Johnston frustrated as wasteful Pars let Hamilton out of jail
DUNFERMLINE boss Allan Johnston insists his side let Hamilton off the hook after blowing a string of glorious chances to bury their Premiership opponents.
Paul McMullan, on loan from Celtic, continued his fine run of scoring in every round of this season’s Scottish Cup to put the Pars into a deserved first-half lead.
But Nicky Clark, Kallum Higginbotham and Michael Moffat took it in turns to squander good chances to kill the game off, as Accies struggled to cope with the Championship men.
As it was, Danny Redmond struck a 74th-minute equaliser to leave Johnston cursing his luck ahead of the replay, which will take place on Tuesday.
‘We let them out of jail,’ said Johnston. ‘We had numerous opportunities to clinch the game. You need to be clinical, especially up against Premiership opposition.
‘The fact we dominated large spells of the game shows the level that we are capable of playing at.
‘We definitely let them off the hook. The important thing for us now is to take that belief into Tuesday and go to Hamilton and finish the job.’
Accies made a bright enough start, with Eamonn Brophy stinging the palms of Sean Murdoch with a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
That gave the impression it might be a busy day for the Pars keeper but he ended up little more than a spectator until a sprawling save denied Darian MacKinnon a 90th-minute winner.
After his howler at McDiarmid Park last week, referee Craig Thomson would have appreciated a straightforward afternoon. He did have one major decision to make, though, as he disallowed a Callum Morris header for a foul on Hamilton keeper Remi Matthews on 29 minutes.
‘I thought it was a harsh decision,’ said Johnston. ‘I have seen the replays and the contact was minimal.’
Despite Johnston’s protestations, Thomson got this one right. But, sensing a fragility in their opponents, Dunfermline were undeterred by the referee’s call and duly took the lead just 60 seconds later.
Moffat dropped into a pocket of space where Hamilton’s trio of centre-halves refused to venture. He turned and drove at them, sliding a neat reverse pass into the path of McMullan, who did not have to break his stride as he collected the ball and clipped it into the bottom corner.
Accies left the pitch at half-time to a chorus of boos from a decent travelling support, who aimed some choice words at manager Martin Canning.
Canning’s side were the architects of their own downfall for the most part. Dilly-dallying in possession, having their pockets picked in areas of the pitch that would have given their manager a heart attack, with black-andwhite jerseys pouring forward on the counter-attack at every opportunity.
Accies skipper Mikey Devlin almost sold the game on the hour-mark. In what was so nearly a carbon copy of the opening goal, Moffat again set McMullan free into space but, this time, he scuffed his shot wide of the target.
Moffat then produced a stunning save from Matthews. The chants of ‘Ole’ from the Pars fans told its own story.
It was one-way traffic but, from that moment, Accies seemed to awaken from their slumber and remember there was a cup tie to be played.
Dunfermline, lacking the conviction to kill the game off, were retreating deeper and deeper — and were having a full-scale wobble by the time Jason Talbot headed against his own crossbar in the 70th minute.
As the sleet rained down, the home fans were becoming frustrated at Johnston’s refusal to change things to stem the flow of Accies pressure.
Redmond finally pierced their resistance when he cut inside from the right and fired with unerring precision into the bottom corner.
Massimo Donati blazed a shot over from 12 yards in the 85th minute, with Murdoch then saving brilliantly from MacKinnon at the death.
Canning said: ‘I was really pleased with the way we fought back. We bossed it and could have snatched a winner.’