Bell's League Division 1
New Douglas Park, Hamilton, 13 August 2005
Hamilton Accies 0
St Johnstone 1
Dobbie 40
Report by Gilbert Mowat
Accies slumped to their first defeat of the season when they lost 1-0 to St Johnstone in a scrappy game at New Douglas Park. Accies' boss Billy Reid sprang a welcome surprise in his team selection, with midfielder Alex Neil making his long awaited debut for the hoops. There was a blow just before the start, however, when Paddy Keogh had to be withdrawn after the warm up. This meant that young Derek Anderson had to get himself ready for his full debut at very short notice. This meant that Accies were unable to call on the striking talents of Keogh, Graeme Jones, Mark Gilhaney and Ian Harty.
There were quite a few new faces in the visiting team too, with former Clyde men Simon Mensing and Darren Sheridan in their team beside former Falkirk stopper Kevin James. Accies settled down quite quickly and dominated the first half hour of the game, with Scott Tunbridge having three or four efforts on goal. It was good to see that he was keen to have a go, even if none of the shots gave the visiting keeper too many problems.
The visitors started to see a bit more of the ball as the half went on, but it was still a surprise when they opened the scorting after 40 minutes, when Stephen Dobbie curled an excellent shot into Dave McEwan's top corner. It was doubly annoying as the chance had been created after an Accies attack had broken down. There was more bad news for Accies at the break, when Brown Ferguson was summoned frrom the interval kick about to replace Brian Carrigan, who was unable to continue.
The BBC's reporter said on the radio after the match that not much had happened in the second half and it would be hard to argue with that. Accies tried the best they could but it seemed that all of their attacks were repelled by the forehead of Kevin James, who was outstanding for the Saints. Another injury came along quickly, which meant that Stuart Balmer had to be replaced by Sandy Hodge. Sandy slotted into the heart of the defence beside Steven Thomson and they did well to keep the St Johnstone forwards quiet. The closest either team came to a goal was when Saints centre forward Steven Milne went down in the area following a tackle by Dave McEwan but the referee was not insterested in his half hearted penalty appeal.
As the game wore on, Accies kept pressing but chances just weren't appearing. Billy Reid made his final change, with Paul McLeod replacing his under '19 teammate Derek Anderson but this didn't make any real difference to the play. Anderson had a decent debut and his pace had caused the St Johnstone defence some problems.
To be honest, this was a poor game, with neither goalkeeper having an awful lot to do other than kick the ball upfield. In a generally disappointing game for Accies there were no standouts, although the match sponsors awarded the man of the match prize to Alex Neil.
Hamilton: McEwan, Robertson, Thomson, Balmer (Hodge 56), McLaughlin, Carrigan (Ferguson 46), Wilson, Neil, Hardy, Anderson (McLeod 72), Tunbridge.
Subs Not Used: Bennett, Jellema.
St Johnstone: Cuthbert, Stevenson, Mensing, James, Stanic, McCann, Anderson, Sheridan, Janczyk (Sheerin 86), Milne (Henry 89), Dobbie (MacDonald 68).
Subs Not Used: Coyle, Hutton. Goal: Dobbie 40.
Att: 1,877
Ref: C Mackay
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