2007-04-21 Dundee

Accies suffered a defeat on Saturday when they lost 1-0 to Dundee at Dens Park. Derek Lyle was the scorer, with a second half penalty. Gary Smith was sent off midway through the second half but Accies were unable to grab the equaliser that would have assured them of third place in the league.

Results elsewhere mean that St Johnstone come to New Douglas Park on Saturday needing a win to give themselves a chance of overhauling Gretna. Consequently, the Spice of Life Stand and part of the main stand will be reserved for Saints fans and 2900 tickets will be made available to St Johnstone.

Dundee 1 Hamilton Accies 0

Dens Park, Dundee

Saturday, 21st April 2007

DUNDEE inflicted a narrow defeat on Hamilton at Dens Park, as the race for third place intensifies. Derek Lyle’s 62 nd-minute penalty was enough to give the Dark Blues all three points in what was a scrappy game. As a Bob Davidson cross came into the box, David Elebert was judged to have fouled Kevin MacDonald in the box and referee Crawford Allan immediately pointed to the spot.

What the whistler had failed to spot, however, was that Davidson had clearly fouled Alex Neil on the right flank, which gave him the space to cross. Gary Smith was shown a straight red card for an elbow on Elebert in 77 minutes, leaving Dundee with 10 men, but the hosts held out for the points. Hamilton travelled to the City of Discovery with two changes from last week’s line-up, as Marvyn Wilson and James McCarthy replaced Tony Stevenson and Mark Gilhaney.

But Dundee carved out a good opening in four minutes when Dyron Daal ran through the middle of the park, passed right to Lyle, who in turn found MacDonald with a diagonal ball, but his low drive was brilliantly pushed past the left post by Sean Murdoch. In a half with few instances of note, young McCarthy nearly had Accies fans out of their seats in 41 minutes when his searing drive was fumbled by Ludovic Roy, but the keeper recovered to grab the ball just before it went over the line.

Dundee started the second half strongly and Daal sent a drive inches past the left post in 50 minutes with Murdoch wrong-footed. Richard Offiong found space in the box in 59 minutes, but his shot on the turn was deflected across the goalmouth with no takers. Boss Billy Reid made a triple substitution in 68 minutes, hooking Wilson, David Winters and Offiong for Paul McLeod, Brian Wake and Mark Gilhaney, as Accies searched for the equaliser that would have guaranteed third place.

Dundee could have doubled their lead in 75 minutes when Daal darted down the right and squared for Brian Clark, but Murdoch raced off his line to block with his legs and send the ball spinning over. On the advice of assistant referee Gary Hilland, Smith was then sent packing for his foul on Elebert. If anything, however, that served to galvanise Dundee and they dealt with everything thrown at them as Accies pounded the defence in search of a leveller.

The closest Hamilton came was in 80 minutes when an Elebert throw-in from the right was back-headed by Chris Swailes into the path of Wake, but the big hitman bundled his effort past the right post from close range. That result leaves Dundee a point behind Hamilton going into the last game of the season. To guarantee third place, Accies need to try and take something from a St Johnstone side that can still win the First Division championship.

DUNDEE: Roy, Shields, Dixon, Clark (Gates, 91), Griffin, Smith, MacDonald, Lyle, Davidson, Daal, Swankie (McKenzie, 78). Subs (not used): Smith, Higgins, Forsyth, Sent off: Smith.

HAMILTON: Murdoch, Parratt, Swailes, Wilson (McLeod, 68), Elebert, Easton, Winters (Wake, 68), McArthur, Offiong (Gilhaney, 68), Neil, McCarthy. Subs (not used): Gibson, Jellema. Booked: McArthur, Parratt, Gilhaney.

Referee: Crawford Allan.

Attendance: 3221

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