Accies drew 1-1 with Livingston on Saturday in an enthralling game at New Douglas Park. Brian Wake gave Accies the lead with a well taken solo effort after 21 minutes but James McPake scored a deserved equaliser for the visitors midway through the second half. David McEwan was the early hero for Accies, with a fine penalty save from Steven Craig.
New Douglas Park
Saturday, 2nd December 2006
Hamilton Accies 1 Livingston 1
Accies did little to improve their chances of promotion when they drew 1-1 with Livingston at NDP. Manager Billy Reid shuffled his injury hit pack yet again, with new recruit Kevin Sharp replacing James Gibson at left back. With Brian Easton injured last week, he was replaced by James McArthur, with Tony Stevenson partnering David Elebert at the back. No fewer than five Accies players had fitness tests before the game and this meant that Marvyn Wilson and Richard Offiong were on the bench despite lacking match fitness.
The first incident of the game came after only a couple of minutes when Craig Wight picked the ball up after it had run out of the penalty area. A yellow card was deemed sufficient punishment by referee Craig Thomson, although it could be argued that David Winters had been deprived of a goalscoring opportunity by his foul.
Accies got off to a decent start and Paul McLeod should probably have scored early on with his header from a brilliant Tom Parratt free kick. Accies came mighty close to opening the scoring after 11 minutes when an excellent move ended with Brian Wake teeing the ball up for James McCarthy 10 yards out. The youngster thumped the ball into the net but his celebrations were quickly ended by the offside flag. McCarthy was involved again 5 minutes later when he made a rash tackle on Scott Mitchell inside the area. There was no immediate danger from Mitchell but there was no doubting the validity of the penalty award. Happily for Accies, Dave McEwan made his second consecutive penalty save when he got down low to block Steven Craig's effort.
Accies grabbed the lead after 21 minutes when some great interplay between Paul Mcleod and David Winters gave Brian Wake the chance to run through on goal. He sidestepped Craig Wight and scored from close range. Accies played well for the remainder of the half but were unable to increase their advantage. Livingston didn't create much in the way of opportunities with the Accies defence able to take care of any danger.
The first half had been pretty good for Accies but the second half was chaotic. The visitors created a couple of "half chances" but didn't seem to have their shooting boots with them. Billy Reid made his first change just before the hour when he replaced the tiring Paul McLeod with Marvyn Wilson. Mcleod had been nursing a troublesome groin injury during the week but did well to last for an hour. The change meant that Tom Parratt moved into the right side of midfield and Marvyn Wilson moved to the right back slot he had occupied so well in the recent win against Airdrie United. The manager's plan was to get the benefit of Parratt's mobility on the right. Sadly, the next event of note came just a few minutes later, when Livingston equalised.
The goal had been coming for a while, but it was a very simple affair with a long ball into the area being knocked down for James McPake to knock home from close range. Moments later, it was very nearly 2-1 to the visitors when Marvyn Wilson was short with a passback and Dave McEwan made an excellent diving save. Billy Reid then decided to take a risk on the fitness of striker Richard Offiong and put him on the for the last quarter of the game. Offiong had not trained all week and the decision to put him on the pitch at all was a bit of a gamble. However, it very nearly paid off as he combined very well with Brain Wake to give his fellow Englishman a number of decent opportunities.
Big Brian could have had three more goals in the second half but a combination of good goalkeeping and poor finishing prevented that. First of all, Wake shielded the ball on the edge of the area before turning to fire a shot towards the top corner. Wight did very well to turn the ball around the post for a corner. Offiong was having a cracking spell on the left and one burst of speed to race past a Livingston defender was remarkable. He was provider again for Wake with a fine cross towards the penalty spot but Wake's header was mistimed and didn't threaten the goal. The third chance was the best. Offiong drew three defenders on the wing before squaring the ball to his unmarked partner. Wake tried to sidestep the goalkeeper as he had for the goal but this time it didn't work and the goalie did well to block his effort.
Accies were denied what looked like a good claim for a penalty when it seemed that Alex Neil was pushed in the back when trying to get on the end of a cross to the back post. Referee Thomson decided otherwise and the game carried on. Accies had another goal disallowed for offside when Wake lashed the ball home from close range.
Livingston were giving a good account of themselves and were unafraid to pour forward in search of a winner of their own. They very nearly grabbed all of the points right at the end when a combination of Dave McEwan and a goalline clearance by James McArthur was all that stood in their way. There was an ugly moment when Richard Offiong was yellow carded for a foul on Liam Fox. The Livingston player was stretchered off with a serious injury. Worse was to follow for the visitors when Jason Thompson went down injured and they had to play the last few minutes of the game with only 10 men.
Hamilton: McEwan, Parratt, Sharp, McCarthy (Offiong 67), Elebert, Stevenson, McLeod (Wilson 58), McArthur, Wake, Neil, Winters. Subs Not Used: Gibson, Coult, Jellema.
Booked: Offiong.
Goals: Wake 21.
Livingston: Wight, Thompson, Mackay, McPake, Tweed, Mitchell (Makel 62), Dorrans, Walker, Teggert, Fox (Smylie 78), Craig (Hamill 62). Subs Not Used: Shields, Monteith.
Booked: Craig, Wight.
Goals: McPake 64.
Att: 1,515
Ref: Craig Thomson
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