THEY'VE not once talked about relegation within Accies, manager Billy Reid said yesterday after his side thoroughly deserved to beat a poor Falkirk. "Never been mentioned," said Reid, whose side are no longer basement material and instead are genuine
top-six contenders.
For Falkirk, however, the future looks doom-laden, especially if they continue to play the supine, nervy, disorganised stuff such they produced yesterday. They are now just one point ahead of Inverness at the bottom of the SPL, but John Hughes has issued a rallying cry: "I see a lot of tension and apprehension within our play. These players have worked ever so hard over the last six years to stay in the SPL, so why are we scared of it? Let's go and have a go."
Make no mistake, Hamilton dominated this match, but reached the interval on parity, thanks mainly to a bizarre own goal they conceded after just seven minutes. A seemingly harmless through-ball from Neil McCann went straight to Hamilton defender Chris Swailes standing on the edge of his own penalty area. The big Englishman did not look up as he turned the ball back to keeper Tomas Cerny who was caught in no-man's land as the back-pass drifted past him and into the net. A relieved Swailes quipped afterwards: "I take full responsibility for it – although Tomas will need to work on his sprints."
It was comedy stuff, but Hamilton's response was deadly serious. They took over the match, while the Falkirk midfield in particular went to sleep. James McCarthy was quite superb and he and Paul McGowan were chief tormentors while Offiong always looked dangerous.
After 17 minutes, Brian Easton's inswinging corner from the right caused mayhem in the Falkirk defence, the ball being flapped at by Dani Mallo and falling nicely to Simon Mensing, who lashed his volley through the throng and into the net for the equaliser.
McGowan's 22nd-minute shot was well held by Mallo, and Swailes almost redeemed himself with a header that went just wide. At the other end, McCann set up Scott Arfield, but Cerny saved comfortably.
McCarthy's stunning 25-yard volley after 40 minutes deserved better than to rebound off the post, while the Republic of Ireland international could only suffer as his clever cross set up Offiong who contrived to miss from just two yards out.
Hamilton had bossed Falkirk, but the home side came into the game early in the second half. After 55 minutes, Carl Finnigan sent Steve Lovell away in the clear, and the striker rounded the goalkeeper only to send his shot careering back off the post. But at the other end, McGowan volleyed over and only a lung-bursting run and tackle by Steven Pressley prevented Offiong from scoring.
McCarthy saw his cross punched clear by Mallo as Hamilton began to take charge again. Their superiority was confirmed after 75 minutes when a delicious through ball from McCarthy put McGowan in behind the Falkirk defence, the on-loan Celtic player forcing the ball home for the winning goal.
McCarthy almost put Hamilton further ahead two minutes later, his fierce shot through a clutch of defenders coming back off the post. For Falkirk, substitute Patrick Cregg had a chance to equalise, but Cerny superbly saved his shot.
With Falkirk pressing late on, substitute Mark Stewart and Hamilton's McLaughlin clashed heads in the latter's penalty area, McLaughlin being stretchered away for numerous stitches. That meant seven minutes of injury time, but Falkirk could have played 70 more minutes and still have lost.
The full article contains 617 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
