Accies had to fight back twice to salvage a point from St Johnstone in an eventful game at New Douglas Park. Martin Hardie scored an excellent opener for the visitors in the first half, but that was cancelled out by a fine low shot by Paul McLeod. Peter McDonald restored the Saints lead almost immediately, but top scorer Richard Offiong rescued a vital point for Accies with an exquisite 25 yard chip.
New Douglas Park
Saturday, 16th December 2006
Hamilton Accies 2 St Johnstone 2
Accies lost further ground in the title race with this hard fought draw against one of the favourites for promotion to the SPL. This was Accies' fourth consecutive draw and it would be hard to complain about the result. Manager Billy reid made a few changes, with Mark Gilhaney and Richard Offiong returning to the starting lineup and Marvyn Wilson being rested. This also meant that 16 year old James McCarthy was restored to the heart of the midfield.
Accies took a long time to get going and the visitors had the bulk of possession in the first half. Their main danger man was big centre half Kevin James, who came forward at every set piece to cause real problems for the Accies defence. In fact, referee Willie Collum had to intervene a few times as players jostled for position prior to corner kicks. He gave a really stern warning to both James and David Elebert and the result was that both players were booked for their next foul. Saints gave a warning of how dangerous they could be in the first couple of minutes when Peter McDonald headed just over the bar and the same player also had a goal correctly disallowed for offside.
Accies didn't make very many chances in the first half but came close when Richard Offiong won the ball and ran down the right wing. He cut inside and fed the ball to James McCarthy, whose shot from 10 yards curled just wide of the far post. That was probably Accies' best opportunity of the first half. Paul McLeod got into a good crossing position, but his cross neatly bisected the inrushing Accies forwards and was easily cleared. Accies were giving away far too many free kicks and Dave McEwan made an excellent save to keep out a good shot from Paul Sheerin. It would have been unjust had the score remained level at half time, but a brilliant shot from Martin Hardie from the edge of the area gave the Saints the interval lead that they deserved.
Accies had spent the majority of the first half on the back foot and the welcome half time break gave Billy Reid the chance to reorganise his team. They had taken a bit of a battering in the first half and were probably fortunate only to trail by that one goal. Accies took only 8 minutes to get back into the game and it came courtesy of a fine goal by Paul McLeod. Richard Offiong outpaced Kevin James on the right wing, with James unable to foul him because of that earlier yellow card. He squared the ball into the area where it was cracked low into the net by McLeod.
Whether or not Accies deserved to be level is debatable, but the visitors only took a couple of minutes to regain the lead. Their second goal was a very soft effort, with a long throw in being headed on and then bundled past McEwan by Peter McDonald. There were a few moments of complete silence before the small travelling support realised what had happened but for Accies there was only disappointment.
Billy Reid made a double change shortly afterwards, with James McCarthy and Mark Gilhaney being replaced by Brian Wake and David Winters. Gilhaney had been starved of the ball all afternoon and looked disappointed when he came off. However, the introduction of Wake in particular gave Accies an immediate lift and they really took the game to St Johnstone. They were rewarded after 63 minutes when Richard Offiong equalised with a magnificent goal. He won the ball about 25 yards out and simply chipped it over Halliwell and into the top corner. It was great to see an Accies player have the vision and skill to carry it off.
It was anyone's game after this. Accies made another switch, Marvyn Wilson replacing James McArthur. Although the introduction of Winters gave Accies a lot of solidity in midfield, the Accies defence got a bit jittery and Jason Scotland was able to drift through them a couple of times. He brought an excellent save out of McEwan while another effort went into the side net from a tight angle. Kevin James was always a threat and he nearly grabbed the winner, with a good dipping shot that McEwan did well to tip over the top. Accies had some good attacks but despite a good shot from David Winters that went narrowly past the post they never really looked like winning the game.
Best for Accies were David McEwan in goals, David Elebert in the middle of the defence and Richard Offiong up front. Marvyn Wilson really steadied the team when he came on and Accies looked much better for his presence.
After the match, Billy Reid said, "I've always maintained that that when we can get Richard Offiong on the park he can do the business at this level. He only needs to do three or four things in a game to make a real impact and when he's fully fit and his head is screwed on he has everything you need in modern football. We've signed him on a two year deal and that's great because it means if someone wants him they need to pay a lot of money. But I wasn't just pleased for Richard. We had a lot of great performances from our young players against a good St Johnstone side and it bodes well for the future."
Hamilton Accies: McEwan; Parratt, Sharp, McCarthy (Wake 58), Elebert; Easton, McArthur (Wilson 68), Neil, Gilhaney (Winters 58); Offiong, McLeod.
St Johnstone: Halliwell; Lawrie, Stanic, Mensing, McManus, James; Hardie, Sheridan, Sheerin; Macdonald (Milne 70), Scotland.
Referee: W Collum
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