Hamilton Academical 1 - McCarthy (5)Morton 0
Att - 2,562
Morton scored a late, late equaliser to gain a creditable 1-1 draw away at New Douglas Park. Wait, it's now 2.56 am on Sunday morning and the linesman appears to be consulting with the referee over Chris Templeman's equalising goal...
As you can see from my drunken introduction posted on Saturday night Morton fans are in uproar at what is probably the strangest refereeing decision any Morton fan has witnessed at a game. The run of events as they actually happened are that Chris Templeman bundled the ball into the back of the net after a Michael Gardyne cross. The Morton support were seated in the stand behind the opposite goal so no one in our end could honestly say whether or not Templeman handled the ball. However, the referee gave the goal as did the stand side linesman. He did not as some suggest raise his flag and put it down again. Evidence of this can be seen in James McFadden's picture below:
In our stand we celebrated the goal in full, the ball was respotted and the Morton team had returned to their half to restart the match. However by that time a few Accies players surrounded the Linesman and as a result the Craig Thomson went down to the linesman to sort it out. The result? Referee and linesman conferring and then deciding to un-award a goal they had already both awarded - something they have both admitted in Sunday's and today's press - as a result of Hamilton players going nuts. In the ensuing melee Morton's management team of Jim McInally and Martin Clark and Accies' Player / Assistant Manager were sent to the stand.
Thomson has attempted to explain the situation on the whistleblower section of the SFA's website but anyone who isn't a complete moron knows he is trying to talk himself out of the situation but talking absolute rubbish in the process.
You may not believe it but there was a full 90 minutes played in this match and for me Morton were very poor and didn't deserve a draw from the game. The form from the last two matches wasn't carried over. Peter Weatherson and Iain Russell were well off the pace up front and our midfield were dominated by Alex Neil, James McArthur and James McCarthy. But I would argue that the synthetic pitch is a big advantage for the home team as the ball appeared to bounce differently and run much faster - leading to lots of misjudged Morton passes.
The only real positive for me was Chris Millar's impact after coming off the bench at the start of the second half.
The winning goal was scored in the fifth minute when Hamilton's highly rated young midfielder James McCarthy lobbed David McGurn in the Morton goal. I didn't see the whole move leading up to the goal but the consensus around me was that David McGurn was badly at fault. He appeared to race from his goal only to find himself stranded as the young 'Irishman' easily lifted the ball over him.
All in all a very controversial day that will live long in the memory but looking at the match as a whole I thought that we got what we deserved based on the 90 minutes - nothing.
Below - Champions League, you're having a laugh! Incompetent ref Craig Thomson
Morton (4-4-2):
1. McGurn - 5
2. Weatherson - 5
3. McAnespie - 6
4. Harding - 6
5. Greacen - 6
6. Shields - 6
7. Finlayson - 5(14. Gardyne - 69 mins)
8. Stevenson - 4 (12. Millar - 46 mins - 8)
9. Russell - 5 (16. Templeman - 69 mins)
10. McLaughlin - 6
11. McAlister - 6
Subs Not Used:
15. Walker
17. Graham
Booked: McLaughlin,Weatherson
Hamilton: Halliwell, Evans, Easton, Swailes, McLaughlin, McCarthy, Winters, McArthur, Offiong (Wake 71), Neil, Gilhaney.
Subs Not Used: Stevenson, Gibson, Taylor, Cerny
My man of the match: Chris Millar
Sponsors man of the match: James McCarthy
Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)
Craig Thomson's excuse: http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/whistleblower.cfm?newsid=3324
Douglas Rae's comments: http://www.gmfc.net/chairman/news-view.asp?id=30
Tontastic / James McFadden's pictures: http://www.tontastic.com/index.cgi?dir=2007-10-27-League-A-Hamilton-JMCF
Sunday Mail match report: http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/sport-news/scottish-football/2007/10/28/mcinally-we-were-robbed-of-point-78057-20021652/
Tele' match report and comment by Roger Graham: http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/article.php?sec=2&id=16487
http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/article.php?sec=2&id=16489
http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/article.php?sec=2&id=16495
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