NDP

By Graham Barnstaple
March 20 2012

Despite falling behind to a controversial penalty in the first half Hamilton came back to beat Dundee 3-1 to move into fourth.

The game opened in stunning fashion with Accies defender Mark McLaughlin stunning the home fans by performing a Cruyff turn at the edge of the box before sending a cross into the box!!

Accies built on this and should’ve been ahead early on with Mark Stewart being sent clear on two occasions but both times he was denied by the veteran goalkeeper Rab Douglas.Dundeecould’ve then opened the scoring through a Ryan Conroy free kick but his effort hit the outside of the post.

There was controversy in the 29^th minute when Ref Alan Muir caused bemusement in the ground when he awarded a penalty to the visitors. Conroy over hit the ball as he ran into the box and keeper Hutton dived at his feet. The keeper looked to have been the one fouled rather than the other way round.

Nevertheless Conroy stepped up to take the kick himself and fired the ball high intoDouglas’s top left hand corner.

The lead only lasted five minutes, a Danny Redmond corner was only half punched clear by Douglasand McLaughlin was on hand to turn and drill the ball low into the bottom corner. This is the defenders 7^th goal of the season, and keeps him as the club’s top scorer.

Two goals in the opening fifteen minutes set up the victory for Accies. The first game in 49 minutes, once againRedmondwas the provider with a cross to the back post where McLaughlin was on hand to head into the 6 yard box for Jo McShane to score from close range.

Redmondset up the third with a through ball to Stewart, who kept his cool to slide the ball under the on rushingDouglasto score with his third effort of the night.

Both sides had efforts to score with Jamie McCluskey seeing a shot hit the top of the cross bar and at the other end Jim McAlister saw his low shot saved byDouglas.

Accies thoroughly deserved the win with Dens boss Barry Smith taking the blame for the defeat, he felt his preparation wasn’t right and he had made tactical changes too early in the game.