Hamilton adrift and sinking

william hunter

27 Mar 1989

use this please

Hamilton 0, Hearts 2

ALL that the scoreline shows is that statistics are like a bikini.

While what they reveal may be interesting, what they conceal is vital.

Picking any number under 10 would be nearer it.

0-5 might do it.

All that the Accies need is to have some onlooker pick over the bones of their season.

But it may not be too pass-remarkable to point out that up to Saturday tea-time they had laboured for 17 hours of football which have produced one mouse of a goal.

What made yet another 90-minute void so aching was that most of the time Hearts could not play for snuff.

They shared the blame for a first-half that lasted longer than a supermarket queue.

Although Hamilton were never at the races on their own turf they had the king.

There was a majesty about the work of Willie Jamieson.

Whether cajoling his forwards or covering for his mates in defence, he was immeasurably taller than all he surveyed.

Accies may not just be waving goodbye to premier-division football, they could be drowning.

When they go, there's no telling how far down they may go, and unlikely that they will be left to drag underneath with them so valuable a goalkeeper as Allan Ferguson.

He had an exciting save from a 30-yard free kick by Iain Ferguson, while Hearts shot three times against his crossbar and headed once off a post.

That was quite a lot of knocking on wood for a squad whose minds seemed to be mainly on their summer holiday.

Gary Mackay and Dave McPherson had bright little goals.

Kidd, McPherson, and Bannon had their names taken by a referee who appeared suddenly to remember some things about Hearts he had been reading in the papers.

Hamilton's Harris and Martin were also booked.

HAMILTON -- Ferguson, McKee, Archer, Jamieson, Martin, Miller, Harris, Morrison, Gordon, Prentice, McDonald.

Substitutes -- Napier, Frith.

HEARTS -- Smith, Kidd, Black, Levein, Berry, McPherson, Colquhoun, Mackay, Galloway, Ferguson, Bannon.

Substitutes -- Robertson, Sandison.

Referee -- J.

Duncan (Gorebridge).