Weakened Accies no match for Killie

Aug 20 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

Kilmarnock 3 Accies 0

HAMILTON midfielder John Paul Kissock admitted his frustration in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Kilmarnock, but warned SPL rivals that Accies have much more to come.

A patchwork side featuring six debutants took to the field at Rugby Park and several established first-team regulars are waiting to come back into the fold.

Kissock (19) said: “It was a tough game. No-one likes getting beat but Kilmarnock really did well defensively and I thought the first goal killed us, although the first 20 minutes were pretty even.

“We worked hard but we lost three sloppy goals to be honest, and that’s very frustrating.

“We played some fantastic football in pre-season but it was difficult to play on Saturday – Kilmarnock closed us down and every time we tried to get the ball there seemed to be a man tied to us.

“At the end of the day we have to be better and there’s a lot to learn from that, but we have some fantastic players at Hamilton, the manager’s great and there’s a great spirit.

“We can go far this season and we’ll bounce back from that.

“We’ve got Aberdeen on Saturday, which is our first home game, so fingers crossed that we can take the points and go on from there.”

Although the scoreline looks severe, Hamilton can take a few positives out of the game with a few decent individual performances.

Accies never looked likely to take the points but Kevin Kyle’s two wonder-strikes made the major difference on the day.

That should be encouraging, given that Accies were minus SIX first-team players as suspension ruled out stoppers Mark McLaughlin and Martin Canning and midfielder James McArthur, while injury robbed them of Trent McClenahan, James Gibson and captain Alex Neil.

That meant debuts for Luis Rubiales, Izzy Iriekpen, James Wesolowski, Marvin Andrews, Flavio Paixao and Kissock – and several of the New Douglas Park club’s new signings look like they could be real finds – including David Louhoungou, who came on as a second-half sub.

Hamilton threatened after two minutes when Rubiales’ corner was just too high for Richard Offiong to connect with a back-post header.

But Killie probably should have led in seven minutes when an error by Andrews let in Conor Sammon, but he shot over the top right corner from the left junction of the box.

Two minutes later Andrews missed the ball completely when attempting to clear and Kyle pounced on the loose ball, but shot past.

Andrews nearly atoned when he met a Rubiales corner at the back post in 15 minutes, but his downward header was cleared.

Hamilton went close again in 26 minutes when Paixao brilliantly fed Offiong on the left and his angled shot was pushed away by Cameron Bell at full stretch, but Portuguese winger Flavio had too much to do with the rebound and could only find the side-net.

Rubiales had a curling effort saved by Bell, before Kilmarnock took the lead in 34 minutes.

Garry Hay’s free-kick from wide on the right was perfect for Kyle and he stole in from the left to send a fierce volley ripping into the top right corner from five yards.

Into the second half Accies were nearly level after just four minutes when Rubiales’ corner was spilled by Bell and Iriekpen’s shot was cleared off the line.

But Kyle ended the game as a contest in 52 minutes when he muscled Iriekpen off the ball, darted past Grant Evans and sent an unstoppable shot into the top right corner from 25 yards.

Kilmarnock added a controversial third in 68 minutes when Sammon went on a run down the left, Jamie Hamill pointed to where he wanted the diagonal pass played to, and drifted past the last defender just before he got his wish.

However, linesman Alan Cunningham didn’t spot the obvious offside andHamill drilled a lot shot under out-rushing Tomas Cerny.

Hamilton didn’t give up and in 76 minutes Offiong took a pass from sub Stuart Mills before drilling a powerful shot off the left post with Bell helpless.

Craig Bryson would have added Killie’s fourth three minutes later after darting past Iriekpen on the right, but Evans’ saving tackle sent the ball out for a corner.

KILLIE: Bell, Hay, Wright, Ford, Bryson (Flannigan, 90), Taouil, Skelton, Old, Kyle, Sammon, Hamill. Subs (not used): Robinson, Fowler, Pascali, O’Leary, Owens, Kelly.

HAMILTON: Cerny, Rubiales, Iriekpen, Wesolowski (Gillespie, 90), Offiong, Lyle, Evans, Andrews (Louhoungou, 55), Paixao, Kissock (Mills, 55), Mensing. Subs (not used): Murdoch, Welsh, Elebert, Akins.

Referee: Chris Boyle.

Attendance: 5307.

Advertiser Man of the Match: Luis Rubiales – slotted in well at left-back and looks like a real find.