Bell's League Division 1

New Douglas Park, Hamilton,

2nd January 2006

Report by Gilbert Mowat

Accies climbed back up to second place in the league with this hard fought win against their local rivals from North Lanarkshire, who were unbeaten in their previous seven games. Following the dull draw against dundee on Saturday, manager Billy Reid made several changes. Steven Thomson, Graeme Jones and Brown Ferguson were omitted in favour of Stuart Balmer, James McArthur and debutant Rudy Torres up front. International clearance had been received from the Welsh FA on the preceding day.

Accies almost got a dream start in the first minute when Torres was put clean through on Airdrie goalkeeper Stephen Robertson. He hit his shot low but the goalie did well to tip it around the post for a fruitless corner. At the other end, Dave McEwan had to be alert to save at the fee of Willie Mclaren after good work by Brian McPhee.

The next highlight came after 18 minutes when some good work and a decent cross from Paul McMullan on the left ended with the ball breaking to Scott McKenzie just outside the area. He hit his shot low and hard but it whistled past the post. However, Airdrie United were the dominant team of the first half, winning a succession of corners that the Accies defence did well to deal with. So they were probably really scunnered when Accies took the lead from a set piece after 25 minutes. This time it was a Derek Fleming corner that was headed home by Mark McLaughlin.

The visitors had a few half chances before the break with Brian McPhee being one of those who shot over the top from the edge of the area. They appealed in vain for a penalty just before the break when Stuart Balmer blocked an attacker inside the area. The appeals were quite correctly waved aside by Mike McCurry, much to the outrage of Sandy Stewart in the technical area. McCurry had to have a word with him to calm him down.

If the visitors had been the better team before the interval, that wasn't the case in the second half. Brian Carrigan was the first to have an attempt on goal, with an inswinging corner kick that Stephen Robertson just managed to reach at the top corner. Accies then had two decent attempts on goal in the space of a couple of minutes. First of all, a sublime pass by Brian Carrigan gave Rudy Torres another chance to make a scoring debut. This time he took his shot very early and tried to lob Robertson. Unfortunately, he misjudged his shot and it went over the top. Shortly afterwards, a deep free kick by Carrigan looped over Robertson's head and was headed back into the 6 yard box where it was cleared by an Airdrie man.

Manager Billy Reid made his first change just after the hour with 17 year old Lewis Coult making his debut in place of Brian Carrigan. Almost the first piece of action for the youngster was to give his name to referee Mike McCurry after making a high challenge for the ball. The game went into a bit of a lull, with neither side able to create any decent chances. Billy Reid decided to add Steven Thomson's experience at the back and withdrew Rudy Torres after 73 minutes. The young Spaniard came off to a decent reception and looks like he will make a good contribution to the side when he's fully fit.

Airdrie upped their game in the final quarter. First of all Dave McEwan got down well to save a low shot from the edge of the area and then they made a mess of an excellent breakaway opportunity when Accies gave the ball away. It ended with a tame shot over the top but they really should have scored. Accies final substitution came after 84 minutes, with Mark McJimspey (who celebrated his 17th birthday last Friday) replacing the excellent Paul McMullan.

Airdrie continued to press and Willie McLaren had a left footed shot that was easily gathered by Dave McEwan after 89 minutes. The final significant action o the game came when Lewis Coult fell awkwardly and was stretchered off with what looked like a shoulder injury. Mike McCurry added on several minutes but Accies deservedly held on for all three points.

Mark McLaughlin won the man of the match award from the sponsors and it was well deserved for the big man. The rest of his defensive colleagues did very well and there will be few games this season when they will have to cope with so much pressure. Accies climb up to second spot with this win but there's still a lot of ground to be made up on the league leaders.

Hamilton: McEwan, Robertson, Balmer, McLaughlin, Fleming, McArthur, Neil, MacKenzie, McMullan (McJimpsey 84), Carrigan (Coult 61), Torres (Thomson 72).

Subs Not Used: Stevenson, Jellema.

Booked: Coult. Goals: McLaughlin 25.

Airdrie Utd: Robertson, McKenna, McGowan, McManus, Lovering, McDougall (Hardie 62), McKeown, Docherty (Holmes 79), McLaren, Prunty, McPhee.

Subs Not Used: Coyle, Dunn, Hollis.

Att: 2,498

Ref: M McCurry

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