December 6th December 2008

Public Park, Tillycoultry


Accies came away from their first ever visit to Public Park Tillycoultry with a hard earned win over a Hillfoots side that made life difficult for them with their resolute defence.

After all the frost that there was a game at all was a surprise but the pitch was in excellent condition but it did begin to freeze over again as the sun dropped.

This was not a classic and Accies did not play particularly well but their forwards did more than enough to secure sufficient ball to keep them long enough in the danger area for Richard McKnight to kick four penalty goals and a conversion and ensure the victory.

The pitch has a considerable slope down towards the Stirling end and teams would have to play here regularly to learn how to use the advantage. Accies played up the slope in the first half and soon learned that the side with the slope advantage would use it for territorial advantage by kicking it into the corners. They defended this well and were able to break out often enough to gain three penalties goals to their opponents two and so lead 9-6 at half time.

Mention of penalties, there were 30 in the game 16 in favour of Accies and 14 against. In addition to this Hillfoots were marched back 4 times for speaking out of turn. In fact the game was dominated by the whistle and consequently lacked any continuity, as the referee appeared to use every law in the book to stop the game.

After half time the Accies support expected the floodgates to open. Sadly this did not happen, as they were unable to kick the ball down the slope to get close enough to the line to score. There were numerous long range attacks and great thrusts through the centre of the field but they always seemed to founder on stout defence or fallible hands.

There was one moment of excitement when Jamie Stewart, who had come on as a replacement for the injured Gareth Williams, burst right through the centre of the field only to be half tackled. He flicked the ball up to Matteo Giovanazzi who had backed up and he crossed the line for what seemed a good score. However the referee ruled that Jamie had passed it off the ground and awarded Hillfoots a penalty for passing off the ground.

Midway through the half Richard McKnight kicked another penalty to keep up his 100% record and give Accies a 12-6 lead going into the last quarter.

This might not have been enough as Hillfoots stormed back in the final ten minutes and had their best period of the game. However with Accies pressed against their own goal line they gave away another penalty and the chance was lost.

Accies fought their way back downfield and with the last play of the match Chris Wright charged down the stand off’s kick, gathered the ball and touched down between the posts for a try that Richard McKnight converted.

In the end you had to fell sorry for a Hillfoots side that fought so hard that they did not even come away with a losing bonus point.

They say that a good side is a side that can win even when they play poorly. Last season this is the sort of game that Accies would have lost. This year, however, there is a bit more grit and tenacity in this side.

Next week Accies have a home game against Forrester and they will be hoping to step up a gear from this week’s performance

This article was posted on 7-Dec-2008, 18:46 by Hugh Barrow.