Hamilton Accies draw with Falkirk

Sep 24 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

TRENT McClenahan admitted Hamilton didn’t deserve to take any more than a point from Saturday’s disappointing 0-0 draw.

And he admitted that a horror cruciate ligament injury to team-mate Derek Lyle in the first minute – which has ended the striker’s season – shouldn’t have affected the performance.

Saturday’s showing was dramatically different to that against Hibs last Sunday, but Australian Trent hopes they can turn it around again and take something from Hearts this weekend.

He said: “Last week it was a great performance against Hibs and we got the win, which we deserved, but on Saturday we were off the pace and didn’t deserve to get the three points.

“We were disappointing in the first half and didn’t really get started. The second half was a bit better and we came into the game a bit more, but overall a 0-0 and a point from the game was a good result.

“Derek’s injury is a massive blow for us and for him because he has been doing well this season, but as a team you’ve got to focus on the game and not think too much about everything else, so it shouldn’t have affected our performance too much.

“We expected a tough game because that’s always what you get against Falkirk, and we simply didn’t play well.

“Hopefully next week we can turn it around and go again.”

Hamilton were dealt a major blow in the opening minutes when striker Derek Lyle went down under an innocuous challenge but was stretchered off in obvious pain.

It later emerged the former Dundee hit-man had ruptured cruciate ligaments and is out for the rest of the season.

David Louhoungou took Lyle’s place five minutes after the striker hit the turf.

Neither side created any particular chances of note, but in 10 minutes Simon Mensing’s head-flick sent Mickael Antoine-Curier racing down the left and his lob landed just over from 20 yards.

Tam Scobbie fouled Mensing just outside the box in 14 minutes, with Richard Hastings’ curling free-kick brilliantly punched away from the bottom right corner by Robert Olejnik.

Falkirk created a decent opening in 22 minutes when Ryan Flynn’s cross from the right was met on the half-volley by Kjartan Finnbogason, but Tomas Cerny punched it clear at the right post.

Stand-in captain James McArthur had a low shot saved, Flynn’s snap-shot was taken by Cerny, and Louhoungou headed over from a Hastings cross before Falkirk thought they had taken the lead in 37 minutes.

Sean Lynch’s cross was met with a Finnbogason header that beat Cerny and landed in the bottom corner, but the ‘goal’ was correctly disallowed for a foul on Martin Canning.

There were even fewer chances in the second half, with Falkirk threatening first in 50 minutes when Danijel Marjeta’s cross from the right was met with an angled shot from Finnbogason but crept past the far post.

Antoine-Curier nearly scored in 57 minutes when he took advantage of a defensive error on the left and bore down on goal, but his netbound effort was deflected narrowly over.

McClenahan set up James Wesolowski in 70 minutes, but his angled shot was well held by Olejnik.

Louhoungou nearly won it for Accies three minutes into stoppage time when he was picked out by Mark McLaughlin on the left and made his way to the edge of the box before sending a shot past the left that had Olejnik beaten.

HAMILTON: Cerny, McClenahan, Hastings (Knight, 59), Canning, McLaughlin, Wesolowski, McArthur, Antoine-Curier, Lyle (Louhoungou, 6), Mensing, Mason (Elebert, 40). Subs (not used): Murdoch, Evans, M. Paixao, Wilkie.

Booked: Wesolowski.

FALKIRK: Olejnik, Barr, Scobbie, McNamara, McLean, O’Brien, Finnegan, Flynn (Arfield, 89), Lynch (Stewart, 72), Marjeta (MacDonald, 80), Finnbogason. Subs (Not used): Wagenaar, Twaddle, Mitchell, Allison.

Booked: O’Brien, Finnegan.

Referee: Willie Collum.

Attendance: 2640.

Advertiser Man of the Match: Mark McLaughlin – kept Falkirk at bay with some stellar defending.