Queen of The South 1 Accies 1: 11 September 2004

Bell's League Division 1

Palmerston Park, Dumfries, 11 September 2004

Report by Gilbert Mowat

Accies' disappointing start to the season continued on Saturday when they could only draw with a Queen of the South team that had lost all of their previous home matches. With Mark McLaughlin injured after the St Johnstone game the previous week, former Dumfries man Sandy Hodge came into the heart of the defence. Ricky Waddell was restored to the left wing back role which meant that Scott Tunbridge was on the bench, alongside Brian Carrigan who had been left out last week.

Queens opened the game quite brightly and Dave McEwan made a good save low down at his left hand post from a powerful shot. Former Accies striker David McNiven was their main man up front but he looked to be a bit broader and slower than when he had been with Accies. Having said that, he must be a striker of some quality to have topped the goalscoring charts in the Conference despite being relegated with Leigh RMI. The other threat from the Doonhamers came from diminutive midfielder Brian McLaughlin, who was everywhere.

It took Accies just over quarter of an hour to get stuck into the home side and they forced a corner after a very jittery clearance by one of the defenders. Ryan Blackadder's corner kick went right to the back post where it was knocked home by Todd Lumsden for his first goal of the season. As with last week, however, Accies seemed to lose concentration just after the goal and a very quickly taken free kick nearly gave them an equaliser. The referee allowed the kick to be taken while Accies were still sorting themselves out, which was very inconsistent as later in the half he allowed Queen of the South to retake a kick after the first one had been squandered, because he hadn't blown his whistle.

Towards the break, Ryan Blackadder forced Colin Scott to tip a couple of long range efforts over the bar. Both were great efforts, but he tried it a third time when he should have passed and the ball ran tamely through to Scott. The home team never really looked like scoring in the first half and Accies were pretty comfortable at the interval.

If Accies had been the better team in the first half, the second half certainly belonged to the home side. Queen of the South equalised when David McNiven was tripped just outside the area and his low free kick into the bottom corner just beat Dave McEwan. After that, Mark Corcoran missed a clear header just 6 yards out and The Bee had an effort cleared off the line. But the bulk of the half belonged to the home team.

The major talking point amongst the Accies fans was the lacklustre performance of Pat Keogh up front. I know he had no pre-season, but I think he should be working his way back to full fitness in reserve games rather than the full glare of Division 1. He did win a few balls in the air but there was no link-up between him and the midfield or the other forwards. He might be great in the air, but so few crosses were sent into the area that he didn't get a chance to prove it.

It was a surprise that he lasted the full 90 minutes. Derek Ferguson, Brian McPhee and David Hamilton were replaced by Brian Carrigan, Scott Tunbridge and Chris Aitken, but I thought Accies began to lose their shape when these changes were made and didn't threaten Colin Scott's goal for the remainder of the game.

The defence put in a really hard shift and McNiven looked to have won the game with a clever turn and fierce shot that Dave McEwan did really well to turn around the post. Near the end a low shot by substitute Emilio Jaconelli took a nasty deflection and McEwan had to change direction quickly to keep the ball out.

Accies probably didn't really deserve the point but defended well. With 6 games gone, only St Mirren have conceded fewer goals so the guys at the back can be satisfied with how things are going. As you look further forward, the story is not so happy. We're just not creating enough chances and not converting those that arise. That's going to have to change if we're going to stay up!

Queen of South: Colin Scott, Burns, Craig, Wood, Thomson, McColligan, Bagan, English (Jaconelli 67), Payne (Paton 57), McNiven, McLaughlin.

Subs Not Used: Armstrong, Christopher Scott, Samson.

Goals: McNiven 57.

Hamilton: McEwan, Lumsden, Thomson, Hodge, Hamilton (Tunbridge 82), Waddell, Ferguson (Aitken 75), Blackadder, Corcoran, Keogh, McPhee (Carrigan 71).

Subs Not Used: Fyfe, Jellema.

Goals: Lumsden 18.

Attendance: 1,708

Referee: C Melville

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