After a goal-less first 45 minutes at Springfield, Magpies took the lead immediately after the resumption with a fine left-foot volley from new-signing Fintan Kennedy following a corner.
The Accies then equalised midway through the period with a deft header from Noel Roche before a lively Peter Warrell raced through the middle to collect Andy Barker’s pass and score the match-winner from 18 yards off the inside of a post.’The result was right, we just about shaded it,’ said Magpies manager Ian Golding.
‘It’s good to get three points and I thought Andy Barker had a fine game in midfield together with being involved in both goals.
We will improve as we get more games under our belt while the Accies impressed me as they worked hard throughout.
Striker Toni Cardoso gave us problems, we didn’t pick him up and running at our defence he was dangerous.’Accies manager Tommy Kyle said: ‘I thought we were unlucky to have lost.
We created chances but unfortunately we didn’t take them.’I don’t like to see players getting sent off but Toni Cardoso was clear when he was fouled by James Ollivro.
I felt he should have been red-carded but the referee chose to only caution him.’We worked hard, hard enough to have earned a draw.
We had a bad start last season and went on to win the league so I’m looking for us to roll up our sleeves again and hopefully recover well.’Golding added: ‘I was too far away to see if it was a red card offence but many of my players thought our defender was fortunate to stay on.’Sporting Academics: Tony Spinola (Stephen Godfrey 85); Mark Knight, John Troy, Gavin Margetts, Paul McCutcheon; Duarte Ferreira (Paul Morin 71), Paul Lennon, Ross Perez, Noel Roche, Manuel Fernandes (James McBride 60); Toni Cardoso.Cautioned: Perez.Magpies: Tony Carlyon; Dave Bisson, Ben Jones, Haydn Bechemain, James Ollivro; Chad Morris, Andy Barker, David De Abreu (Paul Cosgrove 75), Adam Budworth; Peter Warrell, Fintan Kennedy.Cautioned: Ollivro.Officials: Nigel Hammond, Clive Hansford, Steve Proffitt.
