Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Reid says ‘soft’ award let Accies back in tie
Accies won 6-5 on penalties
Albion Rovers boss Brian Reid says a‘soft’penalty allowed Hamilton back into their Premier Sports Cup tie at New Douglas Park on Saturday.
Rovers were 2-0 up and seemingly cruising at the interval, thanks to two superb strikes by David Wilson and Charlie Reilly.
But Sean Fagan was penalised for a foul on Marley Redfern 10 minutes after the break and Ronan Hughes scored to pull them back into the game, with Callum
Smith levelling with 11 minutes left.
Accies then went on to win the shoot-out 6-5 for the bonus point, but neither side progressed to the knock-out stages.
Reid said it shows how far Rovers have come that they were disappointed not to take more out of the game.
He said: “I was pleased with how we started, 2-0 up at Hamilton by half-time was a good lead for us.
“We started the game bright, looked up for it, and caused them a few problems.
“The game turned on what, for me, was a really soft penalty kick that I didn’t think was a penalty kick.
“They got a lift from that, the game turned a wee bit, and up until that I couldn’t see
Hamilton scoring against us. That’s no disrespect to them, but I thought we were solid.
“They caused us a few more problems in the second half, they probably had a talking to at half-time, but I still couldn’t really see them causing us major problems.
“They got a lift, but even then I thought we did OK.
“But we lost a poor second goal; we didn’t stop the cross, we don’t get across the man and he scores.
“We were disappointed from a 2-0 lead to get it back to 2-2, and I felt we should have seen the game out, but overall it was a decent enough work-out for us on a hot, sunny day.”
He said: “There were a lot of positives to take.
“It’s good going to a place like Hamilton who were in the Premiership last year and creating a lot of chances, and we could have scored a few more.
Reid says it’s important for Rovers to take confidence from their performance into their League Two opener at home to Edinburgh City on Saturday.
“It shows that we’ve come a long way that we’re disappointed to come away from Hamilton with a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes.
“We have to take great confidence from that, build on it and we’ve got to look now towards the league, that’s the most important thing for us.”