Scottish Cup Round 3, Hampden Park, Glasgow
Saturday, 25 January 2003
Report by Gilbert Mowat
All right. I know it's lovely to have a run in the cup. It's quite a relief from following our clumsy progress in the second division this season. But Accies don't make it easy for their supporters. The game at Prestonpans that was expected to be a walkover was won by the narrowest of margins. The tie against East Fife was only won on penalties after both matches produced last minute equalisers. Towards the end of this game, it seemed as though we were on the brink of yet another new low for the club. The amateurs of Queens Park may have a fine history and a great stadium, but they're struggling in the bottom half of division 3 and should have been swept aside as we marched onto round 4.
So with the stadium clock having shown "90" for a couple of minutes already, some fans voted with their feet and decided to miss the final whistle. Yet again they should have remembered that the game lasts until the final whistle (especially when Stuart Dougal is the ref) and that it only takes a second to score a goal. Good work on the right wing by Mahdi Elfallah won Accies a corner on the right. Stuart Callaghan sprinted over to take the kick. His cross was a very dangerous one and the Queens 'keeper Mitchell could only palm it away. It dropped to the far post where Brian McPhee chipped it into the middle for Allan Russell to nod home. The Accies fans went berserk with relief and realised just how jammy their team had been. The game ended quickly afterwards.
And yet the game had started out quite promisingly for the hoops. I have to confess that I missed the start of the game after choosing the wrong queue at the criminally slow Hampden turnstiles. So I was still looking for a seat when Accies opened the scoring after just 5 minutes. Stuart Callaghan supplied a lovely cross from the left and it was Martin Bonnar who got ahead of Brian McPhee to score with his second superb header in as many weeks.
Accies really took the game to the amateurs for the next period of the game and only a couple of poor misses by Allan Russell (one an open header from a great cross by Brian McPhee was almost criminally negligent) meant that we only led by the one goal. The Spiders came back into the game as they realised just how lightweight the Accies midfield is these days. The took control and deservedly equalised just after the half hour, thanks to some comic cuts defending by Accies. Mark Nelson headed the ball straight to an unmarked Queens forward inside the area. His left foot shot was well blocked by Graham Potter but the ball spun high in the air for centre forward John Gemmell to head home.
Things got worse for Accies ten minutes into the second half when Gemmell beat Sean Sweeney to a through ball and thumped the ball past the exposed Graham Potter. Naturally, the goal gave Accies a fright and they did increase their energy levels for a while. But they rarely seemed to threaten the Queens goal. As usual, Johnny Walker was the first player to be replaced. I know he's under contract for another full season after this one, but I can't understand why he's still in the team. He has shown time after time that he's just not up to 2nd division football. I would far rather see someone like Ian McCreadie or Mahdi Elfallah get a regular place ahead of him. Elfallah replaced Walker and this certainly improved matters, especially on the right of the park.
Paul McDonald was also replaced by young Darren Gribben as Accies sought to save the game. The youngster looked sharp too as he brought a good save out of the home goalkeeper. Towards the end Accies were just lumping high balls forward and it became even worse when Big Ally Graham came on for Martin Bonnar. A chance was cleared off the Queens line as Accies went for broke. And then came that equaliser...
So Accies live to fight another day, this time against Queens at New Douglas Park on Tuesday 4th Feb at 7.45. Under normal circumstances, you would expect the team from a higher division to win a replay at home. But this is Accies and it will be at New Douglas Park so nothing can be taken for granted.
Hamilton: Potter, Nelson, Dobbins, Sweeney, McDonald (Gribben 66), Alisdair Graham, Bonnar (Alistair S Graham 83), Walker (Elfallah 57), Callaghan, Russell, McPhee.
Subs Not Used: Arbuckle, McFarlane.
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