Hamilton Accies 0 Stenhousemuir 1
New Douglas Park, 10 February 2004
Bell's Scottish League Division 2
Report by Gilbert Mowat
This was to be the night that Accies would stake a claim for the league championship. If Accies had been able to win, they would have closed the gap at the top to only 4 points and the pressure would have really been on Morton. As it turned out, this was a truly depressing night when a poor Accies team were unable to make any real headway against a team that are looking like dead certs for the drop into the bottom league.
Allan Maitland made four changes to freshen up the team, with Andy Whiteford, Chris Aitken, Andy Arbuckle and Jose Quitongo missing out. They were replaced by Robert Walker, Derek Ferguson, Stevie Convery and Mark Corcoran. In marked contrast to the atmosphere at Firhill on Saturday, the game was played out to a very muted response from the Accies fans and I am sure this didn't help the team. Accies opened the game quite brightly and took control from the very beginning with some nice sharp passing. It seemed to be only a matter of time before a goal would be scored, but Brian McPhee's header and Brian Carrigan's long range effort didn't cause Stenhousemuir goalie Willie McCulloch too many problems, although he did have to save a Mark Corcoran shot.
Accies suffered a blow after about half an hour when Stevie Convery pulled up and was unable to continue. Stevie was replaced by John Gemmell as his unhappy knack of picking up injuries struck again. Stenhousemuir were not seen as an attacking force at all in the first half as the Accies defence mopped up whatever they had to offer.
It was goalless at the break but it was hoped that Allan Maitland would be able to motivate his troops into raising their game for the second period. While Accies continued to have plenty of the ball in the second half, they didn't seem able to do anything with it. They seemed to be unable to play a nice short passing game and persisted in lumping the ball skywards at every opportunity. On the odd occasion when they did play some nice football, they invariably did quite well. The best chance of the game came from one such attempt, when neat play down the left wing between Sandy Hodge and Mark Corcoran ended with a low cross to an unmarked Brian Carrigan at the front post. Instead of just side footing the ball home, he flicked it with his heel and it trundled agonisingly wide of the goal.
As the game wore on, it was as if Stenhousemuir realised that they could take something from the match. They broke forward at every opportunity and the Accies goal survived due to a combination of inspired last minute tackles and poor crosses. Dave McEwan had to make a brilliant save from one effort that should have been a goal. In the end, the inevitable happened and on-loan Hearts man John Knox ran through and chipped the ball over the advancing McEwan with just two minutes left.
Accies didn't really deserve to take anything from this game. They relied too heavily on high balls pumped forward to Brian McPhee and John Gemmell. Unfortunately, the Bee was having an off-night and Gemmell seemed to be beaten in the air almost every time. So it was an easy night for veteran Keith Knox and his defensive pals as they coped quite easily with Accies tactics. As I said before, Accies were at their best when they got the ball on the deck and tried to play a passing move. But good stuff was rarely seen and I think that the visitors deserved their win.
Jim Sherry was booked for a foul, along with Andy Brown and one of the Stenhousemuir full backs for dissent.
It's hard to think of any of the Accies team who came out of the game well. Dave McEwan did pretty well, but the central defensive partnership of Steven Thomson and Todd Lumsden struggled. Sandy Hodge had a nightmare at left back, although I thought Robert Walker did reasonably well on the right. The midfield didn't really create much for the front men and the guys at the front obviously hadn't brought their shooting boots.
Let's hope it was just a bad day at the office. To be honest however, this has been on the cards for a while after the poor performances against East Fife and Partick Thistle. But it's not all doom and gloom - we're still second and genuine promotion contenders. But any more performances like this and we'll be looking over our shoulders at the foot of the table while others take charge of the promotion battle.
Hamilton: McEwan, Walker, Thomson, Lumsden, Hodge, Carrigan, Ferguson (Blackadder), Sherry, Corcoran (Quitongo), McPhee, Convery (Gemmell).
Subs: Gemmell, Blackadder, Quitongo, Arbuckle, Jellema.
Stenhousemuir: Willie McCulloch, Hamilton, Keith Knox, Greig McCulloch, McKenna, John Knox, Booth, Paul Murphy, Scott Murphy, Brown, Harty.
Subs: Smith, Lauchlan, Carr, Cosgrove, Hardie.
Referee: C Boyle
- Read the fans' memories, or add your own, via this link.
- Please contact us if you have any information that will improve this page or if you spot any mistakes.
Images
Videos
Links and References