A FEAST OF STEVEN
Striker hits f irst Saints hat-trick as Accies are swept aside
FOR a whole year, Steven MacLean could not buy a goal. Now he cannot stop scoring after claiming the fifth hat-trick of his career.
The striker also took his tally to six goals in four games when he became the first Saints player for 20 months to claim a treble.
Stevie May was the last to achieve the feat in January 2014. But MacLean might easily have scored a couple more after also setting up substitute Liam Craig for the opener.
MacLean revealed: ‘That’s my first hat-trick for St Johnstone but I got three for Scunthorpe and another for Sheffield Wednesday.
‘It’s always a good feeling for a striker to score three but I like to think I bring more to a game than just goals.’
MacLean’s performance was the highlight of what developed into a largely one-sided affair after Hamilton had initially given the appearance that they would test their rivals’ resolve.
But much of what followed centred around referee Andrew Dallas’ failure to award Hamilton a blatant penalty kick after three minutes.
Brian Easton clearly impeded Carlton Morris after the striker had taken delivery of a pass from Ali Crawford to the right of goal.
Had Hamilton got their due reward and scored, it would have been interesting to have seen Saints’ reaction to going a goal down after conceding 12 in their previous six fixtures.
They would also presumably have been reduced to 10 men had the referee deemed Easton guilty of foul play.
‘I think it was a stonewall penalty and a potential red card as well,’ said Hamilton player-manager Martin Canning.
‘The players said that the standside assistant gave the penalty but was overruled by the referee. Sometimes those decisions go against you. Other times they go for you.
‘But I think that decision changed the complexion of the game after we had started well. I thought we were excellent in the first 25 minutes.
‘Having said that, there was no excuse for us to go on and lose three goals in the first half.
‘There were positives in our second-half performance in the way we kept going after conceding a fourth goal when it would have been easy to capitulate. But by then the damage had been done.’
Counterpart Tommy Wright, who pronounced himself pleased with the margin of his side’s victory while at the same time being a little disappointed that they did not manage to also keep a clean sheet, was at odds with the perception that St Johnstone rode their luck.
He said: ‘Hamilton are probably angry but I would have been fuming had they been awarded a penalty as there was a blatant foul on Michael O’Halloran in the first instance.
‘So the situation should never have arisen. The sequence of play should have been stopped long before that.’
Saints were denied by Michael McGovern shortly afterwards when the goalkeeper saved his side from falling behind in the sixth minute by blocking Graham Cummins’ shot with his body.
Crawford and then Dougie Imrie’s failure to at least test Alan Mannus — instead of shooting wildly over the crossbar in succession — came back to haunt Hamilton after 22 minutes.
St Johnstone broke quickly down the right side and MacLean found his intended target with a cut-back for Craig to claim his first goal since returning from Hibs, easily beating McGovern with a powerful strike after replacing the injured Murray Davidson two minutes earlier.
Hamilton’s irritation turned to frustration in the 25th minute when Darian MacKinnon conceded a penalty for hand-ball in a challenge with Craig, and MacLean duly dispatched the spot-kick.
St Johnstone effectively ended the match as a contest two minutes from the interval when David Wotherspoon released O’Halloran into space and the midfielder rolled the ball into MacLean’s path for the striker to shoot home from inside the penalty box.
Saints might easily have scored twice more before half-time. Firstly, McGovern had to boot the ball clear from MacLean as he prepared to pull the trigger. Then Dave Mackay bent a free-kick uncomfortably close to the far post.
In the event, St Johnstone’s fourth goal was delayed only until the 54th minute. Craig’s cross from the left was nodded down by Cummins into MacLean’s path for the man-of-the match to notch his hat-trick with a toe poke from close range.
Lucas Tagliapietra scored a consolation goal in the 67th minute when he converted Crawford’s cross after St Johnstone had failed to clear a corner kick, but it meant nothing in the greater scheme of things.