Accies fought out a 1-1 draw with Queen of the South at Palmerston on Tuesday, with the Accies goal coming from striker Brian Wake.
Queen of the South 1 Hamilton Accies 1
Palmerston Park, Dumfries
Tuesday, 3rd April 2007
Accies reduced the gap on second placed St Johnstone with this hard fought point down at Palmerston. Billy Reid made a few changes to the team that defeated Ross County, with Mark Gilhaney, David Winters and James McCarthy all relegated to the bench. Tom Parratt and Alex Neil made their expected returns after suspension and Paul McLeod partnered Brian Wake up front in a 4-4-2 formation.
Queens had all the early possession, but it was Accies who took the lead after just 4 minutes with a fine goal by Brian Wake. Paul McLeod created the chance by nodding a ball out of defence into his path and the big striker calmly beat MacDonald in the home goal. The lead was not to last for long however, with Sean O'Connor heading home a cross from Eric Paton on the right to level the scores after 20 minutes.
Accies had a good first half and they played some fine football. However, the best chances seemed to fall to Marvyn Wilson but the midfielder was unable to repeat his scoring exploits at the weekend. Accies nearly grabbed the lead before half time but Paul McLeod's cross was somehow cleared from the line. Alex Neil also brought a good save from the goalkeeper as Accies took the game to the home side.
If Accies had been the better team in the first half, it was the home side who were on top for the bulk of the second period. Billy Reid made a change at the interval, with young Gerry McLauchlan replacing James Gibson on the left side of the defence. Another enforced change was made soon afterwards, with James McCarthy replacing Chris Swailes. A tactical change at this stage meant that it was Alex Neil partnering David Elebert at the back with Brian Easton on the left side of midfield.
As the game wore on, Accies committed quite a few fouls and referee Mike McCurry showed yellow cards to both Marvyn Wilson and David Elebert. Mark Gilhaney replaced Paul McLeod with half an hour remaining but he was unable to make an impression on the home defensive pairing of Thomson and Lauchlan. Accies were on the back foot for long spells of the second period but it was only in the final few minutes that Sean Murdoch was forced into making a save. He also saved a point for his club when he made a point blank block from a diving header from substitute John O'Neill.
So it was a good point for Accies to win and it represented the fourth draw against Queen of the South this season.
Queen of the South: MacDonald, Paton, McQuilken, Lauchlan, Jim Thomson, Scally, Barrowman, Tosh (Burns 77), Murray, Dobbie (Weir 71), O'Connor (O'Neill 50).
Subs Not Used: Corr, Aitken.
Goal: O'Connor 20.
Hamilton: Murdoch, Parratt, Gibson (McLauchlan 46), Swailes (McCarthy 56), Elebert, Easton, Wilson, McArthur, Neil, Wake, McLeod (Gilhaney 60).
Subs Not Used: Jellema, Winters.
Booked: Wilson, Elebert.
Goal: Wake 4.
Att: 1,650
Ref: M McCurry
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