RED FOR DANGER
Accies clinch derby joy as Hartley is given marching orders in a heated climax
WHAT is it with Hamilton and bust-ups? Two weeks ago Greek defender Ioannis Skondras was sent off for punching two Ross County players and manhandling a referee. Last weekend, Georgios Sarris was cautioned for attempting to confront Partick Thistle striker Miles Storey and was subsequently sacked by the club.
And yesterday, as Hamilton’s players ran to their supporters at the end of the game, Motherwell defender Peter Hartley was shown a straight red card for barging Hamilton captain Dougie Imrie from behind, an offence which will see him miss the Scottish Cup tie between the clubs next month.
‘I didn’t see what happened at the end so we move on,’ said Imrie, who had gone head-to-head with Trevor Carson before being barged by Hartley. ‘We came here to do our job and, if they have anything to say, that’s up to them. I’ve no comment to make on that.
‘We’re entitled to go and celebrate with our fans at the end and that’s all I was doing. Listen, I could go into a million things but let’s not make it silly. We got what we came for.’
Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson had yet to see footage of the incident when he spoke afterwards but he exonerated Hartley for his gaffes during the match, if not after it.
‘It’s extremely uncharacteristic of Peter and that we can forgive,’ he said. ‘There are things that happen over and over again with certain players that I can’t forgive. With Peter, it is a one-off; he is a leader. Sometimes when you are that aggressive to go and win balls, you make mistakes. We’ll forgive that.
‘We’ll regroup, we’ll get people back fit and we’ll be ready to go again on January 20th.’
Prior to kick-off, both sets of fans participated in a minute’s applause for the late Phil O’Donnell, who collapsed and died while playing for Motherwell against Dundee United ten years ago this weekend.
That was about as far as the respect went in this Lanarkshire derby, however, as the hosts went for the jugular from the first whistle.
After only two minutes, Accies’ Massimo Donati, under pressure from Ryan Bowman, failed to make a simple clearance. The striker latched on to the loose ball and fired in a shot which was beaten away by Gary Woods, who saved Bowman’s effort from the rebound as well.
However, Motherwell broke the deadlock just 60 seconds later. Bowman surged down the left and sent in an inviting low cross. George Newell cleverly dummied the ball and Craig Tanner, darting in at the near post, fired it high past Woods from point-blank range.
Motherwell should have doubled their lead ten minutes later when Bowman again sprinted forward and cut the ball back for Tanner, who took a touch only to shoot into the side netting from 12 yards.
Accies were rocking and Woods saved them again, just beating Tanner to a short passback by Donati.
Motherwell’s crocked top scorer Louis Moult, who will join Preston North End in a £500,000 deal tomorrow, was watching from the stand and would surely have fancied himself to tuck a few of those chances away.
Xavier Tomas picked up the first yellow card eight minutes before the break when he needlessly clattered Newell from behind.
Hamilton turned the game on its head when they snatched an equaliser in controversial fashion four minutes later.
Ali Crawford’s shot from the edge of the box was blocked by Hartley but, to the defender’s fury, referee Andrew Dallas ruled that he had deliberately handled the ball and pointed to the spot. Imrie then sent Carson the wrong way.
As if that wasn’t bad enough for the Steelmen, midfielder Allan Campbell was forced to leave the field due to injury, replaced by Liam Grimshaw.
Donati’s awful afternoon continued when he was cautioned in the 51st minute for a foul on Newell but Hartley’s day was to get even worse than the Italian’s.
He miscued a punt up the park into the path of Rakish Bingham, who ran 25 yards with the ball before sliding it past Carson to give Accies the lead.
Hartley’s misery continued when referee Dallas refused to award him a penalty when he went down in the box under pressure from Bingham.
Motherwell were throwing more players forward, leaving them vulnerable to counter-attacks and it was from one of those that the outcome was settled.
Greg Docherty set off on a 30-yard diagonal run, leaving Steven Hammell trailing in his wake. The midfielder’s stamina took him clean through on goal and his angled drive fizzed inside Carson’s right-hand post.
Woods finished as he had started, denying Grimshaw the comfort of a consolation goal with a fine stop in the dying seconds.
Motherwell have now gone nine games without a win, losing seven of them.