Jump to content
  • entries
    159
  • comments
    2
  • views
    18,296

2019/20 Premiership preview - Hamilton Accies


Hamilton Academical FC logo.svg
PREDICTED LEAGUE POSITION: TENTH

LAST SEASON: 10th, 33pts

NOTABLE INS: Blair Alston (St. Johnstone), Will Collar (Brighton & Hove Albion), Brian Easton (St. Johnstone), Markus Fjortoft (Southern United), Owain Fon Williams (Inverness Caledonian Thistle), Kyle Gourlay (Dundee), Johnny Hunt (Stevenage), Ciaran McKenna (Falkirk), David Moyo (St. Albans City), Korede Adedoyin (Everton, loan)

NOTABLE OUTS: Ziggy Gordon (Central Coast Mariners), James Keatings (Inverness Caledonian Thistle), Gary Woods (Oldham Athletic), Tony Andreu (Coventry City, end of loan), David McMillan (St. Johnstone, end of loan), Dougie Imrie (retired), Tom Taiwo (retired), Matthew Kilgallon, Jacob Marsden, Alex Penny, Lennard Sowah, Delphin Tshiembe

LAST SEASON'S BEST XI (Departed players crossed out): Woods, Gordon, Kilgallon, Gogic, McGowan, Martin, MacKinnon, Andreu, Imrie, Miller, Oakley



This is the sixth straight season I've had to write a Hamilton Accies season preview. In the first four I predicted they'd come bottom, and last year I had them finishing eleventh. I wasn't alone in my thinking. And each time Accies have collectively given the finger to the likes of me by staying up.

How they've done it is hard to say. Their points totals in recent years have been dreadful - 35,33 and 33 in the last three campaigns. They never seem to score enough goals nor keep enough out. They're the MC Escher of football teams. It's impossible and yet here they are.

And over time my feelings towards them have moved from considerable annoyance at their unambitious and unpalatable style of play to increasing (albeit grudging) respect at the fact that whilst clubs like Dundee United, Dundee, Partick Thistle, Inverness and others languish outside the top flight, Hamilton have avoided that fate.

The question now is whether things take a different direction with a new man in the hotseat. Well, I say 'new' but Brian Rice has been Head Coach since January. It was probably true that the only way was up at that point, but Rice guided Accies clear of relegation. He actually managed only four wins and four draws in sixteen games, so it tells you something about the state they were in that this was a marked improvement on the final days of Martin Canning.

But despite the change of boss it's been a pretty typical Accies summer. Their budget remains a fraction of even the mid-table Premiership sides so the signings have been the usual motley crew of Premiership castoffs, Championship wannabes, kids released from English under 23 sides and the odd unknown from non-league.

The hope is that Rice will do a superior job of moulding them together. As assistant boss at Falkirk, Hibs and Caley Thistle he was highly respected as a training ground coach. Mind you, the way some of the new boys have been talking you'd think he's the Scottish Guardiola. Certainly though it's reasonable to expect that Accies will be better organized than they were at any time in the Canning era.

Do they have enough quality though?

They haven't lost all that much, at least. Ziggy Gordon was a regular in defence but hadn't hit the heights expected of him and he is replaceable. Goalkeeper Gary Woods had quietly excelled but Rice might have found a gem in Owain Fon Williams, largely frozen out for two years at Caley Thistle because of his wages. The Welshman struggled when ICT were relegated before that but played that whole year with a back problem and is a far better keeper than many realize.

In front of him it looks like it'll be a back three, though it may be hard to find a competent combination. Alex Gogic missed most of last season after a knee injury but if he's back to 100% he should be a capable performer; however he also looked like the best (or least-bad) option in defensive midfield in the League Cup games. 

Brian Easton is also not long back from an extended layoff and seems more likely to be used on the left side of that three rather than as a left-back. Ciaran McKenna flashed some potential at Falkirk last season but is really raw after spending his formative years in the USA. Markus Fjortoft is a typical Hamilton 'take a flyer on a guy who won't cost us much if he isn't up to it' move. And Shaun Want has shown nothing to suggest he's going to hack it as a Premiership player in the short- or long-term.

In theory, the standard at wing-back is a lot higher. Aaron McGowan certainly came onto a game in the second half of last season. Frustratingly Scott McMann still hasn't lived up to the billing he was given as a youngster by Alex Neil all those years ago. Now 23, he really needs to become consistent. The more experienced Johnny Hunt will not have moved up from Stevenage just to be a backup.

In midfield it seems certain there will be a place for Darian MacKinnon, though the captain, 34 in October, does appear to be slowing down a little. The other two positions may be up for grabs. Will Collar, signed from Brighton, should fill the most defensive role though he's not been sighted so far. Blair Alston was let go by St. Johnstone because he influenced games only sporadically, so Rice needs to get the best out of him if Accies are to create chances. 

But if Rice is willing to give youth a try he can call on Ross Cunningham, Lewis Smith, Reegan Mimnaugh and Ronan Hughes in this area. Cunningham was particularly impressive in July, scoring four League Cup goals; three were penalties but it is encouraging that the 21 year old took on such responsibility. Smith is more attack-minded and could be deployed in the number ten role if Rice opted for one up top in some games. There's also Scott Martin who was something of a marquee signing by Canning's standards last summer but who seems out of favour. 

There is however a dearth of natural wingers in the squad which will leave Rice short of a plan B if things aren't going well. Steven Boyd, Mickel Miller and new signing David Moyo can all play wide if necessary but they would prefer to be through the middle. Miller was great in the first half of last season but is a rare case of a player regressing under Rice; however he was given a new deal in the summer so it seems reasonable to assume the boss has faith in him.

Up front though he's likely to go with two of Marios Ogkmpoe, George Oakley and Steve Davies. Ogkmpoe is the battering ram, Davies is the best natural finisher but doesn't do enough to link play, and Oakley is reasonably strong, reasonably quick and okay in front of goal but doesn't really do anything especially well. If one was to break through this season, I'd pick Ogkmpoe - the Greek did well to come back from an ACL injury in the spring and has looked sharp in the League Cup. He looks like he has a point to prove and could reward Hamilton's faith in him.

The target as always is survival but this might be the first time that the odds of that are in their favour. First, the coaching has improved. Second, there are other teams in the division who look unsettled and lost at the moment. Hamilton and their fans would probably prefer that they were written off again, but there's a chance that this could be a less stressful campaign than the last few.


THE SQUAD (players born after 1 January 1998 in italics)
Goalkeepers: Owain Fon Williams, Ryan Fulton, Kyle Gourlay
Defenders: Brian Easton, Markus Fjortoft, Alex Gogic, Johnny Hunt, Aaron McGowan, Ciaran McKenna, Scott McMann, George Stanger, Shaun Want
Midfielders: Blair Alston, Will Collar, Ross Cunningham, Ronan Hughes, Darian MacKinnon, Scot Martin, Reegan Mimnaugh, Lewis Smith
Forwards: Korede Adedoyin, Steven Boyd, Steve Davies, Mickel Miller, David Moyo, George Oakley, Marios Ogkmpoe

THE BEST XI?




Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.

View the full article

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.



  • Upcoming Events

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • No promises, but if you send me the files I'll see if I can leverage the powers of AI to rewrite the code.  Had a little success doing something similar (but smaller scale) for a local charity recently.
    • Aaron Doran ICTFC Legend   This Saturday it's a day to say thankyou to a club legend. Aaron Brian Cogan Doran has given the main chunk of his footballing career to the Caley Jags since joining from Blackburn Rovers having previously been loaned out to Milton Keynes Dons and Leyton Orient. He was initially signed on a six month loan deal by Terry Butcher, making 14 appearances scoring 3 times. His debut was as a substitute for Stuart Duff in a 2-0 defeat by Aberdeen on 26th January 2011. His first goal came against St Mirren in a 3-3 draw some three weeks later on the 12th of February 2025. Here is how we saw it on CTO: the Saints managed to clear the danger temporarily, the ball only came as far as David Proctor, who threw a dangerous looping ball into the box. Adam Rooney seemed to get some sort of touch on it and as the ball bounced beyond Richie Foran, Aaron Doran came steaming in at the back post and fired it into the roof of the net. (This portion of the match report was brought to you by the miracle of BBC highlights: I was in the bog at the time.) His third Caley Jags goal was a belter. A spectacular curling effort from distance against St Johnstone in a televised 3-0 game on 25th April 2011. Pick that one out. He was then signed on a permanent deal at the end of the season and he embarked on a fantastic career at the Caledonian Stadium spanning 13 years until injury cut his time here short and he left under a cloud of controversy created by the Scot Gardiner oligarchy and with a damaged knee to contend with. That was the low point of a tremendous career, littered with goals, assists, flair and a Scottish Cup winners medal round his neck. Who can forget his brilliant precision assist for the opening goal in the final against Falkirk back in 2015. Superb. A great footballing brain in a career blighted by injuries.  Aaron was painted by talented local artist 👩‍🎨 Sophie Robb, a big Caley Jags fan herself, holding the Scottish Cup aloft in 2015. In total, he made 392 (118 from the bench) appearances for Inverness scoring 57 goals. His last appearance sadly lasted only 19 minutes when he was helped from the pitch with another serious knee injury against Raith Rovers on 19th April 2024, a sad end to his playing career at the Caledonian Stadium, although unknown to us at the time, worse would follow. He is second only to Ross Tokely in appearances. A Scottish Cup winner and a Challenge Cup winner and also played in the Scottish Cup Final in 2023. He was the Supporters Player of the Year in 2023.  When he left Inverness in June 2024 he joined up with Ryan Esson at Strathspey Thistle where he now helps with the coaching and still helps out on the pitch. So much so he managed to score against the Caley Jags in a recent pre-season game. All the best Aaron.   Not many can top these stats Full Name: Aaron Brian Doran Cogan Born: May 13th, 1991 (Charleville, County Cork, Ireland) Height: 5' 7 Position: Winger Signed: January 25th, 2011 First Manager: Terry Butcher Left Club: June 10th, 2024 Career Stats: 392 appearances, 57 goals Debut (as sub): January 26th, 2011 - Inverness CT 0 - 2 Aberdeen (League - ) Full Debut: February 5th, 2011 - 5 - 1 Morton (Scottish Cup - Rd 5) First Goal: February 12th, 2011 - St. Mirren 3 - 3 Inverness CT (League - )   Here is Aaron's career strikes against the County. He does like a wee goal against the gudgies. Some additional information. This game will be a full pre-season friendly for both teams. Aaron will obviously feature at some point in the game but both teams will be fielding strong teams. We are hoping some ex players may be able to join us a bit later in the bar for a catch up.  There will be buses running, times will be confirmed but as you have noticed parking will be limited so this could be a good option for many of you. Match tickets can be bought online at eticketing.co.uk/ictfc Bar 94 will be open from 11:30 and will reopen at full time, with the usual range of products (and we have held the price of a pint of Dog Falls at £5). We hope to see you there to enjoy what the Testimonial Committee have lined up for the day. With the circus taking place in the car park, please use the matchday bus if you are able to as parking will be restricted at and around the ground. It leaves the Bus Station at 1145 and 1315, returning from the Stadium 10 minutes after the full time whistle and at 1700. The fare is £2.70 single (contactless payments or cash accepted), and Over 60 / Disabled and Under 22 Concession passes are valid, giving free travel on the service to passholders. Stagecoach have advised that all revenue taken on the service on Saturday will be donated to Aaron's Testimonial Fund, so that is another great reason to use the service, as Aaron will be directly benefitting from your journey.   From the Official ICTFC SITE On behalf of the Aaron Doran Testimonial Committee, tickets are now available for Aaron Doran’s testimonial with Ross County. Aaron Doran Testimonial ICT v ROSS COUNTY – SATURDAY 5th JULY 2025 Kick off 2:00 pm Tickets for this match, which is kindly sponsored by Mackellar Engineering Ltd are now on sale. Tickets are priced at £15 and £5 (under 16s only) and can be purchased at Caledonian Stadium or online from eticketing.co.uk/ictfc Home support will be housed in the Main Stand only for this game purely to reduce the costs for Aaron and the away fans will be accommodated in the South Stand. Should you wish to join Section 94 they will be taking up temporary residence in Lower B of the Main Stand.  Aaron has served ICT for over 13 years, which is almost unique in modern day football, and it is hoped that supporters will recognise this loyalty and attend the game in numbers. It has been some time since ICT and Ross County have opposed each other and, with the game being played on the last weekend prior to the season commencing, the club’s will be fielding their strongest teams. Both clubs have been busy signing new players so come along and see them in action. It is appreciated that as this game is being played at the start of the school holidays some supporters will not be able to attend the match and if they would wish to support the Testimonial they can make a donation either by buying a ticket for the game or via bank transfer to  Santander:  Account name: Aaron Doran Testimonial Sort Code 09-01-29 Account no 34452181   View full article  
    • Let the fun begin. Here's to a great season which will hopefully see the team 'gel under Kel'. @caleycalum is the one to catch this season so let battle commence. Hope you all enjoy another season of the NPL. Thank you for playing.   Your predictions please for this game: HT: FT: 1st Scorer ICT: 1st Scorer Opp: Crowd: Updated expected to be completed by 2200 Wed 16 July   
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. : Terms of Use : Guidelines : Privacy Policy