Hamilton 2-0 Alloa Athletic: Accies sting Wasps as late second goal seals their place in fifth round

Published on Saturday 8 January 2011 12:56

Hamilton Academica l Hasselbaink 34; F Paixao 93 Alloa Athletic 0

Hamilton Accies won their first home match for nine months by despatching Second Division Alloa Athletic but it took them until the third minute of stoppage time before they guaranteed their place in the draw for the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.

Then again, after seven league matches without a victory, the SPL's bottom club were happy just to collect their bonus.

For Alloa, the pivotal moment was referee Alan Muir's refusal to award a penalty in the tenth minute when Andy Graham took the legs from Kevin McDonald.

"That would have been a turning point for us," said Alloa manager Allan Maitland. "We had to score first so that the fears in the Accies players' heads became real and the fans got on their backs.

"It was a penalty, too, no ifs and buts about it."

At one stage Accies manager Billy Reid spent 30 seconds frantically attempting to attract the attention of Nigel Hasselbaink, who had been loitering without intent on the far side of the pitch.

When the Dutchman finally turned to take in some tactical advice, Reid yelled: "Get your f****** finger out!"

Hasselbaink did just that, opening the scoring and ending a Hamilton goal drought which had lasted for 455 minutes.

Flavio Paixao was the architect with a slide-rule pass which left Hasselbaink one-on-one with Stephen Robertson and he displayed composure to pass the ball behind the outrushing goalkeeper.

The fact that the striker is now out in front as Hamilton's top scorer with three goals rather encapsulates their problems.

Perhaps understandably, Alloa wilted as the second half progressed and Robertson was shown a straight red card for bringing down Jim McAlister as he took the ball round him.

Having already committed all three substitutes, striker David Gormley was forced to put on the goalkeeper's gloves and face Simon Mensing's spot-kick.

Astonishingly, he parried the midfielder's effort.

"As Robbo went off, I asked him which way I should dive and he said: 'Left.' But as he ran up to take it I wasn't sure whether he meant my left or the penalty-taker's so I just chose mine and I got lucky.

"I like to dive around in goal at training, which is why I think I got the nod from the gaffer. I was quite happy to go in goal for a rest anyway because the tempo is much higher than we're used to.

"However, I'm gutted that they scored again because I was hoping to keep a clean sheet and maybe start in goal!"

Unfortunately for Gormley, he was beaten by Flavio Paixao's firm header from point-blank range after the tireless Dougie Imrie had delivered an inviting cross.

For Accies manager Reid, the result came as a massive relief. "I told our players before the game that there would be cup shocks and that they had to make sure that we weren't one of them," he said.

"If we'd lost this game before going into our double header against the Old Firm then it would have been suicidal. As it was, we made hard work of it after a decent start."