St Johnstone 3 Hamilton Accies 2 (after extra time)
CIS Cup Round 2
McDiarmid Park, Perth, 23 September 2003
Report by Allan Maitland
As they have lost their last two league matches we started the game with a view to frustrating them and managed to do this quite well in a first half that didn't produce many goalmouth incidents. However, just as their game appeared to become ragged and we looked to become more adventurous, they scored after John Robertson was allowed too much space to run into the box. Although Davie managed to save his shot Simon Donnelly pounced on the loose ball - one nil.
We made a change, taking Todd off and replacing him with Marc Corcoran, to go three up front (Bee, Carrigan and Corcoran). We also replaced John Bailey with Barry Forbes as our left sided midfield player (Chris Aitken and Jim Sherry in the middle with Stevie Convery on the right).
We started causing them a few problems and won a free kick in line with the left corner of the penalty box - 22 yards out. Having taken a pass from Tiff and eluded the onrushing defender Brian Carrigan curled a magnificent shot into the top right hand corner of the net - game on and we were very much in the ascendancy. 5 minutes later Marc Corcoran picked the ball up 40 yards out on the left with his back to goal. He turned and passed two defenders, he then slipped the ball past a third defender and ran round him leaving him with only the keeper to beat. Keeping his composure he coolly slotted the ball into the net, which led to scenes of great delight in the travelling support as the players all ran to the crowd.
At that stage we might even have scored a third but didn't make the best use of the opportunities that came our way as they pressed for an equaliser. They hit the post with a minute to go and it look as though it would be our night - then they equalised with virtually the last kick of the game - our players were devastated and understandably so.
In extra time we managed to get the ball in the net in the first half but the linesman had his flag up early for off side. Jim Sherry was replaced by Nicky Paterson after suffering from cramp and Stevie Convery was also injured but stayed on. They scored what proved to be the winner when Paatelainen struck the ball past Davie and much as we tried to get back into the game it wasn't to be.
For my part the improvement in the team from our first match with St Johnstone was clear for all to see and I was proud of the efforts of all our players, particularly after the difficult match at Greenock on Saturday.
The players were absolutely gutted at the end of the match and knew they were so close to victory having given their all. Every player played their part last night and it would be wrong to single out individuals - they were all magnificent. The two goals we scored were top class and were worthy of winning any match.
In fairness to St Johnstone they kept going to the very end when they might have resigned themselves to losing the match after our second goal, which is great credit to them. In extra time they always looked more likely to score although I fancied Davie to do well if it went to penalties.
With Jim Sherry and Stevie Convery injured at the end and a lot of sore legs (and heavy hearts) in the dressing room, we will wait until tomorrow night before assessing how everyone is for the important game against East Fife on Saturday.
Finally I have to mention the tremendous backing we received from our travelling support particularly in the second half and during extra time.
Hamilton: McEwan, Whiteford, Hodge, Stephen Thomson, Lumsden, Sherry, Carrigan, Aitken, Bailey, McPhee, Convery.
Subs: Paterson, Forbes, Gribben, Corcoran, Jemella.
St Johnstone: Cuthbert, John Robertson, Forsyth, Bernard, Dods, Maxwell, Parker, Reilly, Mark Robertson, Donnelly, McLaughlin.
Subs: Malone, Paatelainen, Nelson, Baxter, Macdonald.
Referee: T Brown.
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