Hamilton Accies 1 East Fife 0
New Douglas Park, Hamilton, 31 January 2004
Bell's Scottish League Division 2
Report by Gilbert Mowat
There's an old football cliché that states that sides that win games when they don't play well normally win the league. If that's the case, then the second Division trophy might have some scarlet ribbons on it in the middle of May. For this was a far from vintage display by Accies and East Fife can justifiably argue that they deserved to take something from the game.
On a cold wet day, there had been several games postponed in Central Scotland because of the snowstorms that were apparently sweeping the country. I say "apparently", because the pitch at New Douglas Park appeared to be absolutely fine. This gave Accies a great chance to climb over Berwick Rangers into second spot in the table.
The good news was that Todd Lumsden had recovered from the injury he sustained while scoring at Cappielow last week and that Accies were unchanged. There was no place for new signing Ryan Blackadder, who joined from Raith Rovers on Thursday.
The first half was not exactly a sparkling display of football. East Fife won a series of corners but on at least three occasions, they were penalised by referee Eddie Mack for fouls on Dave McEwan. This was just daft on their part as they looked to be useful in the air, with Accies recent target Kenny Deuchar looking particularly menacing. Deuchar won almost everything, but wasn't really able to threaten the goal.
After Brian McPhee had nearly scored with a bullet header from a fine Sandy Hodge cross, Accies took the lead after 19 minutes courtesy of Jose Quitongo. Accies won a few corners in a row and this time the ball was headed down into the goalmouth by Todd Lumsden for wee Jose to flick into the roof of the net. Remarkably, it was the wee guy's first goal in Hamilton on his 102nd appearance for the club.
Accies came close to doubling their lead before the interval, with Chris Aitken unlucky to see his low shot go just past the post. East Fife came close to equalising with a shot that just clipped the top of the crossbar with McEwan beaten.
To be honest, East Fife were the better team in the second half. They had the Accies defence pinned back for long spells and their long ball game really caused us problems. Accies were restricted to sporadic attacks and they weren't really able to put much together in terms of good football. One of their best moves saw Andy Arbuckle and Jose Quitongo give Brian McPhee a good chance, but the goalkeeper brilliantly tipped The Bee's netbound shot over the bar. At the other end, Andy Arbuckle did very well to head a Kenny Deuchar header off the line.
With the game having been played quite sportingly, there was a sudden flurry of activity by the referee, when he booked 5 players with a few minutes. The yellow cards shown to Chris Aitken and Steven Thomson appeared to be for dissent, as did at least one of the yellow cards shown to Fifer. Both managers used their full set of substitutes, with Brian Carrigan, Jose Quitongo and Sandy Hodge being replaced by Mark Corcoran, John Gemmell and Robert Walker respectively. Carrots didn't look happy to be replaced - which is exactly the attitude you would want him to have. Hodge sustained an injury and struggled for a while before being replaced.
Towards the end, (with the clock at about 10 to 5), the Fifers really went for it. They pounded the Accies goal and would have grabbed a point had it not been for the brilliance of Dave McEwan in the Accies goal. I remember being stunned by an awesome save by Dave McKellar from a Colin West header at Ibrox exactly 17 years previously. Big Dave's save was almost in that category, when he managed to claw back a netbound Deuchar header when a goal seemed certain. It was well worthy of the ovation it received from the fans. Then, with the fans bawling at the referee to blow the whistle, Chris Aitken headed another Deuchar effort off the line.
That was the last meaningful event of the game and we were all mightily relieved when the final whistle blew. So if East Fife richly deserved at least a point, they didn't get it. In the grand scheme of things it was three points for Accies, who perhaps used up their quota of good fortune for the month in this one game.
Best for Accies were Dave McEwan in goal, Andy Whiteford at right back and Steven Thomson and Todd Lumsden in the middle. Jim Sherry was his usual self in midfield and it's great to have him there. Things didn't go too well up front, although I thought Brian McPhee had a decent game and might have scored a couple on another day.
Accies got jammy today - but the three points helped them into second spot in the league with a game in hand. Nice.
Hamilton: McEwan, Whiteford, Thomson, Lumsden, Hodge, Arbuckle, Aitken, Sherry, Quitongo, Carrigan, McPhee. Subs: Corcoran, Convery, Gemmell, Walker, Jellema.
East Fife: O'Connor, McMillan, Mathie, Kelly, Hall, Mitchell, Blair, McDonald, Donaldson, Deuchar, Stein. Subs: Russell, Bain, Herkes, Fairbairn, Graham.
Referee: E Mack
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