Accies progressed into the 3rd round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup with this win against Clyde. Accies clearly deserved to win the match, but they made heavy weather of it against hard-working opposition. James Grady grabbed the opening goal for Accies; his first at New Douglas Park.
Hamilton Accies 3 Clyde 1
Co-operative Insurance Cup 2nd round
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
Tuesday, 26th August 2008
Accies duly advanced into the third round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup on Tuesday night, but despite dominating proceedings they found it hard to overcome a stuffy Clyde team. Manager Billy Reid, as expected, made several changes to the team that was defeated at Rugby Park on Saturday. Mark McLaughlin and Alex Neil missed out through injury, while David Graham was suspended and Richard Offiong was rested. The bad news for McLaughlin and Accies is that he has damaged a medial ligament in his knee and will be missing for up to two months. The remainder of the missing players should be available for the visit of Hearts at the weekend.
These changes gave Lucas Akins and Sebastian Sorsa their home debuts, with James Grady making a rare start up front and David Elebert coming in at centre half. Accies took control of the game pretty quickly, with Finnish winger Sorsa looking useful on the right wing. he was a key figure in the opening goal, which came at the end of a delightful passage of play. It started with a forward pass from Tony Stevenson to James McCarthy, who flicked it instantly into the path of Sorsa on the right wing. Sebastian beat his man before getting to the byeline and sending over a magnificent cross into the penalty area. it was begging for a good finish and it was diminutive striker James Grady who provided the perfect centre forward's header to give Accies the lead.
It was an excellent goal, but unfortunately all of the good work was undone just a minute or so later when Clyde striker Pat Clarke took advantage of slack play in the Accies midfield to fire home from 20 yards via the inside of Tomas Cerny's post. Accies had the bulk of the ball in the first half, but despite some good play on the wing by Sorsa and the usual tremendous midfield partnership of Messrs McCarthy and McArthur, there were to be no further goals before the break. However, referee Somers took note of a bad foul by Clyde's German defender Ohnesorge and showed him a yellow card about two minutes later when the ball finally went out of play. This was to be crucial to the outcome of the game.
So the scores were level at the interval but it had been an entertaining game. Clyde were being stretched but looked dangerous when they managed to get possession of the ball. Happily for Accies, they didn't get much in the way of possession in the second period either. After an hour of the game, Billy Reid made his first change of the game with Joel Thomas replacing James Grady. The French striker had impressed in his brief outings prior to this and again looked like a good signing. Midway through the second half, Michael Ohnesorge was just beaten to the ball by Brian Easton and the second yellow card was inevitable. The Accies man hurt his shoulder in the challenge and was later replaced by Mark Corcoran.
Clyde's lack of numbers made the game even more unbalanced in Accies favour and they attacked in numbers. They very nearly took the lead after some inspired wing play by skipper James McArthur. he showed a Clyde defender a clean pair of heels before reaching the touchline and cutting the ball back. the ball was cleared to Joel Thomas 10 yards out but his powerful shot thudded off Cherrie's crossbar to safety. The substitute was not to be denied, however, and he gave Accies the lead in the 81st minute with a shot from 25 yards that was too powerful for Cherrie to block and it squirmed under the Clyde 'keeper's body.
Clyde threw everything forward after this and Tomas Cerny had to make a couple of good saves to protect the lead. However, the last action of the game came after Lucas Akins was tripped inside the penalty area by Peter Cherrie. The 'keeper collected a yellow card and then gathered the ball from the net after Tony Stevenson had lashed it past him from the spot.
It was an entertaining game and Accies clearly deserved the win. Best in the yellow and blue were the majestic Chris Swailes at the back, winger Sebastian Sorsa and James McArthur in midfield, with Joel Thomas probably being the pick of the attackers.
Hamilton: Cerny, Stevenson, Elebert, Swailes, Easton (Corcoran 74), Akins, McCarthy, Mensing, McArthur, Grady (Thomas 61), Sorsa (Lyle 87).
Subs Not Used: Murdoch, Taylor.
Booked: Mensing.
Goals: Grady 17, Thomas 81, Stevenson 90 pen.
Clyde: Cherrie, Gibson, Higgins, Brown, Ohnesorge, Ruari MacLennan, Kettlewell, Wilson (Trouten 63), Waddell, Clarke (McKay 67), Gemmill (McGowan 75).
Subs Not Used: McLauchlin, Murch.
Sent Off: Ohnesorge (66). Booked: Ohnesorge, Cherrie.
Goals: Clarke 19.
Att: 1,146
Ref: D Somers
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