Match report

Saturday, 03 October 2009
Saints dig deep for first SPL win

Clydesdale Bank Premier League
Hamilton Accies (0) v Saints (2)
Attendance [2,199]

Left: Steven Anderson heads home to make it 1-0.

Most of the away trips this season will have a freshness about them as we travel around grounds that we have not visited for a good number of years but there was a familiarity about today’s venue as Saints went about trying to secure the first win of the SPL campaign.

New Douglas Park is a ground we visited plenty of times on First Division business in recent years but today it was the venue for an SPL game – the first ‘top flight’ meeting of Saints and Hamilton Accies for 43 years.

There were four changes to the starting line up from the side which lost at home to Dundee United last weekend - Steven Anderson replaced Stuart McCaffrey who dropped to the bench, Martin Hardie replaced the injured Murray Davidson, Liam Craig came in for Filipe Morais and Steven Milne was in for Collin Samuel – Filipe and Collin both dropped to the bench.

Lanarkshire was not immune from the strong winds affecting most of the country and it was blustery with light rain as the game got underway – Saints shooting towards a travelling support that looked to be a bit down in numbers on recent away games.

It has to be said that the opening fifteen minutes of the game was instantly forgettable with neither side managing to make much inroads in the blustery conditions although the rain did go off after the opening ten minutes.

The first good chance of the afternoon came in 16 minutes and it fell to Accies’ Marco Paixao who broke free from the middle of the park despite the best efforts of Jody Morris to halt him and when Paixao was on the end of a return pass from the right he was left frustrated at his inability to get a shot in on goal and the chance was gone – Morris was rightly spoken to by the referee for his attempts to stop the Accies man earlier in the move.

Four minutes later and Saints had their best chance to that point and it came when Kenny Deuchar intercepted a home defender’s attempt to break from the back and the big striker played in Liam Craig on the left and his parting effort came off the outside of Tomas Cerny’s right hand post.

Accies were not stringing too much together but Paixao always looked to be a threat when he gained possession and he tried his luck from the best part of 35 yards and it was only just wide with Alan Main’s dive looking to be in vain had it been on target.

Martin Hardie was revelling in his involvement and although he couldn’t repeat his heroics of last week from a free kick – his 22 yard effort hitting the Accies defensive wall – he was unlucky with a drive from further out which whistled just over Cerny’s bar.

Graham Gartland was booked for a foul on the half way line – his sixth booking in seven league games – but it was Saints who gained the upper hand in the final third of the first half as they started to string some passes together and put in some dangerous crosses.

Steven Milne was first to worry the home side in this period of the game, his touch on a Deuchar cross edging just wide of the post and minutes later veteran defender Marvyn Wilson was on hand to clear a Graham Gartland header off the line.

However Saints finally made the breakthrough just a minute before half time and it was merited on their play of the previous quarter of an hour. The latest in a succession of Liam Craig corner kicks was sent goalwards by the head of Martin Hardie and Steven Anderson was two yards from goal when he stretched to head the ball into the net.

In terms of goalmouth action the opening fifteen minutes of the second half was as dull as the same period of the first half but Saints certainly picked up where they had left off in terms of possession. However, there was a moment of concern when we gave away a needless corner kick after Danny Grainger’s attempted clearance cannoned off Liam Craig but although the kick resulted in a real scramble in the penalty area, Saints were able to clear the danger, aided by a good Alan Main punch after the ball had been redelivered.

The home fans were not overly happy with what they were seeing and although it was true to say that Saints were enjoying the bulk of the play, the home side looked like they could cause damage on the break and the ever-dangerous Paixao should have done better than knock it well wide when he was played through the middle by a slide-rule pass.

Both sides made changes around the hour mark – Saints was enforced as a clearly-struggling Steven Milne was replaced by Collin Samuel.

Urged on by a home crowd who were growing increasingly impatient, Accies tried to up the tempo of their game and they tried several attempts from around the edge of the box but the Saints defence was dogged in their determination not to allow them through.

Derk McInnes went for a ‘what we have, we hold’ policy when he brought on Stuart McCaffrey for Kenny Deuchar – seconds earlier the big striker might have done better when he found himself in loads of space after being played in by Samuel but he could neither get in a shot nor find the unmarked Liam Craig to his left. There was a hint that the striker may actually have pulled up injured.

Accies sub Knight headed wide from a deep cross when he might have been better to leave it to Paixao who was coming in behind him and Billy Reid’s side were left to rue that miss when Saints doubled their advantage in 84 minutes with a great goal.

Another Accies attack had been broken up and Collin Samuel broke clear, finding Chris Millar and the midfielder did well to hold the ball up before playing in Danny Grainger who was racing down the left. The big defender took the ball forward and cut inside before unleashing a superb effort from the edge of the box with his right foot which flew past Cerny and into the ‘postage stamp’ corner.

After that, Saints looked reasonably comfortable as they moved towards their first three points of the season. The ever-dangerous Paixao curled a free kick wide of goal but Accies appeared to know that it wasn’t to be their day and although the very last kick of the game saw Evans send an effort just wide of goal the clean sheet was no more than Saints deserved.

A deserved win for Saints – it wasn’t as polished a performance as previous games but they controlled long spells of it and dug deep in difficult conditions to get the three points.

SAINTS: Main, Mackay, Grainger, Morris, Anderson, Gartland, Millar, Hardie, Craig (Morais), Deuchar (McCaffrey), Milne (Samuel).
Subs not used: Smith, May, Reynolds, Hemsley

ACCIES: Cerny, McClenahan (Taylor), Hastings, Canning, Wesolowski, McArthur, Antoine-Curier, Evans, Andrews, Paixo, Mason (Knight).
Subs not used: Murdoch, Kissock, Elebert, Wilkie, Beuzelin

Referee: Charlie Richmond

Att: 2,199

PHOTOS:
TOP - Chris Millar battles for possession
Bottom - Mass celebrations as the players mob the scorer of the second goal Danny Grainger (second right)