Hamilton Academical FC vs Raith Rovers FC
William Hill Championship
New Douglas Park
Saturday 29th March, 3pm
Aaron Lynch
FT HAMILTON ACADEMICAL FC 0-3 RAITH ROVERS FC
After a frustrating run of results, Hamilton came into this afternoon’s match looking to return to
winning ways against sixth place Raith Rovers.
John Rankin made no changes to his Accies XI, naming the same eleven that drew with Ayr
United seven days ago.
As for our visitors they opted for two changes to the side that drew 3-3 at Cappielow on Tuesday
night.
KICK-OFF
The first major opportunity of the match came Accies’ way. A fizzing corner kick into the box
from Steven Bradley was met by Barry Maguire whose powerful header was cleared off the line
to deny Hamilton the opening goal.
Hamilton continued on the front foot and almost took the lead again as Barry Maguire tried his
luck from distance, firing narrowly over the bar.
In the 26th minute Raith had a chance of their own to break the deadlock, the ball fell kindly to
Dylan Easton on the edge of the penalty area and his low driven effort flew past Lyness’s far
post.
The following stages saw chances fall to O’Hara and Easton, both players produced routine
saves from their opposite number.
As the first half drew to a close, Raith Rovers took the lead. Dylan Easton’s pin-point shot from
close range flew past Lyness and into the far corner.
After an underwhelming first half Accies went into the break with work to do.
SECOND HALF
Within moments of the referee’s whistle Accies had the ball in the net through Oli Shaw,
unfortunately it wouldn’t count as he was deemed to have been offside in the build-up.
Hamilton’s search for an equaliser continued as Joshua Rae spilled the ball straight into the feet
of Kevin O’Hara, however, the angle was tight and despite his best efforts O’Hara couldn’t find
the back of the net.
In the 63rd minute the visitors doubled their lead. A cross into the back post was met by Callum
Fordyce who headed the ball past Lyness into the far corner.
10 minutes later Raith added a third goal. The ball rolled across the Accies six yard box and fell
to Josh Mullin who made no mistake from close range.
In the dying embers Accies looked to pull one back as Kyle MacDonald’s powerful shot from the
edge of the box was well saved by Rae.
A disappointing afternoon sees Raith Rovers take the points.
Match Attendance – 1,007
