DAY OF DRAMA
County on the brink as Accies secure a vital win
THE tone was set after 17 seconds. Darian MacKinnon raised a high boot in the centre of the field, catching Jamie Lindsay full in the face and leaving him poleaxed.
Laying down a marker is one thing. Laying out an opponent quite another.
To describe the challenge as ‘meaty’ would be charitable. Ross County co-manager Stuart Kettlewell chose to label it downright dangerous and deserving of more suitable punishment than the yellow card dished out by referee Bobby Madden.
‘I would like someone to explain to me how it’s not a red card in the first few seconds of the game,’ said Kettlewell. ‘From where I was standing, that is serious endangerment of an opponent. I don’t care what stage of the game it is.
‘I don’t want to make excuses as that wasn’t the reason we lost the game. We lost because Hamilton were better than us in the second half, but I would love someone to tell me how it is not a red card.
‘I spoke to the linesman and I asked him the question. He almost scoffed and said: “In no way was that a red card”. That leaves me speechless.’
The biggest surprise of the day, perhaps, is that only two more players went on to join MacKinnon in the book. There were times, during the first half in particular, when it seemed almost impossible to believe both sides would finish with 11 men.
With so much at stake, though, this was always destined to be a hard, no-frills encounter. It was a battle, all right. And Accies, thanks to an unyielding display topped off by a Dougie Imrie penalty and a David Templeton rocket after that early show of leniency by Madden, more than deserved the spoils in the end.
They wanted it more and they should probably have won by more. Georgios Sarris summed them up, hobbling around on a bust ankle in the closing moments just to get in the way of things. Safety is not secured quite yet, but this was a big step towards it — even if the result was hardly achieved by the most aesthetically pleasing means.
Too many games at the SuperSeal Stadium end up in the same old debates over the standard of the plastic surface. Not this one. The ball did not spend enough time on it for that to be a matter of any concern in the end.
Indeed, it was probably quite fitting that the defining moment, the undoubted turning point, was created by a foul, committed while the ball was somewhere up in the clouds.
With 55 minutes gone, Templeton delivered a corner from the right. As the ball travelled through the air, Marcus Fraser pulled the shirt of Lewis Ferguson and Madden signalled for a penalty.
In such high-pressure moments, it is always handy to have an experienced little competitor with cojones the size of bowling balls in your midst and Imrie certainly fits that picture.
First off, Alex Schalk had a go at him in the wake of the award being given. Then, visiting goalkeeper Scott Fox appeared to try to knock the ball out of his hands as he prepared to place it on the spot.
The problem is, Imrie loves all that stuff. He thrives on it, the wind-ups, the gamesmanship. When it came to the crunch, he was as cool as a cucumber, sending Fox the wrong way with a low effort from the side of his left foot.
It was a telling blow. A killer one, really. Accies had fought so hard to draw blood and were never going to let up. They had been in County’s faces from the off and a clinical, thunderous finish from Templeton finished off the already wilting visitors.
For County, it is now looking grim beyond words. Having surrendered meekly in that second 45, Accies are now six clear of them, with Friday’s visit to Firhill looming large.
Yet, they did have chances prior to Imrie’s opener. Billy McKay took a pass on the turn from Greg Tansey in a great position inside the area, but his final effort was weak and off-target. Lindsay also forced a decent low save from keeper Gary Woods near the end of the first half with a header after an effort from Schalk had spun into the air.
The penalty was the beginning of the end for County, though. Accies controlled the last half hour and their second goal came from a welcome injection of quality and panache from the most inventive players on the park.
Danny Redmond, impressive after replacing Ferguson, fed the ball
cleverly out to Templeton on the left of the area. His finish was emphatic, flying past Fox at the near post.
Accies should have added to it late on. Marios Ogkmpoe missed from a matter of yards after stretching just a little too far to get on the end of an Imrie cross and Rakish Bingham was denied by Fox near the end when one-on-one.
It matters little. A six-game losing streak is now forgotten about.
And a fifth straight season in the top flight is within grasp.