White and McKay complete County’s spirited comeback
WITH just ten minutes to go, Hamilton cleared the ball and looked to Brian Rice. Scenting the chance to hold onto what they had, they cautiously emerged from their own box but stood their ground. Ten minutes later, County were rejoicing and Hamilton were back to the bottom of the table.
It was Jordan White who put Accies on the canvas, scoring his first County goal with the flick of his boot and then teeing up Billy McKay for the knockout blow and all three points. If there have been better debuts this season than White’s half hour cameo, then they must really have been something.
But really this was a story of one team remaining calm and of a manager winning the jackpot with his second-half substitutions. John Hughes changed the game and his bench delivered. Not only did McKay and White combine but Michael Gardyne steadied the ship and Carl Tremarco injected fresh impetus. Of course, the fact they’d trailed for much of the game to a Stephen Kelly own goal said as much for the bravery of Accies as it did their own inadequacies.
However, the end result was three points for the Staggies, some much-needed distance in
the basement tussle, and heartbreak for Hamilton.
“We showed character after losing a soft goal and character to come back,” said Hughes. “It was written in the stars with it being White and McKay.
“We got everyone on. That was the plan and it worked. Sometimes it doesn’t.”
For two sides desperately clawing at Motherwell’s coattails, this was anything but a cagey affair and a meeting between old pals so frosty it would have had an eskimo reaching for the thermostat.
That had less to do with the
plunging temperatures and more with the “win at all costs” line-ups Rice and Hughes adopted. The former unleashed Bruce Anderson as the chalk to Marios Ogkmpoe’s cheese while the latter – despite keeping White and McKay in reserve until the last half hour – wasn’t one for holding back either.
It didn’t take long for the game’s first real chance and only the width of the post denied Ogkmpoe his first goal since November. His haring run evaded Callum Morris but his shot did the same to Ross Laidlaw’s net.
Ben Stirling was next to test County’s reserve, but soon the momentum looked to have swung the way of the visitors. Paton was, invariably, involved, first sending Shaw in behind and later creating space for Jason Naismith with a clever run. Only a stunning block by Hakeem Odoffin denied a certain finish but it seemed just a matter of time before their dominance told.
That was until Hamilton’s eagerness created an opening and they took it. For County, it was a calamity. After Odoffin spooned the ball out for a throw-in on the halfway line, the Staggies somehow contrived to lose it, allow Anderson to run into space, and -–through the unfortunate Kelly – rifle a cutback into their own goal.
As the half wore on, the Staggies, predictably, found their stride again. Efforts from Jason Naismith and Kelly finally called Ryan Fulton into meaningful action. When the visitors stormed towards goal in the opening moments of the second-half, he had to deny Paton down low to his right.
It looked like Hamilton were going to hold on until Hughes changed the game in one fell swoop. On came White and then McKay and just ten minutes later the match had been turned on its head.
“It’s disappointing and we are disappointed to lose the match,” said Rice. “Had we drawn the game we would have been disappointed.”