Forfar Athletic 0 Accies 4: Saturday, 15 May 2004

Scottish League Division 2

Station Park, Forfar, 15 May 2004

Report by Gilbert Mowat

We did it. After an exhilarating 90 minutes in the Angus sunshine, Accies put the anguish of the last few years behind them and won promotion to Division 1. Some media people will say that we're only going up because Morton blew it, but although there's some truth in that the absolute certainty is that over the 36 games Accies proved themselves to be the second best team in the division.

And they did it in some style, with a brilliant second half display in front of their large travelling support. It's estimated that around 1200 Accies fans made the trip and they all went home happy after celebrating the achievement with a pitch invasion at the end.

But it could have been very different. With Allan Maitland making two changes to the team that defeated Berwick 7 days before, Andy Arbuckle and Brian Carrigan came in to replace Andy Whiteford and Jose Quitongo. Brian McPhee declared himself fit to play despite having been part of the Strathclyde Fire Brigade's rescue team at the disaster in Maryhill. With this in mind there was a minute's silence before the game. It was given complete respect within the stadium, but that's not to say it was free from interruption. I've heard silences broken by interference on the public address stadium at NDP and an ice cream van at Firhill but this time it was the sound of a flock of sheep in a neighbouring field that echoed around Station Park.

There's no doubt that Accies were very jittery for the opening half hour of the game and could easily have fallen a goal or two behind. That this did not happen was down to a combination of fine goalkeeping by Dave McEwan and a couple of bad misses by the normally deadly Forfar pairing of Paul Tosh and Paul Shields. Accies had an early to chance to calm their nerves, but Brian McPhee shot narrowly past from a good position.

So when Brian Carrigan found the roof of the net from close range after displaying fine close control after 35 minutes, the Accies fans just erupted. If the first half had been worryingly close, that goal before the break calmed the Accies players nerves and they turned it on after the break. First of all, Brian McPhee ran onto a perfectly timed through ball and rolled the ball home between Michael Brown's legs. There was a huge celebration from the Accies fans, with some leaping over the barriers to join in with the fun. Unfortunately, the rather ancient barriers behind the goal were not designed for this kind of excitement and they buckled under the pressure. There were a couple of minor injuries but the game was held up for several minutes as the local police cleared the Accies fans away from the affected area. Many of them moved to the covered enclosure, which was just fine as it had better acoustics for the singing!

Just 5 minutes later, The Bee did it again when he ran onto another perfectly weighted pass to blast the ball into the top corner before celebrating in style before his adoring fans. Accies moved into showboating mode after this with Ryan Blackadder, wee Jose and Mark Corcoran all turning it on. Brian McPhee was unlucky not to score a further couple of goals with a couple of efforts that were just off target and Chris Aitken fired just past the post from the edge of the area. The Forfar goal couldn't escape forever and when Mark Corcoran was tripped, referee John Rowbotham immediately pointed to the spot.

I think many of the Accies fans were keen for Brian McPhee to go for his hat trick, but regular spot kick man Brian Carrigan made a superb job of it, with a wee "John Aldridge" dummy before sending Brown the wrong way. That was the end of the goals, although Dave McEwan made an outstanding save near the end to deny Forfar a consolation goal.

With the final whistle came a mass invasion of the park and it wasn't long before the players and manager re-appeared at the front of the stand. There were great scenes of jubilation as the enormity of the achievement sunk in. Many fans, myself included, were hugging familiar people from the diehard support. It was just a great time and we didn't want it to end. I got a text from a disappointed Sons fan saying, "Get off the park, they're talking about you on the TV." After 10 minutes or so the fans began to drift away to begin the long, happy journey home.

When everything had calmed down, an obviously delighted Brian McPhee came back to collect his award as Acciesworld's player of the year. Allan Maitland and Brian McPhee were interviewed for STV and Ronnie McDonald told me that there would be two or three new signings that would astound Scottish Football, including a reference to someone who had scored a hat trick on Saturday (presumably Pat Keogh of Clyde.)

After that was all over it was time for some bubbly in the main street in Forfar and it was great to toast every Accies bus before as they went past. Even the local constabulary tooted at us in salute.

This was a great achievement for Accies. There's no doubt that Division 1 will present the management team with a new set of challenges. But they have been over the course before and their quest to become Scotland's top part time team continues. All of the players deserve huge credit for their efforts this season but I think the crucial factor was that the management signed additional players like Jose, Ryan Blackadder and Ricky Waddell at just the right times. These guys have made a huge difference and it's to be hoped that they will all be around for the assault on Division 1 in August.

For all the players, the management and the Accies fans who made the pilgrimage, this was a day to remember.

Forfar: Brown, McNicol, Florence, Horn, Lowing, Byers, McClune, Davidson, Tosh, Henderson, Shields. Subs: Ferry, King, Maher, Bremner, Neal Ferrie.

Hamilton: McEwan, Walker, Waddell, Thomson, Hodge, Arbuckle (Whiteford 58), Carrigan (Quitongo 79), Aitken, Blackadder, McPhee, Corcoran (Lumsden 82). Subs: Lumsden, Quitongo, Whiteford, Gribben, Jellema.

Referee: J Rowbotham

© AcciesWorld 2004

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