Aberdeen 1 Accies 2

Accies made the long trip to Aberdeen on Saturday and fully deserved all three points from an entertaining game. Aberdeen took the lead through Gary McDonald early on, but David Graham scored a fantastic equaliser before the interval. James McCarthy earned the man of the match plaudits and scored the match winning goal just before the hour. This was Accies' first victory in the Granite City since September 1930!

Aberdeen 1 Hamilton Accies 2

Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen

Saturday, 13th September 2008

Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League

This result will gain many headlines due to the fact that it was Accies' first win at Pittodrie since September 1930. In reality, that's not a particularly meaningful statistic, as there haven't been too many games between the clubs in recent years. What was significant however, was the manner in which the 3 points were earned. Anyone not at the game might think that this was the classic story of the wee team going to a treacherous away ground, sticking 10 men behind the ball and waiting to hit on the break. Not a bit of it. Accies earned their win by playing simply better football than their hosts. In James McCarthy they have a match winning star in the making and in Billy Reid they have a manager not afraid to make changes when things are going against his team.

Accies lined up for this game with Martin Canning making his debut in place of the injured Chris Swailes after his deadline day arrival from Hibs. Lucas Akins and Joel Thomas were on the bench with their places being taken by David Graham and Finnish winger Sebastian Sorsa. The big news for the home fans was the debut of winger Sone Aluko following his arrival from Birmingham City. To counter the threat posed by Aluko, Billy Reid moved Tony Stevenson into midfield with Simon Mensing moving to the right back position. Aluko made a huge impression in the opening stages of the game, ripping past Mensing on the wing before hitting over a low cross that eluded everyone.

Aberdeen were clearly in the mood and it wasn't really a surprise when they opened the scoring after just 7 minutes, with Gary McDonald netting with a low shot that Tomas Cerny parried onto the post but just couldn't prevent from crossing the line. Accies were on the back foot for much of the next 20 minutes or so and it was clear that neither Simon Mensing nor Tony Stevenson were having a particularly happy time. The malaise spread to Tomas Cerny, who sent at least two goal kicks straight into the main stand. Accies were getting nowhere fast, so Billy Reid made what was to prove to be an inspired substitution with james McCarthy replacing Tony Stevenson.

Young James had been rested following his exertions for the Republic of Ireland under 21 team in midweek but was very keen to get onto the pitch. This lifted the team right away and Accies grabbed a superb equaliser after 34 minutes when David Graham volleyed the ball high past Jamie Langfield in the Aberdeen goal after good work by Brian Easton and Simon Mensing. It was an absolute cracker from Graham and his team-mates mobbed him in celebration. Accies were now playing some really neat football and had not deserved to be behind.

As half time approached there was an injury scare for Accies, with James McArthur limping to the sidelines with a leg injury. However, he was able to come back on after treatment from Avril Downs. So it was all square at the interval and that was just about right. The biggest threat from Aberdeen had been Sone Aluko but happily he hadn't seen an awful lot of the ball.

Accies attacked the beach end in the second half and it was very clear that they were gaining in confidence all the time. They refused to be over-awed by the opposition of the surroundings and maintained their neat passing game, with some excellent defending from Messrs Canning and Elebert in particular. Accies came close to taking the lead when a good pass from Simon Mensing gave James McCarthy the chance to get to the byeline. His low cross was just asking to be thumped home but Scott Severin was able to put off Richard Offiong and the chance was lost.

The home fans were stunned when Accies took the lead after 58 minutes with an opportunists's goal by teenager James McCarthy. A long free kick from Tomas Cerny was flicked on by Richard Offiong and James McCarthy muscled his way past Andrew Considine before lifting the ball past Langfield. It was James's first SPL goal and it was very well taken.

This really riled Aberdeen and their fans and they began to pour forwards as often as possible. But with Alex Neil, McArthur and McCarthy in fine form in midfield, they found space a very limited commodity. When they did manage to get the ball out to the wings for a cross, the results were either poorly executed or blocked by Mensing and Easton. Tomas Cerny, David Elebert and Martin Canning coped admirably with any high balls that did manage to get through, with Cerny not having to make a save of any significance in the second half.

Billy Reid made a couple of changes to freshen things up, with Lucas Akins replacing Richard Offiong and Mark Corcoran coming on for David Graham. the new players added some fresh energy to Accies up front and Sebastian Sorsa was having an excellent afternoon too. Aberdeen resorted to lumping the ball upfield whenever they had it, but that was food and drink to the Accies rearguard. Accies conceded a couple of unnecessary free-kicks outside the area, but these were mostly fruitless. The best one was delivered by Aluko, with his shot clipping the top of the crossbar.

Accies had a couple of chances to increase their lead near the end, with Mark Corcoran's shot just over the top the best of these. However, there were to be no further goals and Accies held out for a richly deserved victory. Alex Neil, Martin Canning and Lucas Akins were all yellow carded but this was a hard game rather than a dirty one. It's tough to say that some of the Accies players were better than the others in a real team performance, but let's just say that Martin Canning should prove to be an excellent signing. And that James McCarthy is a star!

Aberdeen: Langfield, Foster, Severin, Considine (De Visscher 68), Mulgrew, Young (Diamond 66), Kerr, McDonald, Aluko, Miller, Mackie (Maguire 60).

Subs Not Used: Bossu, Wright, Hodgkiss, Mair.

Booked: Miller, Mulgrew.

Goals: McDonald 7.

Hamilton: Cerny, Stevenson (McCarthy 31), Canning, Elebert, Easton, Mensing, McArthur, Neil, Sorsa, Graham (Corcoran 72), Offiong (Akins 61).

Subs Not Used: Murdoch, Casement, Lyle, Thomas.

Booked: Neil, Canning, Akins.

Goals: Graham 34, McCarthy 58.

Att: 10,865

Ref: A Muir

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