Accies put in a great performance against Celtic today, but ultimately were to be disappointed as the champions grabbed a late winner through ex-Accie Paul Hartley to take all three points. Richard Offiong opened the scoring for Accies with a fine header, but the game hinged on a decision to award Celtic a penalty kick and a red card to Martin Canning for a foul committed outside the area near the end of the first half. The penalty was converted by Shunsuke Nakamura but it was rough luck on Accies.
Hamilton Accies 1 Celtic 2
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
Sunday, 16th November 2008
Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League
This was one of those frustrating games where Accies gave so much and yet came away without anything to show for their efforts. Billy Reid made two changes to the team that lost narrowly to Hearts, with Richard Offiong replacing Lucas Akins and Chris Swailes coming in for David Graham. Mark McLaughlin continued his recovery with his third game in 9 days.
Accies got off to a good start and it was apparent that they were not suffering from stage fright. They harassed and irritated the Celtic players from the very start and the best early chance came when Richard Offiong sent a powerful left footed shot just over the crossbar from the edge of the area. Accies were playing very well and it was no great surprise when they opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a superb goal, with Richard Offiong diving to head a tremendous cross from Trent McClenahan low past Brown in the Celtic goal.
Accies came close to extending their lead just after the half hour when Richard Offiong got his head to a corner kick from Brian Easton but Brown was able to touch his header over the crossbar. So it was all going pretty well for Accies but then they had a stroke of disastrous luck after 37 minutes that was to change the game completely.
Celtic launched an an attack that was cleared up but the referee spotted that Chris Swailes had received a cut to his head and instructed him to leave the field for treatment. Celtic took advantage of their numerical superiority when Swailes was absent and Tomas Cerny had to dive low to save a header from Gary Caldwell. Celtic upped their game and a long ball from Andreas Hinkel was missed by Mark McLaughlin. It ran through to young striker Cillian Sheridan just outside the area and as he shaped to shoot he was impeded by Martin Canning. The referee red carded Canning, which was correct, but then awarded Celtic a spot kick, which was not correct. Tomas Cerny made a good attempt to stop Nakamura's penalty, but the Japanese midfielder's shot was low and right into the corner.
Accies didn't let up though and still they gave as good as they got, particularly in midfield. Richard Offiong had a half chance when he skipped past Stephen McManus, but Gary Caldwell blocked his progress. Simon Mensing had moved into the defence in place of the departed Canning and Accies looked to be pretty comfortable at the interval. They were applauded from the field for their efforts in the first half but there was a feeling that the chance of an upset had gone along with Martin Canning.
So at this stage it appeared to be highly unlikely that Accies would be able to win the game. It would have been easy for their heads to go down and for them to concede a couple of goals. However, this Accies team played with a huge amount of pride in the second period and although Celtic enjoyed territorial advantage, they were forced to battle for everything. There weren't many chances created by Accies, with a run by Richard Offiong being the best opportunity to come their way.
Celtic made a few chances, with Tomas Cerny having to be on his toes to keep them at bay. Billy Reid replaced the impressive Richard Offiong with David Graham with 8 minutes remaining but this didn't really make much difference as he was isolated for most of his time on the pitch. As is well known, however, Celtic will keep on pressing until the final whistle and they were to be rewarded for their efforts in the 87th minute, when ex Accies man Paul Hartley broke the hearts of his former club when he fired home a superb low shot from just inside the area. He was then yellow carded for his over zealous celebrations in front of the Celtic fans in the East Stand.
So that was to be it for the scoring and Celtic ran down the clock to record their tenth consecutive league victory, but there's no denying that this was very rough luck on Accies. All of the Accies team did well, from Tomas Cerny in goal to Richard Offiong up front. Billy Reid was rightly proud of his players afterwards and was certainly confident that his team will start to climb the league soon. The tough games keep on coming though and Dundee United will be very difficult opposition up at Tannadice on Saturday.
For this writer, this was one of Accies best performances in many years and it was a shame that the outcome of the game was to be partly determined by an error.
Hamilton: Cerny, McClenahan, Swailes (Thomas 90), Canning, Easton, McCarthy, Neil (Elebert 76), McArthur, McLaughlin, Mensing, Offiong (Graham 82). Subs Not Used: Murdoch, Gibson, Stevenson, Lyle.
Sent Off: Canning (38).
Booked: McArthur.
Goals: Offiong 16.
Celtic: Mark Brown, Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus, Wilson (Robson 46), Nakamura (Samaras 64), Scott Brown, Donati (Caddis 71), Hartley, Maloney, Sheridan. Subs Not Used: Fox, Loovens, Mizuno, McGowan.
Goals: Nakamura 39 pen, Hartley 86
Booked: Hartley.
Att: 5,550
Ref: S Conroy
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