St Johnstone 0 Accies 2: 5 March 2005

Bell's Scottish Football League Division 1

McDiarmid Park, Perth, 5 March 2005

Report by Gilbert Mowat

After the win last time out against Partick Thistle, Accies made the trip to McDiarmid Park in fairly confident mood. Allan Maitland had a full squad to choose from and made a couple of changes, with Mark Corcoran and Pat Keogh starting the game and Brian Carrigan and Colin Cramb relegated to the bench. For the first time in ages, fans' favourite Brian McPhee wasn't even listed as a substitute. It must be a sign of the strengthening of the squad when that happens to a player who has meant so much to the club in the last couple of seasons. The home side were not in the best of form. Since trouncing Accies at New Douglas Park at the end of December, they had failed to win a single game.

To say that St Johnstone weren't up to much is a bit of an understatement. They did attack from time to time, but they lacked any kind of cutting edge and although former Accie Michael Moore was an irritation at times, they didn't really trouble Dave McEwan's goal. There was the occasional shot from distance, but nothing to make Dave break sweat. The reason for this is that Accies currently have perhaps the best defensive quartet they've had for many years. Much has been said about the qualities of Steven Thomson and Mark McLaughlin that we're beginning to take them for granted, but I think that the form of Sandy Hodge has been fantastic in recent weeks. He was great in this game too, with careful policing of the penalty area to deny St Johnstone any real chances. But for me the man of the match was Spanish right back Paquito, who was acquired from Raith Rovers in January for a derisory fee of £3000. The wee guy was superb. He was brilliant defensively - his second half block from a close range Michael Moore effort was magnificent - but it was his tireless running with the ball from McEwan's throws that prompted so many moves for Accies. He has real skill and is happy to have the ball at his feet. Accies' problems at right back that have seen so many players come and go have now been solved. Let's hope Paquito can be signed up for next season too.

The significant moment of the game arrived shortly before the interval. Lee Hardy, back at his old club, sent the ball down the left wing for Mark Corcoran to chase. Home goalkeeper Craig Samson foolishly rushed out to meet him at the corner of the area, which gave Corky the idea of shooting for goal. His effort wasn't very well hit and instead of heading for goal it rolled nicely into the path of Pat Keogh just inside the area. The big man must have been thrilled at the sight of an empty net to tap the ball into, but before he could do that he was pulled down by Saints defender Sean Webb. There were no complaints from the home team about the inevitable red card and the award of a penalty kick. (Although I was bemused to see a Saints fan in the VIP area - with collar and tie - bawling and shouting and raising the "finger" as Webb left the pitch.)

As this was only Accies second spot kick of the season and regular kickers Brian Carrigan and The Bee were not on the pitch, there was initially some confusion about who would take the kick. To his credit, Pat Keogh stepped forward and he hit the ball well and low into the corner. Unfortunately, Samson made a terrific diving save to touch the ball around the post. Happily, there was no time to dwell on the missed opportunity when Accies scored from the resultant corner. The ball bobbled about a bit with the defence all over the place before it fell kindly for Mark Corcoran and he thumped it home from close range. That was the last action of the half and Accies clearly deserved that interval lead.

St Johnstone manager John Connolly made a change at half time, with striker Chris Hay sacrificed to make way for a defender. Perhaps that says a lot about his attitude towards winning this game! The bad news for Accies was that Pat Keogh only lasted another minute or so before being replaced by Colin Cramb. Big Paddy had been effective for Accies. He had held the ball up well and given the central defenders a tough time. The change meant that the style of play changed a bit too, with Accies able to make use of the increased mobility available from Crammy.

To be perfectly honest, Accies more or less ran the show after the break. The midfield quartet of Javary, Mahouvé, Ferguson and Hardy were in complete control of things with their neat short passing game. It was no real surprise when Accies extended their lead midway through the second half, with a great goal by Colin Cramb, his first since returning to the club where he started out. With the Saints defence over-stretched, the ball was sent up the left wing for Mark Corcoran. With no support up front, he had to turn back and gave the ball to substitute Brian Carrigan, who had just come on for Lee Hardy. Carrots looked up and spotted Colin Cramb making a run into the penalty area. The cross was inch perfect and Crammy's header gave Samson no chance.

That was the cue for a mass exodus of Saints fans and rendered the rest of them speechless. The Accies fans were in ecstasy, especially as the electronic scoreboard told us that Partick were losing at Falkirk. Accies had a couple of half chances to extend their lead further but they didn't come to anything. The home side had a great chance to pull a goal back, with Michael Moore cutting in from the right with only Dave McEwan to beat. With a team-mate waiting for a simple cut back, the greedy former Accies man went for glory only for Paquito to get in a superb block. With that went any chance the Saints had of denying Accies the full points.

This was a superb team performance by Accies and it bodes well for their chances of survival. In fact, if they had played like this from the start of the season then they would have been in the top part of the league table. It is clear that the extra investments made in January, when Mahouvé, Paquito, Javary, Cramb and Hardy arrived have been very prudent and timely. You just can't imagine that the Accies team that played the first half of the season would have dreamed of achieving a result like this. Huge amounts of credit are due to Ronnie MacDonald and George Fairley for sanctioning the investment and to Allan Maitland for continuing to produce a team that can compete in this league.

As we head into the business end of the season, Accies are in decent shape and should be looking up the table instead of worrying about the teams behind them.

St Johnstone: Samson, Cowan, Webb, Maxwell, Hannah, Bagan (McCann 67), Sheerin, McAnespie (Jackson 75), Forsyth, Hay (Anderson 46), Moore.

Subs Not Used: Sloan, Cuthbert.

Sent Off: Webb (42).

Hamilton: McEwan, Paquito, Hodge, Thomson, McLaughlin, Javary, Ferguson (Hamilton 83), Hardy (Carrigan 71), Keogh (Cramb 48), Mahouve, Corcoran.

Subs Not Used: McArthur, Jellema.

Goals: Corcoran 44, Cramb 73.

Att: 1,832

Ref: C Thomson

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