East Fife 2 Hamilton Accies 3
New Bayview, Methil, 6 December 2003
Report by Gilbert Mowat
At long last, Accies moved out of the 6th place they've held in the league since the middle of October with this narrow but well deserved win against an East Fife side who have now started to slip down the league table after a cracking start to their campaign. Manager Allan Maitland persevered with the starting X1 that had given table toppers Morton a run for their money in midweek.
The conditions were absolutely perfect and there was no sign of the cold wind we might have expected from a ground right beside the North sea. Accies started really well and took the game to the visitors from the start. However after the first 15 minutes or so the home team came into the game a bit more and, although it was entertaining, there were very few chances created at either end. Accies' preparations suffered a real blow after only 19 when influential playmaker/goalscorer Brian Carrigan had to be replaced by Stevie Convery. It later transpired that Carrots suffered a strained hamstring. Further problems arrived when Sandy Hodge left the field for about 10 minutes to have stitches put into a head wound.
Accies did create a few chances in the opening period, with Todd Lumsden and Jim Sherry firing shots just over the bar from the edge of the area. The home team squandered a great chance shortly before the interval when one of their players shot wide from 6 yards with Dave McEwan exposed. The play went up to the other end and wee Jose was sent clear by a good through ball. He beat the goalkeeper but the ball seemed to get caught under his feet. By the time he had sorted himself out there were two defenders on the line. The wee guy seemed to get confused by this and didn't even make an attempt on goal before the ball was snatched away from him. East Fife had a great chance to take the lead when Stephen Nicholas was clean through on goal. Fortunately, Steven Thomson got back to make a brilliant sliding tackle and the danger was averted.
Accies were made to pay for their misses in front of goal just before the interval when the Fifers took the lead after an uncharacteristic mistake by Dave McEwan. His attempt to punch away a cross from Robert McMillan was weak and it went straight to the head of defender Mike Hall who sent the ball over McEwan and into the unguarded net.
One feature of the first half had been the lamentable performance by the farside linesman, who seemed extremely reluctant to award any offside decisions against the home team. There must have been three or four occasions in the half when one of the attackers looked clearly offside, yet the lumbering official kept his flag down.
The Accies fans were disappointed to see their team leave the field a goal behind at half time, although I thought that one fan who told them not to bother coming back out was out of order.
It didn't take Accies long to get back into the match. After 48 minutes they were awarded a free kick about 25 yards out. Jim Sherry rolled the ball to Chris Aitken, who took a few steps to the right before rifling the ball into the top corner from 20 yards. Another beauty. This guy just doesn't know how to score crap goals.
The game was end to end stuff now and Accies went into the lead for the first time just 9 minutes later. Accies had won a series of corners, with Chris Aitken running across the park to take them from both sides. From a kick taken from the Accies right, his outswinging cross was met by Todd Lumsden. Todd could only divert the ball right to the feet of Brian McPhee - and The Bee made no mistake from 10 yards. It was great to see him get back amongst the goals after the Morton game.
Just as we thought things were looking up, the home team really began to exert some pressure on the Accies defence. For what seemed like an eternity, the Accies players were simply unable to get the ball away from their own area, with every attempted clearance falling to an East Fife man. It seemed like something had to give and it was no real surprise when East Fife equalised in the 63rd minute. The ball was fed forwards to Stephen Nicholas and, although the ex-Motherwell man's first attempt was blocked, it fell nicely for him and he swept it low past Dave McEwan from the edge of the area.
If this made the Accies heads go down it wasn't for long as they took the lead just a couple of minutes later. This time it was a great ball that wee Jose chased into the penalty area. He was tackled by Mike Hall and went down. I wasn't sure if the challenge was illegal, but the good news was that the referee did. Brian McPhee smashed the ball home for what was to prove to be the winning goal.
There were no further goals in the game but the play still raged from end to end. Accies looked quite good going forward and there were a couple of reasonable chances squandered. It was a different story at the other end where they were under pressure for long spells. The star man was Dave McEwan who really made up for his first half error with a series of fantastic saves to deny the Fifers. None more so that just before the final whistle when he rushed out to save at the feet of one of the East Fife team. There was a suggestion that the home team could have had a penalty near the end but the referee waved play on.
Allan Maitland replaced wee Jose near the end and the wee guy received a well deserved cheer from the Accies fans for his display. Mark Corcoran came on and looked useful as Accies tried to run down the clock. With the Accies defence doing their best to block every dangerous cross and tackle anything that moved, the final whistle was very gratefully received.
It would be difficult to pick out the star men for Accies after a good all round team effort. But I have to mention Dave McEwan in goals. If Dave had not been at the top of his game the result would have been far less impressive. With Accies now up to 4th in the table and just 2 points behind second place there's good reason to be optimistic. There's a long way to go but I think they have shown over the last few weeks that they need fear no-one in the league. Second place could be attainable....
East Fife: Graham, McMillan, Lumsden, Hall, Donaldson, Mitchell, Blair, McDonald, Gilbert, Deuchar, Nicholas.
Subs: Condie, Mortimer, Fairbairn, Stewart, McQueen.
Hamilton: McEwan, Walker, Thomson, Lumsden, Hodge, Arbuckle, Carrigan (Convery 19), Aitken, Sherry, Quitongo (Corcoran 89), McPhee.
Subs: Gribben, Corcoran, Convery, Whiteford, Jellema.
Referee: G Mitchell
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