Angry Accies boss blasts sloppy spell
Subbing star trio helped give us‘jag’to fight back
Paul Thomson at the Indodrill
Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin was furious with his side’s start to the second half of their play-off clash with Alloa and says it took substituting three experienced stars to get the response he needed in the 2-2 draw.
Accies had led at half-time at the Indorill thanks to Euan Henderson acrobatic effort after 31 minutes.
However a disastrous start to the second half saw the Wasps pull level inside 50 second through Taylor Steven before Kurtis Roberts fired them in front just eight minutes later.
Rankin responded by subbing skipper Scott Martin, Jamie Barjonas and Reghan Tumilty and he says that gave his side the impetus to get their equaliser 15 minutes from time through a Kevin O’hara header.
He said: “I’m beyond raging. We started the second half really poorly and we knew Alloa would come out like that second half. We told them they would. “I think the changes helped.
“It was a bold move to take off three experienced players in Scott Martin, Reghan Tumilty and Jamie Barjonas but I felt we needed a jag in the game and we got a reaction to that.
“Alloa were dominating at that stage and we had to shift the momentum and I felt that happened.
“The first goal is a good finish from the boy but we need to deal with it better. The second goal there is a wee bit of a ricochet and they react better than us so at that stage we are really disappointed.
“But we changed it and managed to get the goal to get us back in the game. It could have gone either way at the end, but it is all to play for on Saturday.”
Accies opened the scoring in 31 minutes when the Wasps struggled to deal with a cross into the box from Jackson Longridge and when Tumilty knocked a header back into the danger area, it fell perfectly for Henderson to hook an acrobatic effort beyond PJ Morrison.
Accies took the lead into the break but the Wasps came out of the traps quickly to level within 50 seconds of the restart. The Wasps got in down the right and when Scott Taggart’s cross was blocked, it landed kindly for Taylor Steven to slot a sidefoot finish into the bottom corner.
Alloa were very much in the ascendancy now and in 54 minutes they turned the game on its head after some penalty box chaos. More poor defending from Accies saw Taylor Steven get an initial shot away and when that deflected into the path of Bobby Wales, he saw his header canon back off the crossbar before Roberts mopped up the rebound.
However, O’hara powered a downward header past PJ Morrison from Ben Williamson’s cross in 75 minutes to salvage a draw.
In the 90th minute Alloa almost grabbed a third when Scougall scuffed a strike agonisingly wide of the far post.
The sides face each other again on Saturday at New Douglas Park for the second leg, kick-off 3pm.
Rankin was delighted with the quality of his side’s finishes in the competitive encounter.
He added: “It is a great goal from Kev and Hendo’s finish in the first half was really good as well.
“I felt we hesitated a wee bit towards the end when it came to pulling the trigger and we need to be more ruthless in the second leg.
“From a 2-1 deficit, I have got to be pleased to come away with a draw.”
Alloa boss Andy Graham, a former Accies player, said: “It was a really good game of football. Hamilton were better in the first half and I felt we didn’t show enough quality and composure.
“We were much more intense and were better on the ball after the break.
“I thought a draw was probably a fair result.it’s game-on Saturday, I’m looking forward to it.”