Offiong goal earns Accies third league win in a row

Jan 29 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

RICHARD OFFIONG was delighted to be officially credited with Hamilton’s goal in Sunday’s win over Kilmarnock – but said he would have claimed it anyway!

Offiong was amused to see team-mate Simon Mensing “petitioning” in the dressing room for the right to claim three goals in as many games after the striker’s powerful header had deflected off the midfielder.

But Offiong (25) was having none of it and was delighted to grab his sixth goal of an impressive season.

He said: “I’m claiming it. I saw it hit off Simon but they’ve given it to me so I can’t complain.

“The papers were a bit mixed on Sunday as to who scored but the SPL have said that it’s mine. Our secretary Scott Struthers also said it was my goal and if Scott says it is then it’s a goal!”

Offiong hopes Hamilton can keep their impressive run going on Saturday when Hearts visit New Douglas Park.

He said: “That’s six goals for the season for me. I’m delighted with that and the win, and that’s us nine points clear of Inverness, so we want to build on that on Saturday because they’ve got a tough game against Celtic on the Sunday.

“We’re at home to Hearts and I think we can get a good result and hopefully open up the gap a bit more.”

He added: “We’ve had some great results against teamsat home and I think this is definitely a game we can get something from.”

Offiong has been pleased with his own contribution and added: “I had a bit of a slow start but in my last two league games I’ve got a goal so I can’t really complain but the most important thing is that we can get the three points that we need.”

Few observers predicted Hamilton would emerge with three points from Sunday’s match with Kilmarnock but in truth the win could have been more emphatic.

Offiong could have had a couple of goals, while James McCarthy, Paul McGowan and Mark McLaughlin were unlucky not to score.

Kilmarnock looked a shadow of the team who were trailblazers earlier in the season and this was their fifth straight SPL home defeat.

Both sides took a while to get going but when they did McLaughlin was nearly an unlikely hero for Hamilton, showing some great skill in the box to take the ball past a defender before clipping a right-foot effort towards the top right corner only for Alan Combe to superbly claw it past for a corner in 27 minutes.

McGowan’s corner-kick was inadvertently sliced an inch over his own crossbar by Killie midfielder Craig Bryson.

Hamilton should have taken the lead five minutes later when McCarthy robbed dithering James Fowler and went on a surging run before releasing Offiong but the Englishman’s shot was brilliantly parried by Combe and McCarthy could only steer the rebound off the left post from an acute angle.

However, Hamilton deservedly took the lead in 46 minutes when McGowan’s corner from the left was met by the unmarked Offiong, who powered in a header.

His effort took a deflection off Mensing and Kilmarnock defenders desperately tried to hack the ball clear but referee Craig Thomson correctly judged it to have crossed the line.

Accies nearly doubled their lead in 52 minutes but McGowan’s spectacular volley was parried by Combe and the on-loan Celt fired the rebound over.

Kilmarnock survived a scare in 66 minutes when McCarthy released Offiong, who appeared to be bundled off the ball in the box but referee Thomson wasn’t interested.

Kilmarnock came more into the game for a spell but without testing Tomas Cerny, who had one of his quietest afternoons of the season. The closest Killie came was when Danny Invincibile sent a low angled shot past the left post in 67 minutes.

Two minutes later, McGowan suffered a similar fate at the other end with a low effort that looked to have Combe beaten.

McLaughlin tried his luck again with a low shot in 72 minutes, forcing a decent save out of Combe.

Accies had to defend stoutly at times but comfortably held on for their third successive SPL win.

Hamilton: Cerny, McMillan (McClenahan, 45), Easton, McCarthy (Lyle, 90), McLaughlin, McArthur, Offiong (Thomas, 78), Neil, McGowan, Canning, Mensing. Subs (not used): Murdoch, Deuchar, Swailes, Gibson.

Attendance: 5063.

Advertiser Man of the Match: James McArthur – ran the show from midfield in arguably his best performance of the season.