Damage in the Box!: HAMILTON ACADEMICAL (New Douglas Park)

24 hours after being in Kent (England), I now found myself in Lanarkshire (Scotland) as, due to the Strathclyde polices' inability to be in three places at once, the SPL game between Accies and Hibees was put back until Sunday. This was another chance to slowly eat away at the "42" (after that particular Pandoras Box was opened last year) and tick off my fourth Scottish league ground of the season (so far).

The journey to Hamilton was easy enough as it is virtually motorway all the way and, after the obligatory stop at the Cafe Royal in Annan, we arrived at New Douglas Park in very good time. New Douglas Park was opened in 2001 after the original Douglas Park was bulldozed in 1994 (The Accies led a nomadic existence of groundshares in the intervening years) and currently has only two sides to it (though there is a temporary stand that can be utilised if there is a large away following - there was today).

Hamilton went into this game rooted to the bottom of the table with zero points but came out of the blocks with all guns blazing and took the lead after just nine minutes when Simon Mensing scored from the penalty spot after Colin Nish was adjudged to have handled. Mickael Antoine-Curier bagged a second just three minutes later when he fired home from a Mensing pass. The pre-match predictions of an away banker were proving wholly incorrect. Hamilton continued to have the better of play for the rest of the half, as a quite frankly dreadful Hibs team couldn't cope, or indeed, force themselves into the game, despite playing with three out-and-out attackers.

The second half was a bit of a damp squib as Hamilton naturally sat back on their lead whilst Hibs continued where they had left off in the first half. However, with twelve minutes remaining The Hibees were thrown a lifeline when a penalty was awarded (by the linesman) after Trent McClenahan handled on the line. This was obviously the denial of a clear goal, but not one of the officials could pinpoint who had handled and thus Mr McClenahan got away with a red card. The injustice to Hibs was compounded when Tomas Cerny saved Derek Riordan's penalty and kept the score at 2-0. Hibs' Colin Nish was shown a red card late in the game for a second booking but this did nothing to influence the final outcome of the match.