Bell's Scottish League Division 2,
Central Park, Cowdenbeath
Saturday, 3 August 2002
Cowdenbeath 1 Accies 3
Gordon 7 Ally Graham (II) 39,77
Gareth Armstrong 81
Attendance 427
All the stresses and strains of the summer were worth it. This was a match that some of us never expected to happen. In fact, it must have been in doubt even this week. That it should turn out so well for Accies must rank as a total surprise, although I hope that no-one is getting too confident about things.
There were rumours earlier in the week that Chris Hillcoat's first match as "The Gaffer" would also mean a debut for striker Ally Graham. I know we've had the services of the former Hearts player of that name for a year, what was a surprise was that Hilly had made a move for the lanky striker that shares his name. I'm sure someone will know this for sure (Peter McLeish?), but I've never heard of us using two players with identical names before. Was this a unique occurrence?
In any event, I'm sure that many Accies fans would share my mixed feelings at the arrival of the new man. I know he has hurt Accies on several occasions before, but I also know that he's not particularly highly regarded by many. One Motherwell fan I know cringes every time he hears his name. But that's all in the past now. What matters is that he now wears the hoops and that he scored a couple of goals in this game. One more and he would have been up there beside John Tuite in the ranks of debutant Accies who've scored a hat-trick in their first game.
My report on the game itself will be limited by the fact that, when Cowdenbeath scored their goal after only 7 minutes, we were still stuck in the queue waiting to cross the Forth Bridge. Sadly, we were listening to Chick Young telling everyone that Ally Dawson hadn't received the £11,000 he was apparently owed by the club. That Kirk Maxwell was able to call in and contradict the wee guy implies that he wasn't at the game. Anyway, from where I was sitting Gordon looked well offside when his header crashed past Faldo in the Accies goal.
There were certainly a few surprises in the Accies team. In front of Faldo, there was captain Sean Sweeney alongside his regular sidekick Mark Nelson. There was also Ian Dobbins, whom many fans will know from his appearances in the reserves. Paul McDonald completed an unusual defensive quartet and did pretty well in a left wing-back role. The midfield had Ally Graham (I), Martin Bonnar, Johnny Walker and Nicky Paterson. In front of them were Ally Graham (II) and Gareth Armstrong.
After missing the first half hour, the remaining 15 minutes were spent trying to work out who was who and saying "hello" to some pals in the crowd. From the limited play that we saw, the home team seemed to have the upper hand and they got in behind Accies on the right on two or three occasions. The crossballs were universally rubbish, however, and Faldo and his colleagues dealt with them easily enough. It was a bit of a surprise when Accies equalised just before half time. It was really simple too, with Ally Graham (II) heading home a corner from the right wing, possibly taken by Paul McDonald.
SECOND HALF
Accies took their time to return to the pitch, presumably because Hilly was giving them some extra words of "encouragement". It seemed to work too, as they increased their efforts in the second period. At this point, it's worth mentioning the irritating comments made by the eejits in the home crowd. Not long into the second half, Ian Macfarlane sustained what looked like a nasty facial injury. Some neanderthal home fan near me kept shouting that he was only kidding on, or on strike or something. That Faldo had to be subbed didn't make any difference. When the replacement, Graham Potter, also got a kick in the face later on, the same cretin repeated his moronic comments.
It's funny when you watch a game from a mixed crowd, as the opposition fans almost always take the opposite view from your own. For example, there was an occasion when Ally Graham (II) simply stood his ground in the penalty area before heading the ball on. That one of the Cowden defenders effectively bounced off his bulky frame can hardly be regarded as his fault, can it? It wasn't a foul, despite their howls of derision at the referee. After years of deploring segregation at games, I'm now changing my mind.
Accies began to take the upper hand in the second half and they sealed the game with a couple of goals within a 5 minute spell late in the game. The first of these was officially credited to Ally Graham (II), although I thought it was an own goal by one of the lumbering home defenders. It was a crap goal anyway, but very welcome at the time. The footballing highlight of the game effectively killed off the challenge of the home team. A cross ball was flicked on by Ally Graham (II) and fell invitingly to Gareth Armstrong. Just as most Accies fans were imploring him to control the ball and advance on the Cowden 'keeper, he crashed it high into the net to seal the game.
That was the signal for the home support to head for the exits and to dodge the arriving stock cars in the car park. A couple of home players were booked for innocuous looking offences and Martin Bonnar had an attack of cramp. I thought the referee would've added on several minutes of extra time, but he blew quite quickly.
That was the signal for a standing ovation from the Accies fans and it was terrific to see the players respond very well to the supporters. Chris Hillcoat made a point of sending the players over to applaud the fans, although it was a shame that the head coach himself didn't come over to thank the fans. Perhaps he was aware of the fact that this was only the first step along a very bumpy road this season.
Accies: Macfarlane (Potter 49), Nelson, McDonald, Dobbins, Sweeney, Paterson (Elfallah 82), Bonnar (McCreadie 85), Walker, Armstrong, Ally Graham (II), Ally Graham (I).
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