Accies home in on title after fine win

Apr 16 2008 By Andy McGilvray at Almondvale

Livingston 1 Hamilton Accies 3

HAMILTON moved to within three points of the Irn-Bru First Division Championship with a well-earned win over Livingston on Saturday.

Rivals Dundee and those hoping for an Accies slip-up will have viewed this match as a tough one as Hamilton haven’t been at their best against Livi this season but the visitors never looked like dropping the points.

Boss Billy Reid took his side to West Lothian with two changes to their line-up. Veteran Chris Swailes stepped in for ill Mark McLaughlin, while David Graham was relegated to the bench with assistant manager Stuart Taylor taking his place.

Hamilton started brightly and a neat interchange between James McArthur and James McCarthy resulted in the latter breaking through the Livi defence after just two minutes but keeper Colin Stewart raced off his line to gather.

Two minutes later, Swailes headed a Tony Stevenson corner over the bar.

In the 24th minute, Alex Neil picked out McArthur on the left and his cross found Taylor but the midfielder’s shot was well blocked.

Accies took the lead in 25 minutes when Richard Offiong latched onto Neil’s chip ahead and although his low shot looked to have been mis-hit, it trundled past Stewart via a slight deflection off Craig James.

Offiong didn’t care as he celebrated his 20th goal of the season.

Leigh Griffiths went desperately close for Livi three minutes later, sending his fierce drive crashing off the crossbar and away to safety.

Stevenson’s cross was headed just past the left post by David Elebert in 33 minutes as Accies looked to take control of the game.

Livingston nearly equalised in 38 minutes when Graham Dorrans and Mark Tinkler linked to set up Griffiths but his shot was punched past by Tomas Cerny.

Hamilton went further ahead 60 seconds later when Simon Mensing drove down the right and his low cross was cleverly dummied by Offiong, leaving James McArthur with a simple tap-in from eight yards and he wrong-footed goalkeeper Stewart.

Accies wrapped up the points two minutes into the second half when Chris Swailes’ deep free-kick caused havoc in the Livi box.

Offiong rolled the ball back into Mensing’s path and the former Motherwell midfielder lashed a low angled drive into the corner of the net.

That seemed to spark Livingston into life and a minute later Cerny was forced into an acrobatic save to knock Robert Snodgrass’s shot over.

Seconds later, Dorrans’ low drive was well held at the bottom left corner.

Steven Craig went close for Livi in 72 minutes, curling a header inches past the bottom right corner from a Snodgrass shot.

It was Hamilton’s turn to hit the woodwork in 73 minutes when substitue Mark Gilhaney’s cross from the left found McCarthy in the box and he rattled a shot off the underside of the crossbar.

Livingston scored a consolation goal back four minutes from time when McCarthy’s clumsy challenge on Craig resulted in a penalty, which was neatly dispatched by Dave Mackay.

Hamilton: Cerny, Stevenson, Easton, Mensing, Elebert, Swailes, Taylor (Gilhaney, 60), McArthur, Offiong (Waterworth, 69), Neil, McCarthy. Subs (not used): Graham, Parratt, Halliwell.

Referee: Colin Brown.

Attendance: 2110.

Advertiser Man of the Match: Simon Mensing – one of many who shone, his work-rate was excellent.