Ross County 2
Higgins 26
Winters 75
Hamilton Accies 1
Ferguson 34
Report by Bruce Wares
This month looks like being definitive for Accies' season with two league matches in the ‘must win’ category, against other sides in promotion race, sandwiched between the Scottish Cup 4th Round victory and the much-anticipated Quarter Final tie on the 25th.
It was therefore no surprise that today's entertaining match at Dingwall was both evenly matched and full of fast attacking play from both sides, although it has to be said that Accies didn’t quite match the midfield quality and defensive cohesion of our Bell’s Cup win at Victoria Park in August.
Unfortunately, however, this narrow and undeserved defeat means Ross County move to within six points of the leaders, with a game in hand at home against Stranraer. Unless Accies win next week against St Johnstone the rest of the season will probably rest on one cup tie…
Accies made a couple of changes for today; David Elebert and James McArthur coming in for Mark McLaughlin and Alex Neil. Early play was very scrappy but as both sides settled chances occurred at each end.
Mark Gilhaney headed over after a quarter of an hour following a quick attack and a minute later the dangerous Alex Burke forced a save from Dave McEwan. If anything, Accies looked the more likely to score but County always looked quick on the break.
And from one such break County took the lead with a goal that wouldn’t have looked out of place if it had been scored by a team challenging for the English Premiership.
You really could only admire the stunning volley lashed in by Sean Higgins in the 26 th minute. Advantage the home side, but spirited Accies fought back strongly. Four minutes later, Juanjo blasted a shot just over the cross bar following a surging run into the box.
The equaliser followed in the 34 th minute with Brown Ferguson’s screamer of a shot giving Garden no chance. The rest of the half was notable for generating a couple of minutes of injury time after Gilhaney fell victim to a rough challenge and needed treatment and County’s Rankin suffered a head knock after an accidental collision with a team mate.
In the second half Gilhaney was at the heart of most of our promising forward play. A minute after the restart he set up a decent scoring opportunity but it looked to me that an Accies player was shoved before we could take advantage.
McCulloch was booked for another heavy challenge on the wee man in the 59th minute. Six minutes later, he wasted a great run into the penalty area with a poor cut back. However, the incident that turned the match came in the 70 th minute when substitute Wake nipped the ball off a sleepy defender leaving him with only Garden to beat.
He looked very composed as he advanced on the stricken keeper but, unbelievably, missed the target when it was easier to score. You could then write the script for what followed. A County break, and some slack defending on our part, gave Burke the opportunity to cross for half time substitute Winters and he couldn’t miss with a header past the exposed McEwan.
Burke forced a save from McEwan before Accies fought back. Keogh and Wake were in the thick of the action when we blazed over in the 90 th minute. County locked the door in stoppage time and celebrated a vital win. For Accies, who fought hard till the end, it just wasn’t to be our day.
Ross County: Garden, MacDonald, Djebl Zadi, Lauchlan, Webb, McCulloch, Rankin, Burke (McSwegan 89), Higgins, Cowie, McKinlay (Winters 46). Subs Not Used: Niven, Tiernan, Malin.
Booked: MacDonald, McCulloch.
Goals: Higgins 26, Winters 75.
Hamilton: McEwan, Robertson, Elebert, Thomson, Balmer, McArthur (Keogh 79), Ferguson, Wilson, Torres, Juanjo (Wake 64), Gilhaney. Subs Not Used: McMullan, Galloway, Jellema.
Booked: McArthur.
Goals: Ferguson 34.
Att: 2,157
Ref: S Duff
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