Accies 1 Brechin City 2: Saturday, 28 December 2002

Scottish League Division 2, New Douglas Park, Hamilton

Saturday, 28 December 2002

Report by Gilbert Mowat

It's not easy to support Accies at the moment. Even if you put the off the field nonsense out of your mind and concentrate on simply supporting the team, you're never far away from the next in a long line of disappointments.

The Brechin match was a classic example of this. Accies had defeated Dumbarton in their previous match and would have benefited from a fortnight's rest. Brechin had several key players missing and their own form had been a bit patchy of late. This was obviously a winnable game for Accies and one that would take them into the top half of the league for the first time in ages.

As it turned out, the only Accies player who really competed and showed any class was Brian McPhee. The Bee was everywhere and represented the only player with any notion of where the visitors goal was. Most of the rest of the team should hang their heads in shame after this performance.

Accies did start the game quite brightly and dominated the opening stages of the match without threatening David Hay's goal. In particular, McPhee clearly had the beating of the cumbersome Kevin Fotheringham in the Brechin defence. So it was completely against the run of play that Brechin took the lead after 22 minutes, with defender Daryn Smith prodding the ball home from close range. Accies should have been in front before that, when dodgy referee Ian Brines failed to penalise a clear handball offence by a Brechin defender inside his own area. Another attack by Accies later on saw Allan Russell being brought down by the last defender but the ref didn't even award a foul.

The Brechin goal only seemed to spur Accies onto greater efforts and they equalised just two minutes later. A high corner kick from the left was ignored by everyone apart from Brian McPhee - and his superb downward header flashed into the net before Hay could move.

As has happened many times this season, we all thought that this goal would be the signal for a change in Accies fortunes and they would go on to win the game. Because you should make no mistake about this, Brechin were extremely mediocre and any half-decent team would have hammered them. That they took charge of the remainder of the game is a damning statement about how far Accies have fallen.

I didn't count the number of corner kicks Brechin won before half-time, but it must have been approaching double figures. None of them were particularly threatening and the nervous Accies defence were able to cope. For their part, Accies had a couple of corners themselves and were able to demonstrate their lack of ability from set pieces. I remember a few years ago, the German national team used to hit corners to Lothar Mattheus on the edge of the "D" and he would them volley them goalwards. Just why we should attempt the same thing with Martin Bonnar is beyond me. He looks like Stan Laurel but is as useful as Oliver Hardy.

Sadly, things did not improve much after the break. Brechin had plenty of possession but didn't have any real chances. Their efforts on goal weren't up to much and it was only the poor handling by Graham Potter in the Accies goal that caused any alarm. I'm sorry to report that he mis-handled almost every shot that came his way and his colleagues had to be on their toes to look out for rebounds.

While I applauded the decision to give Mark Keegans a game ahead of Ally Graham (11), he again looked to be out of his depth and was replaced by Big Ally just before the hour. I could go into a lengthy diatribe about how a player of his lack of ability isn't fit to grace an Accies shirt, but you've heard it all before. I needn't tell you that he didn't contribute anything positive in his 35 minutes on the park.

Brechin took the lead after 61 minutes with a really rubbish goal by Derek Clark. With the Accies defence in a fankle at the edge of the penalty area, he was able to shoot low into Graham Potter's goal. Naturally, that was the cue for the heads of the players and supporters to go down and an air of despondency to circulate the stadium.

It seemed that only Brian McPhee responded to the challenge. He came agonisingly close to equalising on two occasions near the end of the game. Cutting in from the left wing, he beat off the challenge from the final defender but his lob over the goalkeeper just missed the far post. Even worse was to follow, when he headed an Allan Russell cross down past the goalkeeper only for Kevin Fotheringham to hook the ball off the line at the last moment.

Chris Hillcoat had introduced young Andy Arbuckle on the right wing and the youngster showed some nice touches. I would say that he, wee Ally Graham, Mark Nelson and Brian McPhee can be excused from major criticism for this performance. In addition, it would be cruel to hammer the younger players like Craig Smillie, Ian Dobbins and Mark Keegans as they're still learning their trade. However, experienced players like Stuart Callaghan and especially Martin Bonnar just don't do enough to justify their places in the side.

This was a desperate showing by Accies. The game could, and should, have been won by a large margin. Hopefully, the imminent opening of the "transfer window" will lead to a significant change of personnel. Simply put, something will have to be done or we're a "goner" for sure.

Accies: Potter , Nelson, Cunnington, Dobbins, Smillie, Graham, Bonnar (Arbuckle 79), Russell, Keegans (Graham 55), McPhee, Callaghan

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