Caley 1-1 Hamilton … A chance wasted

By: Ian Rose | May 10th, 2009

It could have been a lot worse. With Falkirk getting a valuable point yesterday, a loss would have seen Caley within a single match of the bottom side. Motherwell also beat St. Mirren, so we gained on them. So from the glass-half-full perspective, a point is okay. The other way of looking at this, though, is probably the more realistic one. Three points were on the plate for us, and we only had the stomach to take down one.

Hamilton has been a tough opponent all season, with 2 losses and 2 draws in our four matches, but today we should have had the advantage. We were at home. We had a fresh pair of legs, and the most dynamic player on the pitch, in Filipe Morais. We got the opening goal, and an hour in were still up 1-0. Most importantly, we played 25 minutes a man up, after James McArthur was sent off for a high tackle on Morais.

If there’s a theme to this season, it is this: we couldn’t close the deal. We played well today, and could have very well won 3-1, but again Dougie Imrie and the rest of the strike force (except Richie Foran, who had a good game and a very good goal) just couldn’t finish.

So, we are left now essentially where we were last week, in 9th place, four points from bottom. With Hamilton, Caley, Kilmarnock and Falkirk all picking up a single point, the big loser of the week was St. Mirren, who lost a point to all of them. Here are the bottom standings now:

8. Hamilton : 38 pts (-20 GD)
9. Caley : 36 pts (-19 GD)
10. Kilmarnock : 35 pts (-13 GD)
11. St. Mirren : 34 pts (-19 GD)
12. Falkirk : 32 pts (-15 GD)

We now enter the most important week of the season, with two of our remaining three matches on Wednesday and Saturday. First, midweek, we travel to Motherwell, who are now safe and have nothing but pride to play for, and Falkirk go to Hamilton. A win for the Accies means safety, and we’ll be cheering them on for it. Meanwhile, St. Mirren will look to stop their bleeding against Killie. If we win and Falkirk loses, we are safe for 2010.

Saturday takes Caley on the road to Kilmarnock, and Falkirk hosting St. Mirren. If there’s a game that Falkirk needs to win to survive, its this one, and they know it. We cannot afford to lose the next two matches. If at the final whistle next Saturday, things are as they stand, with Caley four points from bottom, we’ll be safe. If it’s any less than that, we’ll face a potential relegation playoff on the final day when we host Falkirk.

Could have been better, could have been worse. There remain three teams below us, and with two of them playing each other Wednesday, we know for sure that whatever happens, we can only drop to tenth midweek. Mon the Caley.