Morton 1 Hamilton Accies 1
Bell's Scottish League Division 2
Cappielow Park, Greenock, 20 September 2003
Report by Gilbert Mowat
Accies burst a lot of coupons on Saturday when they held high flying league leaders Morton to a 1-1 draw at Cappielow on Saturday. The Accies team was along familiar lines, with the expected return of Stevie Convery at the expense of Mark Corcoran, who was relegated to the bench. Accies wore their new black and orange away kit for the first time in a competitive match.
Morton got of to a cracking start and almost took the lead after a couple of minutes, with Paul Walker thumping the ball against the crossbar. The home team took control of the game in the early stages and it was only the combination of some good defending by Accies and poor finishing from the home team that kept the scores level.
Brian McPhee had a decent chance when Brian Carrigan found him with a brilliant cross, but the Bee mistimed his jump badly and his header went harmlessly wide. However, Accies almost took the lead when Stevie Convery fired the ball just over the bar after some nice setup work by Brian McPhee.
The next good attempt by Accies came when they won a free kick on the edge of the area after Chris Aitken was fouled. Brian Carrigan took the kick but his powerful effort went just over the bar.
But it would be wrong to suggest that Accies even deserved to be level at this stage. At times, the goal led a charmed life with shots raining in on the goal and Morton hit the post again. Morton had the bulk of the possession and it was obvious which of the teams was full-time. They played nice short passes and very few balls were wasted. They had a couple of really talented midfielders who were running the show.
So it was a surprise, although obviously a nice one, when Accies took the lead just before half time. Brian Carrigan ran down the right wing but his path was blocked. He played the ball back to Andy Whiteford, and his curling cross was bulleted into the net by Stevie Convery for a fantastic goal from about 10 yards out.
Naturally, this was the cue for great celebrations amongst the Accies support behind the goal.
Morton started the second half with silver booted substitute Alex Williams on for John Maisano, and the wee guy scored an equaliser just 9 minutes later. There appeared to be little danger when Stevie Thomson tried to pass the ball back to Dave McEwan. Unfortunately, Andy Whiteford got in the way and the ball sat up beautifully for the alert Williams to thump home from close range.
The bulk of the remainder of the game followed a familiar pattern, with Accies only occasionally able to break out of the congested midfield to mount an attack. None of them really threatened, despite the efforts of Brian Carrigan, Stevie Convery, Brian McPhee and especially the impressive John Bailey. Morton created several chances but just didn't have their shooting boots with them. At least three shots whistled past Dave McEwan's left hand post and they came close with a couple of headers too, none more so than an injury time effort by Alex Williams that rebounded from the crossbar.
Chris Aitken was replaced by Barry Forbes quite early in the second half but while the on-loan Dundee man looked useful, nothing much came of his appearance. Mark Corcoran and Darren Gribben came on too and their energy helped to disrupt things for Morton.
For the most part this was a bit of a rearguard performance from Accies and they coped reasonably well. Dave McEwan gives a solid foundation at the back and I thought that Todd Lumsden, Stevie Thomson and Sandy Hodge had good solid games. Andy Whiteford did quite well too but I just wish that either he or Stevie Thomson had just booted the ball out to prevent that goal.
In the midfield, wee John Bailey was a bag of tricks and he'll do well against the lesser teams in this league. Jim Sherry was booked for a strong tackle (where he won the ball cleanly!) and his distribution was suspect. Chris Aitken had a quiet game and he was subbed quite early. Brian McPhee didn't look very fit in the first half but seemed to improve as the game went on. He was actually booed on a couple of occasions by the Morton fans. Let's hope it was because they respect him as a player rather than racist abuse.
It was great to see Stevie Convery score that superb goal and he will score more as he returns to full fitness. Brian Carrigan had a decent game and nearly scored with that free kick in the first half.
So Accies held on for a very welcome point - one that they would have accepted quite happily prior to kick-off. It has to be conceded that the home team were well ahead of Accies. If it had been a boxing match, Accies would have needed a dodgy referee from Las Vegas to have had any hope of winning. Not that the referee we DID have, Mr J Downie, wasn't bad. Despite booking Sherry early on, he allowed himself to be influenced by the sizeable Morton support on a number of occasions and Accies never seemed to get a fair crack of the whip. A couple of Morton players should have been yellow carded for fouls and diving, but all they got was a warning. That's not good enough.
Accies: McEwan, Whiteford, Hodge, Thomson, Lumsden, Sherry, Carrigan (Corcoran 82), Aitken (Forbes 56), Bailey, McPhee, Convery (Gribben 88).
Morton: Coyle, Collins, Bottiglieri, McGregor, Greacen, M Maisano, Millar, J Maisano (Williams 46), Bannerman (Uotinen 84), Weatherson, Walker.
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