Bell's Scottish League Division 1

New Douglas Park, Hamilton,

18th February 2006

Report by Gilbert Mowat

Any tenuous claims Accies had to the one promotion spot this season were swept away in a disappointing home defeat by St Johnstone. It was only Accies second home defeat of the season, the other one coming in the first meeting of the clubs back in August. With Accies now 14 points behind St Mirren with only 9 games remaining, it would take a bizarre set of results for Accies to win the league and it simply is not going to happen. With regulars Mark McLaughlin, Marvyn Wilson, Brian Carrigan, Derek Fleming and Scott Mackenzie unavailable through injury, this was a relatively inexperienced Accies team.

Accies downfall from the upper reaches of the league has come about because of their poor recent form, with no league wins being recorded since 2nd January. Marvyn Wilson has been absent from the heart of the midfield since around that time and the team's form has suffered greatly as a result. The defence in this game had an unfamiliar look about it, with David Elebert slotting in at the back in place of Mark McLaughlin. Despite the fact that young David had a good game, manager Billy Reid was disappointed afterwards that Kevin James had been allowed to score, as he thought McLaughlin would have been able to cope with his aerial threat if he'd been playing.

The game took a wee while to get going with the best of Accies play coming from Mark Gilhaney on the wing. He gave the St Johnstone full backs a torrid time and one sublime piece of individual skill after 43 minutes presented Brown ferguson with an easy chance right in front of goal. However, Accies' top scorer somehow contrived to hit the ball straight at Saints 'keeper Glennon when he should certainly have scored. A few minutes earlier, Juanjo had done really well to control the ball just outside the area before curling the ball just past the post.

However, that miss by Ferguson was to prove to be a turning point in the game. After Glennon gathered the ball, it was swept forward to Stephen Dobbie wide on the left. With many Accies fans claiming that he was offside, he carried on but was thwarted by a great saving tackle by Stuart Balmer. From the resultant corner, the ball was headed goalwards by Kevin James. The ball was blocked but bobbed back up again and James bundled it home to give the visitors an undeserved lead at the break. Saints had played reasonably well in the first half and had their chances too, with Simon Mensing slicing the ball high over the top from a good position. They were generally unable to get much change out of the Accies defence, with Balmer in particular playing very well.

If Accies had played pretty well for no reward in the first half, the opening 20 minutes or so of the second period really belonged to St Johnstone. In a torrid spell, Dave McEwan had to make an excellent save after Alex Neil had been uncharacteristically brushed off the ball, Mark Gilhaney headed clear from the line and Jason Scotland shot just over the bar.

Accies boss Billy Reid made a couple of changes, with Brian Wake replacing Rudy Torres after 52 minutes and Pat Keogh coming on for Brown Ferguson after 69. Unhappily, the visitors were to grab that vital second goal after 72 minutes. The goal came from an Accies corner, which was gathered by Glennon. With almost all of the Accies players committed to attack, Glennon's punt upfield found Stephen Dobbie. He had time to measure his pass to Jason Scotland and the Trinidad & Tobago striker made a good job of beating Dave McEwan from 10 yards.

Ironically, the goal seemed to give Accies the kick up the backside they needed and Scott Tunbridge headed home powerfully from an Alex Neil corner kick just three minutes later. The corner kick came after Glennon did really well to block a low shot by Brian Wake. Accies got stuck in now and Juanjo was the recipient of a superb low cross from Mark Gilhaney. He took his time to control the ball but put his shot well wide of the post. With Accies pouring forwards at every opportunity, there were bound to be some gaps left at the back. This gave Saints a couple of clear chances to score, but Dave McEwan was in excellent from and kept them at bay. Just as the game drew to a close, Pat Keogh had a powerful shot blocked while Scott Tunbridge shot over the top. But there was to be no further scoring and the visitors small travelling support went home happy.

Best for Accies were Stuart Balmer at the back and Alex Neil and Mark Gilhaney in midfield. But it was clear that the key players like Carrigan, McLaughlin and Wilson were badly missed. With the league campaign virtually over, the focus now turns to the Scottish Cup quarter final against Dundee on Saturday. Let's hope that the injury situation improves before then...

After the game, Accies midfielder Alex Neil said, "I'm disappointed to lose really. Football is just about winning so to lose a game no matter how well you play - it's all about getting the three points and that's what we're all here for." Asked about the absence of Marvyn Wilson, Alex said, "Marvyn's a big player for us, he's our captain. But we're also missing six other good players, most of whom would be playing in the first team if they were fit. It's just means that the players who have come in have a chance to show what they can do. We lost today but we're looking forward to next Saturday. That will be a massive game for us because realistically after today's game the league won't be too exciting so we want to make sure we still have something to play for. Everybody's going to be up for that game. In football you put pressure on yourself - I know I do - but at the end of the day it's winning or losing and hard luck stories won't be settled for next week."

Billy Reid said afterwards, "I was disappointed at the two goals we lost; they were really, really poor goals. In the first half I thought that it was even-Stephen. I thought we had the best chance about a minute before they scored and that changed the first half. It was disappointing to go into half time one down as I felt that there was nothing in the game and we were well in it. We lost our way for the first twenty minutes of the second half. we tried to change a few things but it wasn't coming off. St Johnstone are a good unit. Then we lost the second goal, which was another disappointing goal. Then we got a goal back and came into it again but they had a few chances on the break. But I can't fault my players. We're disappointed but the players that are sitting in the stand would make a huge difference to the club, but we've still got a lot to play for in the Cup next week. Hopefully some of the big players will come back for the cup tie next week. The player for us who can handle Kevin James is Mark McLaughlin but he didn't play today and I think that showed."

"I'm not despondent. I see how far we have come and, given the players we didn't have available, there were a lot of positives to be taken from the game. I'm disappointed that we lost but we've got good players at this club, I think we've got "flair" players, and I think you'll see the real Accies next season."

Hamilton: McEwan, Robertson, Thomson, Balmer, Elebert, Ferguson (Keogh 69), Juanjo, Neil, Gilhaney, Tunbridge, Torres (Wake 52). Subs Not Used: McArthur, Agnew, Jellema.

Goals: Tunbridge 76.

St Johnstone: Glennon, Stevenson, Mensing, James, Stanic, Hartie, Winter (Henry 88), Rutkiewicz, Sheerin, Dobbie (Coyle 90), Scotland. Subs Not Used: Janczyk, Fotheringham, Cuthbert.

Goals: James 45, Scotland 72.

Att: 1,576

Ref: C Thomson

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