No goals and precious few moments of note. That sums up this pre-season friendly at Cliftonhill. Having said that, Rovers will take more heart from the encounter as newly-promoted Accies were generally quite woeful. Rovers tried to play on-the-deck football for most of the game while Hamilton didn’t seem to have much of a game plan at all.

In the first half, possession honours were fairly even, and apart from three headers by the visitors’ Ola Anderson troubling Chris Fahey in the home goal, only a Steve Renicks drive which flew high over the crossbar caused any concern to the Rovers’ defence. At the other end, a Jordan Smith flick from a Jered Stirling corner was inches wide and Stirling himself had a couple of trademark mid-range efforts which were just off target.

Eight minutes after the restart, Smith was on the spot to block a fierce shot from David McFarlane, following which substitutions galore took up much of the interest. As the game wore on, Rovers gained more and more confidence and certainly looked the better side for an extended period. Fourteen minutes from the end saw a flurry of activity when James McLees saw his good grounder saved by Accies’ Graham Potter, visiting midfielder John Walker fired high over the bar, home youngster David Carr flicked agonisingly wide and substitute Gerry McKenna, through on his own after a great interpassing move, beat Potter - and, unfortunately, the far post. It was a bad miss.

All in all, it was another reasonable step in the preparation for the new season and we now look forward to the visit of our traditional rivals, Airdrieonians, on Thursday evening, a match which will kick-off at 7 pm.

Albion Rovers : Fahey, Waldie, Bonnar, Smith, McAneny (Lumsden 62), Booth (Easton 49), Silvestro (McKenna 72), McKenzie, McCormick, McMullan (Carr 58), Stirling (McLees 64).

Hamilton Accies : Potter, Renicks, Cunningham, Nelson, McLaren, Walker, Russell (Martin 67), Bonnar, Kwick Ajet (O’Neill 67), McFarlane (Moore 75), Anderson (Callaghan 62).

Referee C Thomson

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