Date: 04-Oct-08
Competition: League
Scorers: Graham Shanks, Alex Dick
Man of the Match:
Match Report:
Port Glasgow were the visitors to the Palace grounds on Saturday on what was a very wet and windy day, despite  the bad weather the game was given the go ahead by the referee. Hamilton lined up in a 4-4-2- formation with Dave Lowe in goals, right to left in defence was Daryl, Hammy, Shug & Hawky, right to left in midfield was Yusef, Paul, Omar & Shanksy and up front was Davy & Alex. Most of the play in the first half was confined to the midfield as both teams got to grips with battling against the elements and trying to avoid playing balls through the puddles. Most of the Long balls from Port Glasgow went straight through to Davy due to the swirling wind and the Harvest defence was rarely troubled. There was only one clear cut opportunity in the first half and it fell to Alex who turned in the box and fired in a fierce shot which the keeper did well to turn round the post. No further goal mouth action in the fist half saw both side go in 0-0 at half time.

Hamilton had the wind at their back in the second half and started brightly and deservedly took the lead in the 55^th minute when the ball was played out to Shanksy on the left, Shanksy advanced in to the left hand side of the Port Glasgow box and unleashed a powerful left foot drive across the goal keeper and in to the top right hand corner. A great strike which would have graced any game and 2 goal keepers wouldn’t have stopped the ball going in to net. Harvest continued to press forward in search of another goal, however it was Port Glasgow who equalized in the 65^th minute. Good work by the Port Glasgow midfielder saw him hit the bye line on the Harvest right hand side, he flighted a good ball to the back post, Hawky tried in vain to head the ball away but as it fell behind him the on rushing midfielder smashed the ball high in to the net.

Both teams were battling hard now and either team could have went on to win the game. Harvest could have taken the lead when another good move presented Alex with another opportunity, as he tried to place his shot in to the bottom corner the Port Glasgow keeper got down well to turn his shot round the post. The Port Glasgow kepper was keeping his team in the game as he pulled of a further 2 good saves to thwart Harvest. Harvest were not to be denied though and regained the lead in the 73^rd minute. A Port Glasgow corner was cleared at the edge of the Harvest area by Paul who found Shanksy with the clearance, Shanksy took off down the left and had the beating of the right back, when in the ideal position he swung in a great cross and Alex got across the front of the central defender to fire the ball high past the keeper in to the net, a great counter attacking move which deserved the great finish.

Port Glasgow were now searching for an equalizer and Dave Lowe had to be on his toes to pull off a great save from a Port Glasgow Header. Another heart stopping moment was presented to Port Glasgow in the dying minutes as a long ball dropped over Shug’s head to the Port Glasgow striker but he didn’t connect with his shot and Dave and Hammy managed between them to clear the danger. Harvest then played out the remainder of the game and the referee blew the final whistle with the score Harvest 2-1 Port Glasgow.

Another great battling performance today guys once again every one deserves great credit for this win against one of the better teams in the 1^st division. Let’s keep the momentum going and take this performance in to next week’s game.