Hamilton Accies 2 Berwick Rangers 2
New Douglas Park, Hamilton, 25 October 2003
Report by Gilbert Mowat
Accies showed both sides of their character once again when they were held to a 2-2 draw by a workmanlike Berwick side at New Douglas Park. Manager Allan Maitland fielded the team that defeated Dumbarton 7 days previously, which meant that Brian McPhee, Jim Sherry and Andy Whiteford were all missing through injury.
Accies had the better of the opening stages, with Jose Quitongo looking a danger to Berwick every time he got the ball. However, as he was being played through the middle with Stevie Convery wide on the right he got few chances to impress and didn't look like scoring. Accies created a couple of half chances but nothing to get too excited about. Berwick had looked particularly insipid during this time, but they took the lead just after the half hour with an opportunist goal by Gordon Connelly.
Following a poor decision by the referee, Berwick won a throw in down at the corner. This gave one of their midfielders the chance to hook a harmless looking ball high into the penalty area. With the Accies defence doing a decent impression of the Easter Island statues, the only man to make a move was Connelly and his header from 15 yards beat McEwan at the bottom corner.
Naturally, this surprise goal gave Berwick plenty of confidence and they started to play a bit of football. They competed really well for the remainder of the half but were unable to increase their lead before the interval. Accies continued to huff and puff but just didn't look like scoring, with wee Jose unable to carve out anything of note and Stevie Convery remaining on the right wing.
Allan Maitland made the obvious tactical change at the interval, with Jose switching to right wing and Convery moving to the striking position. If the forwards weren't being very effective, the defence were having yet another off day. At one point, one of the Berwick attackers was left with a clear run at goal after no fewer than three defenders were drawn out of position. With Dave McEwan exposed, he lifted it over the Accies 'keeper but the ball bounced on top of the bar and went over.
Accies didn't take heed of that warning and the visitors increased their lead after 64 minutes with a goal that was a personal disaster for Andy Arbuckle. Andy had switched to his more familiar right back position after John Fitter was substituted by Barry Forbes. The ball was played harmlessly forward and Andy moved to intercept. Sadly, he took his eye off the ball and missed it completely, allowing Gary McCutcheon a clear run on goal with predictable consequences.
At this stage things looked pretty bleak for the hoops. Wee Jose had a decent run and shot that went across the goal but was too fast for the onrushing Mark Corcoran. Allan Maitland decided that John Bailey would be the man to change the game and introduced him in place of Mark Corcoran on the left wing. This was to have a major bearing on the game as Accies started to get stuck into Berwick at last. Jose then tried an audacious overhead kick inside the area. The ball was half cleared to the edge of the area, where Chris Aitken was in enough space to control it and hit it low into the bottom corner with his left foot.
It was "game on" now and Accies took the game by the scruff of it's neck. Just a couple of minutes later it was 2-2, with defender Sandy Hodge firing over a superlative cross from the left, right on the touchline. It travelled all the way to the edge of the 6 yard box where Brian Carrigan was waiting to fire past the exposed 'keeper and into the goal, despite the efforts of one of the defenders.
There was only one team in it now and Accies nearly snatched the lead with the best bit of football seen all day. John Bailey ran into the area with the benefit of a couple of 1-2's. He got the ball back about 10 yards out but his shot was well held. Accies dominated the remaining 12 minutes of the game but were unable to snatch that winning goal.
So it was a disappointing result and Accies were ropey (again) at the back. You have to wonder if there is something basically wrong with the partnership of Steven Thomson and Todd Lumsden as they don't seem to have gelled yet. Andy Arbuckle looked particularly crestfallen at full time and let's hope that he learns from his error. As at Dumbarton, John Fitter defended reasonably well but his distribution was poor. (In fact this criticism can be levelled at the bulk of the Accies team. I can hardly recall seeing so many misdirected passes in a game.)
Chris Aitken had a subdued game in midfield and the chance when a Berwick forward hit the bar can be traced back to a poor tackle he made on the edge of the Berwick area. Nice goal though - he still hasn't scored a rubbish goal for Accies. Mark Corcoran had a fairly poor game on the left although some of the comments from the fans were a bit harsh. Wee Jose did quite well and looked to be the one player capable of creating something for the team. I felt that Stevie Convery was played out of position for much of the game and would prefer to see him up front rather than out wide.
Brian Carrigan scored a good goal and had a reasonable game without being too effective. Barry Forbes and John Bailey came on and did quite well.
This was a game that could easily have been won by Accies. That's at least three times this season that they have "flipped a switch" and got ripped into teams, with goals flowing in quick succession. That they can't play more effectively more often must be a source of intense frustration to Allan Maitland and his staff. If they could do just that - and tighten up at the back - they would be much higher up the league.
Perhaps when Brian McPhee, Andy Whiteford, Jim Sherry and Derek Ferguson are fit we'll see the best of them. Let's hope so.
Hamilton Accies: McEwan, Fitter (Forbes), Stephen Thomson, Lumsden, Hodge, Arbuckle, Aitken, Quitongo, Corcoran (Bailey), Carrigan, Convery.
Subs: Waddell, Forbes, Donnelly, Bailey, Jellema.
Berwick Rangers: Godfrey, Murie, McNicoll, Cowan, Hilland, Connelly, Bennett, Connell, Hampshire, Hutchison, McCutcheon.
Subs: Neill, Mark Robertson, Blackley, McCormick, Inglis.
Referee: I Brines
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