| Queen's Park |
| 0 |
| Hamilton Accies |
| 3 |
| ( Thomson, Ferguson, Hardy ) |
| Apologies for the lateness of this report going up. I did actually write it yesterday, then PageBuilder packed up and refused to save what I'd written, so I ended up losing the whole thing. However, as my colleague Martin said to me on the phone yesterday, that's what you get when you pay nothing! There therefore follows a brief summary of the game, as time pressures won't allow me to write the whole thing again. To put it simply, 3-0 doesn't tell the whole story. In the first half, Queen's had an even share, or even perhaps a larger share, of play, and created a few good chances. Most noteable perhaps was Richard Bowers, who was put through by a great ball by Paul Harvey, but sadly he could only shoot wide. There were also chances for Stuart Kettlewell, Mark Ferry and John Weir in the first half, but sadly we just couldn't convert them into goals. Hamilton also had their chances, and really should have taken the lead after 25 minutes, when Pat Keogh was put clear. However, the "big" striker made heavy work of the run-in on goal, allowing Tony Quinn to recover, track back, and make an excellent tackle in the area to deny Keogh the chance. In the second half, Hamilton looked much more lively, and indeed nearly took the lead within a minute of the restart. A free kick from Carrigan had DC stretching, and looked to be going in the top corner, but fortunately it hit the post, flew across the face of goal and away. Soon after, Bennett had a long range shot which only just flew over the bar. With 58 minutes played, Hamilton took the lead. Referee Andrew Hunter game a dubious free-kick about 40 yards out on the right wing, and when it came into the box Hamilton defender Steven Thomson stooped and drove a low header into the corner of the goal. Soon after this, Billy Stark made an attacking change, replacing John Weir with Bryan Felvus, switching from a 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2 formation. Over the next ten minutes, Queen's seemed to have more posession, and put Hamilton under a bit of pressure, but could still not come anywhere near scoring. With 12 minutes to go, Hamilton stuck the killer blow. DC and Shaun Molloy had done well to block Balmar's shot through a crowded box, but when the resulting corner came in nobody seemed able to stop Brown Ferguson heading the ball in at the near post. Queen's tried to pull a goal back, but Hamilton were proving difficult to break down, and we were leaving ourselves short at the back. It wasn't really surprising then that we ended up conceeding a third goal with 6 minutes to go. Accies broke up the pitch, and Ross Clark tried to get across to make the tackle. He was a bit late though and ended up catching Luke Hardy, nearly bringing him down. Referee Hunter played the advantage, allowing Hardy to run on and blast the ball past DC to make it 3-0, then called Clark back to book him - harsh, considering the number of challenges on Ross over the 90 minutes, all of which had gone unpunished. It was Queen's who had the last word - a Bryan Felvus shot being held by Jellema - and really, a goal for Queens would probably have been a fair reward for their efforts. Certainly a 3-0 defeat was more than a little harsh. One worrying aspect of the game was that we didn't create as many goal chances as we might have liked, but that is more that likely because we were up against at First Division side. Next week against Stenny we will get a better idea how we are likely to perform in the Third Division this coming season. The sponsor's Man of the Match award for this match went to Hamilton's Brown Ferguson, and I think he possibly was their best player. Certainly, he caused us a few problems over the 90 minutes, not least by scoring the second goal. My choice for Man of the Match would be Tony Quinn, after a good fighting performance from him. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Ross Clark, Shaun Molloy, Steven Reilly, Richard Sinclair, Paul Harvey, Stuart Kettlewell (David Weatherston 79), Tony Quinn, Richard Bowers (Jonny Whelan 83), John Weir (Bryan Felvus 61), Mark Ferry. Subs not used: Damiano Agostini, Alex Cowie (SK). Booked: Ross Clark (84 - trip) Hamilton Accies: Jellema, Ferguson, Hodge, Thomson, Balmar, Carrigan (Jones 79), Sim (McLaughlin 59), Bennett, Keogh, Hardy, Gilhaney (Wilson 30). Subs not used: Anderson, McEwan (SK) Goals: Thomson 58, Ferguson 79, Hardy 84. Booked: Carrigan (72 - persistant fouling) Attendance: 755 |