Accies continued their great start to the season with a fine 1-0 win at Inverness on Saturday, with Richard Offiong scoring the game's only goal just before half time. This means that Accies remain on top of the SPL for now, albeit by virtue of having scored more goals than Rangers.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0 Hamilton Accies 1
Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League
Tulloch Stadium, Inverness
Saturday, 16th August 2008
Accies continued their dream start to the season with this win. They just about deserved it too, and although they were unable to capture the sparkling form from Monday night that made the Scottish Football world sit up and take notice they showed that they are far from being out of their depth at this level. Remarkably, this means that Accies have been top, or joint top, of the league for more than a calendar year.
Surprisingly, although the home side have been members of the Scottish League (and SPL) for 14 years, this was the first ever meeting between the teams in the league. Accies had played at Inverness twice on cup business, with differing results! Billy Reid named an unchanged starting XI from the Dundee United game, with the only change being the arrival of French striker Joe Thomas amongst the substitutes. The home side were hampered by the absence of skipper Grant Munro, with teenager Jamie Duff making his debut in the heart of the defence.
The early stages, in fact the bulk of the first half, were fairly evenly balanced. Accies lined up in their usual 4-5-1 formation but this was also the formation favoured by Craig Brewster. This means that there was much huffing and puffing in midfield but not a huge amount of goalmouth action. The best effort from Accies in the first part of the game followed a Tony Stevenson corner from the right. The kick was delivered to Simon mensing at the back post. he headed it back across goal to Richard Offiong about 4 yards from goal, but Richard could only head just over the bar when he ought to have scored. At the other end, Chris Swailes had to head a dangerous cross from the left past his own post, giving many Accies fans an uncomfortable reminder of Mark McLaughlin's mishap against Dundee United.
As half time approached a surging run towards the goal by Don Cowie was ended by a trip by James McArthur just outside the area. Dougie Imrie, possibly the home team's most threatening player, lined up the blast the free kick, but he stepped over it, allowing Don Cowie to float it harmlessly over the top. Just as it looked as though the game would remain level at half-time, Richard Offiong announced his arrival in the top league with an expertly taken goal. It came out of nothing really, with Richard dispossessing debutant Jamie Duff and then running into the area before tucking the ball past Michael Fraser in the home goal. So Accies led at the interval and were decent value for that lead.
Inverness boss Craig Brewster made a change at half time, bringing on £50,000 capture Adam Rooney for Russell Duncan. The player did bring an injection of pace and skill into the front line, with a couple of crosses that troubled the Accies defence. However, Chris Swailes, Mark McLaughlin and Tomas Cerny were able to mop up everything that was thrown at them. Shortly afterwards, Alex Neil was yellow carded for a over zealous tackle on Dougie Imrie. This was a rash thing for the skipper to do as Imrie was near the half way line and not threatening the Accies goal. Caley Thistle's best chance of the game came after this, with a sweet cross from Imrie on the left finding Don Cowie unmarked in the area. He looked to be caught in two minds but his weak volley was cleared by the Accies defence.
With the home side having more of the ball, Billy Reid made the same double substitution as he did against Dundee United, with Lucas Akins and Mark Corcoran replacing Richard Offiong and David Graham. This definitely improved things for Accies, with Corcoran's quick footwork and Akins' pace and power causing real problems to the home defence. Accies began to stretch the Inverness defence and created two decent chances before the end of the game. First of all, Mark Corcoran was given a decent shooting opportunity on the left side of the penalty area but dragged his shot wide. Then Simon Mensing thumped in a low shot from 20 yards that Fraser did well to block. He also blocked Corcoran's shot from the rebound but the Accies man was offside in any event.
The home fans were grumbling about the time Tomas Cerny was taking over goal-kicks and he was yellow carded by referee O'Reilly near the end when he paused to indicate that Accies wanted to make their final substitution. This was for the arrival of Derek Lyle in place of James McCarthy, but Billy Reid said later that this was just a time wasting tactic. The referee awarded three extra minutes at the end but Accies held firm to gather all three points.
Best for Accies in a solid team performance were the central defence of McLaughlin and Swailes, the "James Gang" of McArthur and McCarthy in midfield and Richard Offiong for his decisive moment of genius. But the rest all put in a good shift too and no-one let the team down. Interestingly, Tomas Cerny didn't have to make any actual saves, which speaks volumes about the defensive qualities of the guys in front of him.
Inverness CT: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Duff (McAllister 81), Hastings, Imrie, Duncan (Rooney 46), Black, Cowie (Wilson 70), McBain, Barrowman.
Subs Not Used: Esson, Djebi-Zadi, Gillespie, Wood.
Booked: Duff.
Hamilton: Cerny, Stevenson, Swailes, McLaughlin, Easton, Graham (Corcoran 57), McCarthy (Lyle 90), Neil, McArthur, Mensing, Offiong (Akins 57).
Subs Not Used: Murdoch, Elebert, Thomas, Sorsa.
Booked: Neil, Cerny.
Goals: Offiong 45.
Att: 3,595
Ref: S O'Reilly (Scotland)
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