Accies lose 2-1 to St Johnstone

Oct 28 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

FLAVIO PAIXAO admits that Hamilton’s dismal first-half display against a physical St Johnstone side was the worst he has seen all season.

The Portuguese winger has been part of an Accies side which has played well in recent weeks without earning the points their performances deserved.

But Paixao was honest enough to admit that he was stunned by their poor showing on Saturday, particularly in the first half, as Billy Reid’s men struggled to get to grips with an aggressive St Johnstone side, who took the points through Danny Grainer’s late free-kick after Simon Mensing’s penalty had cancelled out Sam Parkin’s 19th-minute opener.

“That was our worst first-half performance of the season so far and we looked out of sorts all over the park. We just didn’t look sharp at all,” reflected Flavio.

“It was very disappointing. Against St Mirren, you could see that we play good football and that we looked like we had goals in us, but I don’t know what happened on Saturday – it was unbelievable.

“The manager spoke with us at half-time and in the second half I think we reacted a bit and scored a goal, came back into the game and had a couple of chances to score again.

“Unfortunately for us, we lost a second goal and that was very disappointing – the amount of goals we’ve lost in the last month or so have been unbelievable.

“But we just need to keep going, work hard every week, try to learn from our mistakes and look forward to the next game.”

There’s no doubt Hamilton were poor in a first half dominated by St Johnstone, and were perhaps fortunate to go in only 1-0 down at the interval.

The game started brightly enough for Reid’s side, with Jim Goodwin drawing a decent save from Graeme Smith in 11 minutes, but Saints took the lead eight minutes later when Parkin met Liam Craig’s cross from the left to loop a header over Cerny.

Nigel Hasselbaink could have levelled for Accies on 28 minutes when he raced through on goal, but Smith raced off his line to block the ball with his chest.

Hamilton were denied what looked like a decent penalty shout at the start of the second half when Dougie Imrie dispossessed Michael Duberry and raced into the box, only for the defender to haul him back, but ref Mike Tumilty waved play on.

However, the referee had no option but to award Accies a spot-kick on 67 minutes when Imrie’s corner was handled by Duberry.

Mensing stepped up to bury the ball into the corner for his first goal of the season.

The game threatened to boil over when Flavio Paixao went up for a high ball with Grainger and the Portuguese winger ended up in the Accies dugout, sparking a heated exchange but no action from Tumility.

Hasselbaink should have done better when he snatched at a shot on 76 minutes before Flavio Paixao’s effort was saved by Smith.

Marco Paixao, who came on for Gary McDonald, blazed an angled volley inches past the post with 10 minutes left.

But when Buchanan was penalised for a foul on sub Liam Caddis 20 yards from goal on the right, in which it looked like he got the ball, Grainger drilled a low effort into the far post corner past an unsighted Cerny.

Flavio Paixao knows Accies must pick themselves up as they face a derby rivals Motherwell at Fir Park on Saturday.

He said: “The derby is always big motivation for us and we’ll give 100 per cent against Motherwell.

“I look forward to the game and I hope the team plays good football and we win the game.”

HAMILTON: Cerny, Buchanan, Canning, McLaughlin (Lyle, 88), Goodwin, Routledge, McDonald (21, 63), Mensing, Imrie, F. Paixao, Hasselbaink (Casalinuovo, 85). Subs (not used): Murdoch, Skelton, Gillespie, Elebert. Booked: Imrie, McLaughlin, Hasselbaink.

ST JOHNSTONE: Smith, Mackay (Rutkiewicz, 89), Grainger, Duberry, Millar, Craig, Maybury, Davidson, Samuel (Caddis, 80), Parkin, Jackson (Haber, 80). Subs (not used): Enckelman, MacDonald, Myrie-Williams, May. Booked: Duberry, Maybury, Millar.

Referee: Mike Tumilty.

Attendance: 2431.

Advertiser Man of the Match: David Buchanan – tireless shift and unlucky to end up on the losing side.