Reaction

SPL side Hamilton Accies progressed to the 5th Round of this season’s Scottish Cup which will be a massive relief for Billy Reid’s team after they finally overcame “The Wasps” who never stopping trying in a game in which the players can be proud of their display, helped by a good Alloa support who never stopped singing and backing their team throughout the entire match. Alloa Athletic started the game positively and although they had the better of the first half hour their nice passing lacked a cutting edge when chances were presented. Indeed “The Wasps” certainly had a good shout for a penalty after only ten minutes when Kevin McDonald was tripped in the box by ex Stirling Albion defender Andy Graham, this was a pivotal moment in the game.

Michael McGowan was causing the Premier League side many problems and his long range effort from the half way line which nearly caught out Tomas Cerny showed great vision, unfortunately he aggravated an injury which had threatened to keep him out of the match and had to be replaced on the hour mark and Accies dominated most of the play there after. Although Hamilton Accies could claim to have the best chances in the second half it was not until the final minute of the game that they were presented with their best opportunity to score.

Jim McAlister broke clear and Stevie Robertson raced out fully committed and brought down the player, penalty and referee Alan Muir red carded Robertson, his second red card in cup games for The Wasps this season having previously been red carded in CIS Cup game against Aberdeen. David Gormley then became an Alloa hero diving to save Simon Mensing spot kick, he was disappointed however late in injury time when Portuguese star Flavio Paixao headed strongly into the net to finally secure victory for the SPL side.

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allan maitland after cup dream ends at hamilton

My take on that game is that, I thought for the first twenty minutes we played really well, we had a game plan to try and attack them with Michael McGowan on the left hand side which I thought worked really well, we had opportunities when Andy Scott got in and squared it to Bryan Prunty, the one that Stuart Noble should have played in to Andy Scott, but the big thing for us, is that we had to get ahead of Hamilton to make sure that all fears that they have in their head become real and for us that was the penalty kick, we had a great claim for a penalty kick, in fact my players are telling me at half-time there was no if’s or buts it was a penalty kick, Kevin McDonald was tripped in the box, stonewall penalty, don’t get it, for their point of view in the last minute they got their penalty, and there was no argument it was a penalty, but for our goalkeeper to be sent off in the last minute I thought it was a wee bit harsh, we had players round about so to be shown a straight red was harsh.

However Hamilton were the better side, the better side won, I think that’s fair to say and I don’t think in the second half we managed to create any real chances, but what we have done is come to a SPL side, we have made them wait until the 92nd minute before they felt relaxed and safe about it, we worked really hard, we were well organised and we must use that as a springboard going forward, I think the players effort and application was fantastic, however I think we lacked a bit of belief in the second half and didn’t keep the ball enough to cause them a problem, but in the first twenty minutes of the game we did that really well. I felt the most important thing was to make sure Hamilton had nerves in the game, had we got to half time level it would have been a great thing for us, if we had got ahead of them it would have asked them more questions, the odds of us coming here and winning are huge and we had to find ways of reducing that, and that was to get ahead. So we were pushing bodies forward for the first twenty five minutes and it worked for us, we kept taking the ball off them in good areas and with Kevin McDonald , Andy Scott and Michael McGowan arriving in the box to help us – but we had to score in that period, but there is no doubt getting the penalty would have been a turning point for us certainly, I feel as though their supporters would have been on their backs quite early based on the last few weeks. I also have to mention David Gormley’s penalty save which was quite outstanding he was volunteering himself as soon as Stevie Robertson went off, it was a great save, we had actually spoke to Stevie about where Simon Mensing was likely to put his penalty kicks but I forgot to mention it to Gorm’s.

You must give credit to Hamilton as well, they are the SPL side and everyone expects them to win, there was a lot of pressure on them and they won the game and deserved to do so, we must recognise that.