William Hill League One
Broadwood Stadium
Saturday 8th November, 3PM
Aaron Lynch
FT HAMILTON ACADEMICAL FC 3-0 PETERHEAD FC
After the points were shared in a hard fought affair against East Fife last weekend, Hamilton looked to return to winning ways as they took on Peterhead at Broadwood.
John Rankin named an unchanged starting XI for this afternoon’s match with 10 of the 11 players who featured in our 2-2 draw with Peterhead earlier this season retaining their place. As for our visitors they opted for the same lineup that beat Cove Rangers 2-1 at Balmoral Stadium seven days ago.
KICK-OFF
Hamilton started the match positively and took the lead in the 21st minute as good play from Kevin O’Hara saw him lay the ball off to Kyle MacDonald who fired home through the legs of Jack Newman for his fourth goal of the season.
Peterhead threatened to equalise ten minutes later as Craig McGuffie tried his luck from range but was unable to prevent his shot from flying over the bar. Peterhead came close again in the 36th minute as Kieran Shanks found space in the box but couldn’t find the accuracy to trouble Jamie Smith.
In the 37th minute, Oli Shaw’s sublime through ball found Steven Bradley but under pressure he was unable to find the net, dragging his shot just wide of the post.
On the stroke of halftime Hamilton extended their advantage, Jason Brown’s loose pass was pounced on by Oli Shaw who calmly rounded the goalkeeper and tapped into an empty net
SECOND HALF
Almost immediately Hamilton had the ball in the net again as Scott Robinson finished brilliantly into the bottom corner, unfortunately the goal wouldn’t stand as the officials deemed there to have been an offside in the build up.
Moments later Accies threatened again as Kevin O’Hara found space out wide and curled the ball towards goal forcing a fantastic stop from Newman before Steven Bradley was inches away from scoring on the rebound.
In the 49th minute, Hamilton found the third as Oli Shaw latched onto Connor Smith’s incisive pass in behind before rounding the keeper and slotting home for his second goal of the afternoon.
With 20 minutes to play Accies continued on the front foot and almost made it 4-0 as Oli Shaw once again found himself one-on-one with Newman, but was denied a hatrick as his powerful shot towards the near post struck the woodwork.
A dominant display from Hamilton saw three goals and three points at Broadwood.
