SO NO last-day thriller at Dens Park then. Hamilton Accies dispatched Clyde with a ruthlessness and ease which made any prospect of a sudden-death contest with Dundee next Saturday an irrelevance.
The home side were already comfortably ahead of their visitors, who had been reduced to 10 men as Accies scored their first goal, when news filtered through that the 'Dee had succumbed to the resurgent Doonhamers at Palmerston Park. The rest of the m
atch was played to the predictably joyous accompaniment of "championes! championes!" from the 5,000 followers in the stand.
It was a day to savour for the Lanarkshire side's fans. Hamilton have never won promotion in front of their own crowd, and yesterday they did their best to put on a show. It helped, of course, that manager Billy Reid and Clyde have "previous": the Accies manager was at Broadwood before leaving for New Douglas Park in acrimonious circumstances, accompanied by four of the players wearing the red and white hoops of the home side yesterday. The last side he wanted to derail his promotion charge was the Bully Wee.
It was a day of high emotions for the Hamilton boss. "It hasn't sunk in yet," he said. "I was very emotional because this means a lot to me and to a very young squad. We saw what happened last year when St Johnstone came here on the final day (needing a win to be promoted] and lost, how devastated their players were. It was my job to make sure that didn't happen to us"
If he needed reminding of how painful it would be to miss out, he would only have needed to talk to his midfielder Simon Mensing. The Englishman was in that Saints side which lost out to Gretna a year ago, and he also missed out in similar circumstances with Clyde in 2005. He said afterwards that "missing out on promotion to the SPL for a third time was one hat-trick I would have done virtually anything to avoid" and it showed.
So, too, several other members of this Accies team. Left back Brian Easton looks like he is made of spare parts and he was a barn-storming presence who was instrumental in many of Hamilton's most incisive attacks. So, too, goalscorer Tony Stevenson down the other flank. David Graham remains a class act, while in central midfield, James McArthur was again the creative hub while 17-year-old prodigy James McCarthy offered energetic support. Reid still hasn't given up hope of persuading McCarthy to stay and believes he and McArthur "are going to go all the way to the very top".
Clyde, by contrast, displayed little of the fighting spirit you would expect from a side flirting with relegation.
It was McArthur who did the damage halfway through the half too, his header beating goalkeeper David Hutton, who had rashly come out to try to claim a cross to the back post. Neil McGregor instinctively stuck out a hand to stop Mensing's goalbound volley, earning himself a red card in the process. Not that it mattered: Stevenson smacked the ball into the corner past the wrong-footed Hutton for the opening goal.
From there on Hamilton dominated, building patiently and probing as 10-man Clyde dropped ever deeper. The only surprise was that it took until moments before half-time to extend their lead and to put their game and the destination of the title beyond doubt. When it came, the second goal was a thing of quality sparked by Easton's purposeful run at the heart of the Clyde defence. Just as it looked as if he might have overdone it, his deft flick put striker Richard Offiong into space inside the penalty area and his low shot across the goal found the bottom corner.
The second half was little more than an extended victory parade. There were two early chances for Offiong, both of which were squandered with a degree of profligacy that won't sit well in the SPL but neither side seriously looked as if they expected any other outcome but a 2-0 win for Hamilton.
The full article contains 709 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
