Saints strike late to keep Accies at the basement Melamed magic earns crucial point
BRIAN Rice questioned the validity of Guy Melamed’s 87th minute leveller as Hamilton Accies were denied a win that would have taken them off the foot of the table.
With the clock ticking and tempers fraying given the home side’s fight for survival and St Johnstone’s push for a top six on the back of their League Cup win, Melamed cancelled out Ross Callachan’s exquisite opener with a fine strike of his own.
Rice, though, was insistent that the goal should not have stood.
“I’ve seen their goal again and I think it’s offside, but it doesn’t matter what we think now: the assistant-referee didn’t think so it’s just one of those things,” he said. “I feel a bit aggrieved at the goal but it’s a point towards safety.
“You saw a team out there fighting like hell and it’s another point.
“We’ve been over the course before at this stage of the season and you can either deal with that or you can’t and my lads have already proved that they can.
“A win can lift you up a couple of places. We hit the post but St Johnstone had chances as well. They came here as cup winners and that would have given them a boost.”
“We’re obviously disappointed to lose the late goal after scoring a fantastic one ourselves to go in front.”
The draw leaves Accies still bottom but with a game in hand over Kilmarnock while Saints have only a slim chance of earning a place in the top six. With two games to go before that, they trail St Mirren by five points.
A whoop went out when Callachan arched an exceptional effort into top right corner to put a spoke in
St Johnstone’s wheel. It was a goal to light up what had been a forgettable contest up until then and regardless of the audacity of the strike, its significance was obvious.
Having collected from the impressive Bruce Anderson, Callachan took a touch on the left before curling his effort well beyond the reach of Zander Clark.
St Johnstone, fresh off the back of their Hampden League Cup triumph had chances of their own; Scott Tanser had flashed a volley from the edge of the box just wide while Stevie May and Craig Bryson had also tried their luck.
Shaun Rooney had to hobble off with a knee injury and Accies had a sustained spell of pressure in the second period as they looked to double their lead.
Charlie Trafford appealed – half-heartedly – when a goalbound header was saved by Clark that the ball had crossed the line, but they came closer again when Callachan turned provider and David Moyo whacked the woodwork.
It was a miss that left the hosts kicking themselves.
With just three minutes of regulation time remaining St Johnstone restored parity despite Accies’ shouts of offside. Liam Gordon’s ball over the top was met beautifully by Melamed who showed an exceptionally deft first-touch before unleashing a clever finish.
“I thought we needed to win the game to get in the top six,” said Davidson. “But we gained grounds on the teams below us so we can be pleased with that. To come from the emotional high of Sunday and put in a performance like that was all credit to the players.
“I was worried there might have been a hangover but after the first five minutes we were good and our energy levels were tremendous.”
ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes concedes there is now no margin for error in the battle for a third-place finish.
The Dons are four points behind Hibernian, who also have a game in hand, in the race to be the best of the rest ahead of their penultimate pre-split match at home to Hamilton this weekend.
McInnes has come under pressure amid an underwhelming run of two wins from 12 games, the latest outing ending in defeat at Celtic on Saturday.
Aberdeen also have a tricky trip to Dundee United to negotiate before they finish the campaign against sides in the top half of the league. And McInnes admits his team cannot allow the gap on Hibs to get any bigger at such a crucial stage in the season.
He said: “It’s still very much alive for us to finish third, I felt on Saturday a point would have been the least we deserved.
“We have to remember the two sore ones we’ve taken against Celtic when we play them at Pittodrie and try and deal with them then. “We’ve got Hibs to come to Pittodrie.
“But first of all we’ve got Hamilton at home on Saturday and we have to realise the importance of getting all three points.
“It’s getting to that stage where there is no real room for error now, we need to be winning games.”