Accies 1 Ross County 2: 25 September 2004

Bell's League Division 1

New Douglas Park, Hamilton, 25 September 2004

Report by George Grandison

Accies took an early lead through Aussie striker Scott Tunbridge but ultimately managed to lose a match that they looked more likely to win for much of the second half.

With so many players injured, Alan Maitland's options were severely limited but he still managed to make 3 personnel changes and some positional ones to the team that lost tamely to Clyde last week. Pat Keogh began in a 3 man central defence with Thomson and Hodge. Scott Tunbridge played up front (despite wearing the No2 shirt) with The Bee while Corcoran was pushed wider. Ian Fyfe made his starting debut, Brian Carrigan was back in and Ricky Waddell was on the bench along with Andy Arbuckle.

Ross County began brightly and the early play was mainly in the Accies half before we took the lead after just 9 minutes. A high cross from the right from Carrots was allowed to bounce in the box and, as County keeper Garden hesitated, Tunbridge rose to nod the ball into the corner from close range. Accies were looking better than they have for a few weeks and managed to survive a spell with 10 men as Derek Ferguson headed for the dressing room for treatment to a cut. Shortly after his return, Accies lost a soft equalizer. Some comical defending inside their own box nearly gave the visitors a goal but instead a corner was conceded. The ball was swung in and Jim Lauchlan had a simple header at the back post from no distance as McEwan stood rooted to the spot. Steven Thomson was booked for protesting that Lauchlan had been climbing. Ferguson's return was short lived as he was replaced by Andy Arbuckle shortly after the half hour. With Andy playing more as a right back, this stemmed the flow of County moves down the Accies' right flank which had been all too frequent at that point.

The second half began with a flurry of activity at both ends. Within a couple of minutes, Carrigan had a great chance to put Accies back in front. A long diagonal ball was superbly headed down by McPhee behind the defenders into Carrigan's path but with only the keeper to beat from 10 yards he shot straight at Stuart Garden. County had a couple of near things themselves, McEwan doing well to push one shot round the post while another shaved the far post. At the other end, a last ditch tackle denied Tunbridge a simple tap in after good work by Corcoran on the left. Accies began to look the likelier side to win it and Tunbridge was unlucky to see a solid header come back off the bar. But it was the highlanders who grabbed the points 16 minutes from time. There were acres of space in the Accies half of the pitch as County moved forward and when the ball was passed to substitute Sean Higgins, he made no mistake with a shot from inside the box.

Accies were unable to create any further chances and the game ended in controversial fashion with a red card for Brian Carrigan. The stand side linesman had infuriated some of the players and most of the crowd with his offside decisions and, as the game moved into stoppage time, his flag went up again. Scott Tunbridge was booked for dissent and then Carrigan managed the same. As he walked backwards away from the official he then made an obscene hand gesture towards the Assistant. The flag then went up again and a second yellow was quickly followed by a red which in turn was followed by the final whistle. Another 3 points had disappeared and Carrigan will now miss next week's vital derby game with Airdrie United.

Hamilton: McEwan, Thomson, Keogh, Hodge, Carrigan, Fyfe (Waddell 79), Ferguson (Arbuckle 35), Blackadder (Aitken 71), Corcoran, McPhee, Tunbridge. Subs Not Used: Walker, Jellema. Sent Off: Carrigan (90).

Booked: Carrigan, Tunbridge. Goal: Tunbridge 9.

Ross County: Garden, McCunnie, Malcolm, Lauchlan, McCulloch, Cowie, Adam (Higgins 72), Kilgannon, Winters (McKinley 89), McSwegan (Young 60), Burke. Subs Not Used: Robertson, Stewart.

Booked: Malcolm, Adam, Burke. Goals: Lauchlan 28, Higgins 74.

Att: 1,522

Ref: M Tumilty

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