Scottish League Division 2
New Douglas Park, 17 April 2004
Hamilton Accies 2
Thomson 35
Gemmell 90
Dumbarton 1
Collins (pen) 7
Report by Gilbert Mowat
After the euphoria of the resounding win against Morton last week, Accies came back down to earth with a solid bump in this tense match against Dumbarton. On a wet, blustery day, neither side seemed to enjoy the conditions much and this was certainly reflected in the quality of football on show. Accies manager Allan Maitland unsurprisingly kept faith with the starting X1 from 7 days before, with the only change being the absence of Jose Quitongo from the bench. His place was taken by lanky striker John Gemmell, on loan from Partick Thistle.
The visitors definitely took the game by the scruff of the neck and stunned Accies with a goal after only 7 minutes. One of their strikers broke free on the left wing and was fouled by Steven Thomson as he was about to shoot. The offence was well within the area and centre back Neil Collins converted the spot kick despite a great effort by Dave McEwan to save it. On another day, the referee might have interpreted Thomson's tackle as one that denied a clear goalscoring opportunity and shown him a red card, but Mr. Murray took no further action against him.
With a disjointed Accies midfield hardly able to find one another and some sloppy play in defence, it was perhaps a bit fortunate that Accies managed to last the next half hour without losing any further goals. Dave McEwan was having a nightmare in the poor conditions and Iain Dobbins should have done better when big Dave didn't come out for a corner. Dobbins' header flew past the goal but it could easily have been 0-2. Happily, Accies got back into the game after 35 minutes when Steven Thomson got his head to a Brian Carrigan free kick and the ball flew over the advancing Grindlay and into the net.
Accies had a brilliant chance to take an unlikely lead just before the break when Grindlay made a hash of a clearance. The ball went straight to Chris Aitken 30 yards out but his shot went just over the unprotected goal. For a long time, that looked like the moment when Accies promotion campaign ended.
We all hoped that Accies would be able to use the wind to their advantage in the second half, but it didn't really work out that way. Passes went astray and Accies were really unable to take charge. The visitors looked well worthy of a draw, although their blatant time wasting was very frustrating. Dave McEwan still looked to be lacking in confidence, although he did do well to tip a shot over the bar when a goal looked likely.
Accies manager Allan Maitland made a couple of changes, with the out of sorts Mark Corcoran being replaced by teenager Darren Gribben and Brian McPhee being replaced by John Gemmell. Darren's first action was to fall on his backside on the slippery ground - this was typical of an error ridden match.
With the clock edging nearer to 10 to 5, the game went into added time. Accies won a corner on the right. It was swung high to the back post, where Todd Lumsden nodded it back into the middle. There was a "stramash", with Grindlay fumbling the knock-down. Suddenly, it flew into the bottom corner and the whole ground erupted in relief. John Gemmell ran away in celebration and was mobbed by his teammates - he got a yellow card for overdoing things. I'm not convinced it was Gemmell's goal, but who cares?
Just before the end, Brian Carrigan tried to replicate Chris Aitken's goal against Stenhousemuir when he fired the ball goalwards from just inside the Dumbarton half. Grindlay tipped it away for a fruitless corner and the game was over.
Accies didn't really deserve to win this game and it was a wee bit unfair on the Sons that they left empty handed. But it was great to grab the three points right at the death. There weren't any particularly good performances from Accies and it could be that the enormity of the occasion got to them.
The next episode of this drama will unfold at Recreation Park next week. Let's hope that Accies can get back into the groove and keep the pressure on!
Hamilton: McEwan, Walker, Thomson, Lumsden, Arbuckle, Carrigan, Sherry, Aitken, Corcoran (Gribben) , McPhee (Gemmell), Waddell.
Subs: Gemmell, Blackadder, Hodge, Gribben, Jellema.
Dumbarton: Grindlay, McKinstry, Dobbins, Collins, Brittain, Bonar, Ronald, Donald, Boyle, Herd, Russell.
Subs: Dillon, Laidler, Renicks, Skjelered, White.
Referee: C Murray
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