Hamilton Academical 1
Dundee 1
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Sporting Post.

Tosh McKinlay is not fit enough to play for Dundee at Hamilton and John Brown is also out of the side. The team is unchanged after the cup-tie victory at Methil.

Hamilton: McKellor, McKee, Sprott, Jamieson, Fulton, Brazil, Pelosi, Clarke, Brogan, Taylor, Mailer. Subs McCabe, Phillips.

Dundee-Geddes; Shannon, Glennie, Rafferty, Smith, Duffy, Coyne, Mennie, Harvey, Angus, Wright. Subs-Forsyth, Jack.

Referee-Jim Duncan, Gorebridge.

Fulton is short with a casual passback and Wright reaches the ball at the same time as keeper McKellar.

The ball breaks to Angus on the left, who crosses quickly, and Brazil eases the pressure on the home defence by head- ing for a corner.

Mennie powers his way up the hill and his cross is diverted for another corner by Sprott.

Rafferty's cross is not cleared by the home defence and Rafferty picks up the ball again and places it in front of Harvey, whose left-foot shot flies across goal and past the far post.

Clarke breaks quickly on the left for Accies. His cross is headed out by Duffy to Sprott, whose first-time shot goes over the bar.

Alex Taylor, the ex-Dundee United player, has time and space 20 yards from goal, but hurries his left-foot shot which is far too high.

Dundee are taking time to settle, playing uphill and on a tricky surface. Harvey sends a promising ball in front of goal, but has allowed it to run out of play first.

A couple of Pelosi corner kicks are headed out of danger by Dundee defenders..

Accies come close in 17 minutes after Angus loses a race for possession to Clarke, who sends Taylor clear on the right. The cross is a beauty and Mailer misses making contact by a few inches.

Coyne and Wright ruin an attacking move by jumping for the same ball, with the result that neither gains possession.

Coyne attempts a first-time, left-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area and the ball is nearly blocked and cleared by Brazil.

Wright is deep in defence to knock the ball away from Taylor in dangerous position. Next he thinks quickly in attack by laying the ball in front of Angus, whose shot is high. Another left-foot effort by Coyne goes a few inches over the bar.

Glennie dispossesses Pelosi and the fullback sends a good pass to Wright, who takes too long to get the ball across and is shut out.

Duffy appears on the left and his high ball to the far post has 'keeper McKellar back pedalling furiously.

Angus makes one touch too many before shooting from 20 yards and a defender gets a foot to the ball to make McKel lar's task easy.

Dundee get a free kick on the edge of the box for a foul on Coyne. It's sent to Angus, whose effort is blocked. The ball breaks to Shannon and his first-time shot is blasted straight at Coyne.

Geddes is perfectly positioned to hold a shot from Brogan and at the other end the referee indicates Wright dives when he goes down to a Brazil challenge on the edge of the penalty area. Hamilton take the lead half a minute from the interval.

Rightback McKee crosses from the right BROGAN runs into a gap to head into the net.

Half-time - Hamilton 1, Dundee 0.

Reflections - Dundee have not been sharp enough up front to crack a competent defence, which shows signs of panic pressure The Dens defenders have looked indecisive when Hamilton have attacked in numbers.

Just over a minute into the second half, Dundee pull level with a goal from the penalty spot.

Wright is pulled down by keeper McKellar as the two go for a short passback and the referee points immediately to the spot.

COYNE is the penalty taker after Dundee's disastrous run of four misses. The youngster listens to a few words from his skipper Jim Duffy before he sends keeper McKellar to his left and hits the ball low into the net to his right.

This extends Coyne's remarkable goal-a-game run to four. A minute later Coyne crashes a left-foot shot against the foot of a post and a Harvey shot smashes against a defender.

A great move on the right ends with a fine cross by Shannon to the far post and a neat header by Coyne which strikes the keeper and stays out.

Accies' Mailer breaks on the right to get in a shot that goes straight to Geddes.

A Harvey header from a Rafferty corner curls over the bar. In Dundee's next move, Rafferty shoots a foot wide.

Shannon makes a couple of fine tackles to halt home moves and Geddes is twice the man on the spot to stop speculative shots.

Coyne's clever footwork gets the ball to Mennie on the right and the midfielder's cross is just too close to McKellar. Coyne runs on to a Harvey pass to send a shot past the keeper but against the crossbar.

Rafferty takes another of Harvey's passes and tries to bend a shot past McKellor who saves

With 13 minutes left, Accies send on both substitutes, replacing Clarke and Mailer.

Final- Hamilton 1, Dundee 1

Summing-up-Dundee played some top-class stuff in an enthralling second half and should have taken both points. They came close, with Coyne particularly unlucky when his splendid shot hit wood.

Crowd-2019.