Hamilton Accies 3 Aberdeen 0 SPFL Premiership New Douglas Park, Hamilton Friday, 17th October 2014 After the first leg defeat in the play-off against Hibernian in May, this writer spoke briefly to vice Chairman Ronnie MacDonald on the pitch at NDP. He was bitterly disappointed that a great chance to gain promotion had been put in severe jeopardy by the match we had just seen. It seemed that all that hard work and excellent football wasnt going to count for anything and that we would remain in the Championship, which promised to be a very difficult league. It wasnt mentioned, but theres every chance that the team would have seen some departures. Fast forward less than 5 months and Accies sit proudly on top of the Premiership, with a four point gap ahead of Saturdays fixtures. This performance against Aberdeen encapsulated everything that the club stands for; hard work, preparation and no small amount of skill led to a three goal win and Aberdeen couldnt live with them. It was quite remarkable. Alex Neil doesnt play much now as he cant get into his own team. In his heyday, he was a tough tackling midfielder who simply never gave up and he has taken that attitude into his management position. It seems certain that he will go far in the game. For this game, Darian MacKinnon was available after his four game suspension, but he had to be content with a place on the bench. Afterwards, Alex Neil said that he would have had no qualms about bringing him back in as he always puts out the team he thinks is best suited to win the game. Accies started quite well and won a couple of early corners but had to wait until the 15th minute for the opening goal. It started with some good skill from Tony Andreu, who knocked the ball forwards. Aberdeen defender Ash Taylor failed to clear properly and the alert Dougie Imrie nipped in to lift the ball over the advancing Jamie Langfield. The ball was running free and it was Tony Andreu who got there first before knocking the ball into the net from a couple of yards out. That was good stuff for Accies, but Aberdeen had a couple of chances shortly afterwards that could have put them back into the game. First of all, a shot by Tony Andreu from 25 yards ricocheted off an Aberdeen defender and shot right through the middle of the Accies midfield. It ran kindly for Adam Rooney, who ran on with only Michael McGovern to beat. But his shot wasnt good enough to beat the Northern Irish goalkeeper. Rooneys striking partner had a similar chance from the left shortly afterwards, but again McGovern got down well to save. So it remained 1-0 at the interval and, over all, Accies were worthy of their lead. The Dons made a change at half time, with Andrew Considine being replaced by Peter Pawlett. The visitors did have some good moments early in the second half but the Accies defence was generally superb. The wind was knocked out of their sails in the 53rd minute, when Accies doubled their lead. It started with a lovely flick from Tony Andreu to release Danny Redmond down the left wing. Danny advanced into the penalty area before cutting the ball back into the perfect position for Tony Andreu to sweep a left footed shot into the bottom corner. With the game slipping away from them, Aberdeen stepped up the pace after this. Niall McGinn came on and he had a couple of free kicks that came close but which didnt force McGovern into a save. The Accies goal did have a couple of narrow escapes as the Dons really went for it, but this left them open at the other end and, with a bit more composure, Accies could have done them even more damage. Once again, they had Michael McGovern to thank in the 87th minute when he produced a magnificent save from a close range header by Aberdeen substitute Lawrence Shankland. With the game almost in to added on time, Ziggy Gordon won the ball from David Goodwillie near the touchline. He then gave it to Ali Crawford and the midfielder sent in a delightful chipped cross to Mickael Antoine Curier, who buried it beneath Langfield from 10 yards. That was his last involvement as he was immediately replaced by Andy Ryan. At full time, the team left the field to a sustained ovation from the delighted Accies fans while Another One Bites The Dust played over the PA. So it was a great night for Accies and, with a good crowd in, live TV coverage and a large number of English scouts in the stand, its hard to imagine how it could have gone any better. One area of concern was that Accies picked up five cautions, which will probably give them some issues later in the season. But for now, this is a great team to watch and probably the best time ever to be an Accies fan. Accies; McGovern, Gordon, Hendrie, Devlin, Garcia Tena, Gillespie, Imrie, Crawford, Andreu (Longridge 84), Redmond (MacKinnon 72), Antoine Curier (Ryan 90+1) Unused substitutes; Hill, Neil, Scotland & Watson Cautions; Devlin, Garcia Tena, Gillespie, Imrie & Redmond Goals; Andreu (15 & 53), Antoine-Curier (90) Aberdeen; Langfield, Taylor, Reynolds, Considine (Pawlett 46), Logan, Flood, Jack, Robson (McGinn 68), Hayes, Rooney (Shankland 87), Goodwillie Unused substitutes; Monakana, Smith, Low & Brown Cautions; Flood & Jack Referee; Kevin Clancy Assistants; Andrew McWilliam, Gary Hilland 4th: Alan Muir Attendance; 4093
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 22:46:09 +0000
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