Hamilton Accies 2 Cowdenbeath 0
New Douglas Park, Hamilton, 10 January 2004
Scottish Cup Round 3
Report by Gilbert Mowat
It wasn't exactly pretty, but Accies did enough to make their progression into the 4th round draw a formality with this routine victory against a disappointing if hardworking Cowdenbeath side. With Stevie Convery injured Allan Maitland gave Derek Ferguson his first start in the hoops since he joined the club last summer. Andy Whiteford came in at right back to replace Robert Walker, who was injured in the win over Stranraer in the previous round. Jim Sherry was able to take a place on the bench after missing the Stranraer game.
Accies started pretty badly and it seemed that they were taking their time to adapt to the presence of Ferguson in the team. He played his normal role, just in front of the back 4. Although he wasn't fully match fit - and lasted an hour - he kept looking for the ball and wanted to be involved all the time. When he gains full fitness - and the team get used to the new tactics - I think he'll do a really good job for the club. So Cowdenbeath had quite a lot of the ball in the opening stages but didn't really know what to do with it. They were clearly missing the aerial threat of Graeme Brown, who joined Ayr United during the week.
Brian Carrigan was the Accies danger man in the early stages, with a fine free kick that was tipped around the post by Andy Carlin in the Cowdenbeath goal. He was also yellow carded by referee Charlie Richmond for allegedly diving in the area. From my position, it was clear that Brian deliberately ran across the path of the defender - a perfectly reasonable tactic. I don't know if he was tripped or not but the referee wasn't impressed. Late in the game, with Accies 2-0 ahead, he also booked Bryan Gilfillan of Cowdenbeath for the same offence, although it was obvious to everyone in the ground that he had simply been the recipient of a brilliant tackle by Steven Thomson. Maybe the ref was applying "radio phone-in" logic, which states that if you go down in the area and haven't been fouled then you must have dived. The foolish decision was roundly booed by the Accies fans, which I don't recall witnessing before. I doubt if they would have been so magnanimous if the game hadn't effectively been over by that stage.
Having survived the early Cowdenbeath attacks without much alarm - Liam Buchanan put the ball in the net from an obviously offside position - Accies took the lead after 26 minutes with an exquisite goal by Brian McPhee. The Bee was put clear on the left by a sweet Brian Carrigan pass and lobbed it beautifully over Carlin and into the far corner. Accies didn't really look like extending their lead before the interval, although they did deliver several crosses from the right. Most of these were created by Andy Arbuckle and Brian McPhee, but they were unfortunately too high for wee Jose in the middle. To his credit, the wee guy did get his head on one of them but the goalie wasn't too worried.
Accies extended their lead shortly after half time to put the match beyond the visitors. Brian Carrigan did well to regain possession at the edge of the area and knocked the ball wide on the left to Sandy Hodge. Big Sandy beat his man, got to the bye-line and whipped over a low cross. Wee Jose dummied it (or was it a fresh-air swipe?) and the ball was cracked low into the corner by Brian McPhee, who did a great celebratory slide on his knees in front of the fans. Brian Carrigan got a thump on the ankle in the build-up but was able to continue.
Derek Ferguson managed to get himself booked for a foul and was then replaced in midfield by Jim Sherry. Ferguson didn't have the best of games but I am sure he will get better as his match fitness returns. Brian Carrigan and Brian McPhee were subbed as well, with the Bee looking to have taken a knock. Perhaps Allan Maitland wanted to save them for the Forfar match next week. Cowdenbeath made all three substitutions but were still unable to make any impression on the Accies defence, where the back 4 looked pretty solid.
Mark Corcoran tried his best to get something going up front and had a great run along the bye-line. His cutback was intercepted and cleared just ahead of young Darren Gribben, who seemed desperate to get his first senior NDP goal. Darren had a shot blocked from 20 yards as Accies turned on the pressure near the end.
After that the game really fizzled out as Cowdenbeath realised they had been well beaten and Accies played out the remaining time without mishap.
So if it wasn't a particularly exciting game, it got the job done. Best for Accies were the two Brians, Andy Arbuckle in midfield and Steven Thomson and Sandy Hodge at the back. Partick Thistle now await in round 4, but there are several more important matches to be played before then. Brian McPhee was named as the sponsors man of the match.
Accies: McEwan; Whiteford, Hodge, Thomson, Lumsden, Arbuckle, Carrigan (Gribben, 77), Aitken, Quitongo, McPhee (Corcoran, 70), Ferguson (Sherry, 64).
Cowdenbeath: Carlin; Mowat, McInally, Gilfillan (McGuiness, 75), McKeown (Campbell, 56), Ritchie, Mauchlen, Winter, Shields, Buchanan (Shand, 55), Fusco
Referee: C Richmond
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