads before the game that win or lose we would have a night out. After all that these lads have been through during the close season they deserved it."

"Gareth Armstrong had a marvellous game and I'm sure he'll be happy with himself. But if he doesn't score again next week he'll be dropped! It was an unbelievable strike from him for the goal and he had one or two efforts after that which needed great saves from the goalkeeper to stop him from adding to it. He's been here since last year when there were lots of other strikers here. It was hard for him to get into the team back then but he's still here and in on merit. He's banging in the goals and if he keeps that up he'll stay in the side.

"This result helps the squad to bond - they showed out there today how hard they work for each other and we'll take a lot out of this game.

"We showed we're happy working with each other after a period of difficulty for the club. I'm delighted to get two wins out of two and that's a by-product of the fact we've got stability on and off the park."

Chris Hillcoat

"Ally Graham's great - it's easy to play off him because you know you're going to have to do all his running for him! It's good working with the big man - he talks you through it and helps you a lot and he's helping me to develop myself as a player. He's a good person for me to learn from because he's been about for years and years and he's scored goals at every level he's played at. So if I can't learn something good from him there's something far wrong".

Gareth Armstrong

"I was telling the boys before the match if it was anything like the Airdrie I remembered they would make us fight to the end. That proved to be the case and given the quality of my old team mates Sandy Stewart, Marvyn Wilson and Jimmy Boyle we really feel we earned our victory.

"It's great just to be getting a game. I struggled for money all summer and I didn't know if I'd be playing football this season. Hamilton let me go but it's good to be back. However, it's only two games and there's a lot of hard work ahead."

Sean Sweeney

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