PART ONE – AUGUST TO DECEMBER 2007
Accies won the First Division Championship in 2007-08 , this is a look back at another successful season.
August 2007
Accies began the 2007/08 season with a home league match against Dunfermline Athletic.
In front of a bumper crowd in the summer sunshine of 3,383. Dunfermline had been relegated from the Premier Division and were on the back of losing the Scottish Cup Final 1-0 to Celtic in May.
Accies began brightly and opened the scoring after 4mins through Stuart Taylor.
Dunfermline fought back and equalised before half time through Mark Burchill
The Second half saw Dunfermline’s Phil McGuire and a penalty netted by Accies Richard Offiong gave Accies a 2-1 win.
Accies had a 2-1 midweek win over East Stirling.
Richard Offiong and Paul McLeod scored. before a trip to Broadwood would see Billy Reid’s team win 2-0. Clyde’s Neil McGregor was sent off for a last man challenge and Richard Offiong again netted from the penalty spot , before David Elebert sealed the victory with a looping header.
A much changed Accies team were knocked out of the Challenge Cup 2-1 by Ayr despite an early Stuart Taylor goal.
Normal service resumed in the league when a Richard Offiong goal after 17mins gave Accies a 1-0 home win over Queen of the South.
A visit to Greenock saw Richard Offiong score twice including another penalty to win 2-0 over Morton and maintain Accies 100% league record in August and stay 2pts ahead of Dundee.
The League Cup continued with Accies winning 3-2 at Berwick despite going behind early on David Winters equalised before Brian Wake put Accies 2-1 up. Berwick equalised at 2-2. Accies won when Brian Wake scored to make it 3-2.
September 2007
Accies began September in devastating fashion when Richard Offiong scored a quickfire double midway through the first half at Firhill against Partick Thistle and Accies headed into the international break with a 3-0 victory when Stuart Taylor scored early in the second half.
Accies returned from a week’s rest to face Stirling Albion at home. Captain Alex Neil’s 26th min free kick found it’s way into the net before Mark Gilhaney scored a spectacular second early in the second half. The winger then had a shot blocked but the rebound fell to teenager James McCarthy to net the third. Accies sealed a 4-0 win when Brian Wake scored with 5mins remaining.
Accies had a maximum points tally of 18pts from their first six games and led Dundee by 4pts.
Accies would drop their first points of the season when they drew 1-1 at home to Livingston. Accies led at the interval with Stuart Taylor heading in at the far post from a corner. Livingston equalised when a Graham Dorrans shot was parried into the path of Stephen Craig who netted.
Dundee also drew, a surprising 2-2 score at Forthbank against Dundee allowed Accies to maintain their 4point lead.
Accies followed this up by beating Premier League Kilmarnock in the league Cup at Douglas Park where James McCarthy and James McArthur scored and made national headlines for the first time.
Accies then travelled to Perth to visit St Johnstone a ground where Accies have a terrible record and this proved to be the case again. Accies suffered their first defeat of the season. An early goal by Stuart Taylor gave Accies a great start but the midweek efforts took their toll as St Johnstone fought back and ran out 4-1 winners.
Dundee’s 2-1 win over Morton reduced Accies lead to 1 point at the end of September.
The two teams would face off at New Douglas Park the following week for the first time in the season.
October 2007
Accies opened October with a home game against title rivals Dundee.
Accies lead had been cut to one point but Dundee led third place St Johnstone by seven points and the title even this early in the season looked a two horse race.
The game was deadlocked until the 83rd minute when a free kick was lofted into the penalty area by David Winters on to the head of Mark McLaughlin who bulleted a header into the net. Paul McLeod added a second goal for Accies late in the game to seal a crucial 2-0 win and re-open Accies four point lead over the Dens Park men at the top.
Accies fans travelled to East End Park with some trepidation as the newly relegated Dunfermline would be out for revenge following their opening day 2-1 defeat at New Douglas Park.
It was however Accies who came out of the blocks and a nightmare day for Dunfermline Athletic’s Sol Bmaba. The defender was caught in possession after 4mins by James McArthur who ran on and scored. His midfield team-mate James McCarthy then doubled the lead after 17mins, when he latched on to a short headed pass back by Bamba to round the keeper and score.
On the half hour mark Richard Offiong picked up a loose ball in midfield , flicked it over the head of a defender before unleashing an incredible 25 yard dipping volley into the net to give Accies a 3-0 lead. The goal was sensational and drew applause from some Dunfermline fans due to the quality of the goal.
The game was over 13 seconds into the second half when David Winters robbed Sol Bamba of the ball and chipped it over the advancing goalkeeper to make it 4-0 to Accies. Accies eased off for the rest of the match and ran out deserved 5-0 winners when they broke away and David Winters scored his second of the match.
This maintained Accies four lead as Dundee beat Livingston 4-1.
This was an outstanding Accies performance which lives long in the memory.
Accies then beat Morton 1-0 in a controversial match at home. James McCarthy scored early but Morton appeared to equalise late. Chris Templeman knocked the ball into the net and although the referee awarded the goal initially. The Accies players were incensed surrounding the standside linesman, The referee had a long discussion with the linesman and eventually the goal was ruled out, as it had ben punched into the net.
This extended Accies lead over Dundee to six points as they drew 1-1 with Partick Thistle at Firhill.
Accies ended October with a 3-1 defeat to Dundee Utd in the League Cup Quarter Final at Tannadice, where Barry Robson set up each goal as Noel Hunt netted a hat trick. Richard Offiong’s penalty was a mere consolation for Accies.
November 2007
Accies went to Dumfries and opened the scoring through James McCarthy but a poor second half saw Bryn Halliwell spill the ball and it bounced off Mark McLaughlin into his own net, before a shot hit the post and rebound in off Halliwell to give Queen of the South a 2-1 win. A late Kevin McDonald goal at Dens Park gave Dundee a 2-1 win over St Johnstone and halved Accies lead back to three points.
Accies returned to New Douglas Park to face Partick Thistle and opened the scoring with a great shot by Richard Offiong. Chris Swailes headed in from a corner after 77mins to give Accies a 2-0 win.
Dundee played bottom of the table Clyde and Dens Park the following day and a late Paul Dixon own goal gave Clyde a surprise win and left Accies six points ahead at the top of the table.
The top two met at Dens Park the following week with on loan Falkirk striker Roman Wallner making his debut.
Dundee took the lead after 12 mins when Scott Robertson scored from close range. Richard Offiong missed from the penalty spot in the second half to compound Accies misery , losing the game 1-0. Accies lead was now down to three points going into December.
December 2007
December began with a trip to Stirling Albion and Accies added to new players to the squad with the loan signings of Simon Mensing from Motherwell and David Graham from Gretna.
Simon Mensing opened the scoring on his debut , with Roman Wallner scoring his first Accies goal to give away side a 2-0 deserved half time lead.
Former Accies striker Colin Cramb came on as substitute at half time for Stirling and quickly reduced the deficit before Richard Offiong put Accies 3-1 ahead.
Simon Mensing scored with a volley to make the game safe for Accies before another former Accies man Chris Aitken converted from the penalty as Accies won 4-2. Dundee won 1-0 at Dunfermline so Accies lead remained at three points.
Accies would then suffer a massive blow in the season when they lost 2-0 to a very good Livingston side at Almondvale.
Two second goals by Robert Snodgrass gave the home side a very much deserved win, as Dundee beat Stirling Albion and reduce Accies lead at the top of the table to goal difference.
Even this early in the season , eyes were beginning to look towards a potential final day decider with Accies due to travel to Dens Park.
Accies beat St Johnstone 1-0 at New Douglas Park, when good play by James McCarthy after 11mins , allowed James McArthur to score the only goal of the game. Dundee won 2-0 away to Morton and Accies lead was now only 4 goals.
Roman Wallner returned to Falkirk.
Boxing Day brought a visit of lowly Clyde to New Douglas Park and a very difficult afternoon ensued with Accies unable to breakdown the Bully Wee defence and the game ended 0-0.
Dundee had Derek Lyle sent off as they lost 2-1 to Queen of the South in Dumfries , to allow Accies to move one point ahead.
Accies ended the year with a trip to Cappielow to face Morton and Richard Offiong’s early goal was soon cancelled out by an equaliser from the home side.
David Graham netted his first goal before Simon Mensing made it 3-1 to Accies before half time.
The second half was a bit of a non event.
A last minute Kevin McDonald goal gave Dundee a 1-0 home win over Partick Thistle , so Accies moved into 2008 with a one point lead.
Sadly Scottish Football was stunned to hear of the sudden passing of Motherwell player Phil O’Donnell during their game at Fir Park.
Football is Academical 