St. Johnstone 4 Accies 1

Accies suffered their first league defeat of the season on Saturday, when they lost 4-1 to St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. Accies took an early lead through Stuart Taylor, but the Saints came roaring back after the break to score 4 times and deservedly take the points.

St Johnstone 4 Hamilton Accies 1

McDiarmid Park, Perth

Saturday, 29th September 2007

Irn Bru League Division 1

After the excitement of the cup win against Kilmarnock in midweek, this was a hugely disappointing performance from Accies as they slumped to their first league defeat of the season. Manager Billy Reid restored three of the players who had missed the cup tie, with Stuart Taylor, Mark McLaughlin and Brian Easton coming back in. David Winters and Chris Swailes kept their places, so there was the rare sight of David Elebert as a substitute. crucially, skipper Alex neil missed the game due to a ligament injury.

Accies got off to a terrific start and swarmed all over the Saints for the first few minutes. Their early superiority was rewarded with a goal after just three minutes. Mark Gilhaney was tripped just outside the area by defender Gary Irvine, with the fact that it was so early in the game perhaps saving the Saints man from receiving a yellow card. The free kick from David Winters was cleared but when the ball was sent back into the area it came to the unmarked Stuart Taylor at the far post. He took his time and moved the ball onto his left foot before firing a low shot that beat Alan Main to give Accies the lead.

Accies were well on top in the early stages but a second goal eluded them. Gradually, the home team came back into things and Bryn Halliwell did really well to save a powerful header from Kenny Deuchar. The Saints had a couple of very poor penalty claims waved away by referee Smith as they tried to get back into the game. Kenny Deuchar was perhaps fortunate not to be cautioned by the referee after an incident with Mark McLaughlin just inside the Accies half. Mark clearly pulled his leg away from Deuchar but that did not stop the striker from falling to the ground. Interestingly, a later run by Stuart Taylor into the St Johnstone half ended with what looked to have been a foul by Steven Anderson but was interpreted by the referee as "simulation" and Taylor was booked by Mr Smith.

The first half was a pretty decent spell of football, but it was clear that St Johnstone were really beginning to take charge of the game. It only took them three minutes of the second half to get the goal that cancelled out Accies lead. Mark McLaughlin clearly held back Andy Jackson to prevent him from trying to shoot on goal and the penalty was rightly awarded. It seemed and unnecessary foul to concede and Paul Sheerin cracked the ball into the top corner. The goal gave the home side a real boost and a second goal seemed inevitable given how much possession they enjoyed.

Sensing that all was not going well, Billy Reid made a double substitution, with Richard Offiong and Stuart Taylor being replaced by Brian Wake and James Gibson. Things were to get worse for Accies, when Andy Jackson completed a fine passing move by slipping the ball past Halliwell from 15 yards. Accies were still in the game however and Brian Wake used his strength to get himself a good chance to equalise. Unfortunately for Brian, he sliced his shot wide of the target. The killer third goal arrived after 72 minutes and it was a real slice of good luck for Kenny Deuchar. Bryn Halliwell did well to parry a powerful shot, but the ball then deflected off an Accies defender into Deuchar's path. The unguarded net quickly contained the ball.

By this time, Accies were on the back foot for most of the play and restricted to breakaway attacks. Mark Gilhaney had a terrific run when he received the ball inside his own half and then beat several defenders down the left wing before cutting into the penalty area. At that point, tiredness seemed to get to him and he sliced the ball wide. That was really that as far as decent chances were concerned for Accies, but Andy Jackson then made it 4-1 when he got onto a head flick from Deuchar to lob the ball over the unprotected Halliwell.

So it was a hugely disappointing performance from Accies but there can be no complaints whatever about the result. They simply lost to what was, on the day, the superior team.

St Johnstone: Main, Irvine, Stanic, McInnes, McManus, Anderson, Quinn, Sheerin, Deuchar, Jackson (MacDonald 80), McLaren. Subs Not Used: Stewart, Moon, Lawrie, Cuthbert.

Booked: McInnes, McLaren.

Goals: Sheerin 48, Jackson 63, Deuchar 72, Jackson 79.

Hamilton: Halliwell, Parratt, Easton, Taylor (Gibson 61), Swailes, McLaughlin, Winters (McLeod 73), McArthur, Offiong (Wake 61), McCarthy, Gilhaney. Subs Not Used: Elebert, Cerny.

Booked: Taylor.

Goal: Taylor 3.

Att: 2,713

Ref: E Smith

- Read the fans' memories, or add your own, via this link.

- Please contact us if you have any information that will improve this page or if you spot any mistakes.

Images

Videos

Links and References