AIRDRIE UTD

Ross County

A week when I don’t really feel like doing much of a match report on this game as most of it would be negative in the extreme. Airdrie lost a really careless first goal. Marvyn Wilson misjudged a ball running over the bye-line, looked to deceive a County marker by faking to shield the ball over the line before playing it upfield, but he actually did let the ball go over the line. From the corner Ross County centre-back Mark Canning looked to get a free header at the back post unopposed by a rather stagnant Alan McManus. After much ado about nothing, Airdrie got a really soft penalty when Owen Coyle was nudged when trying to ‘jump’ for a David Dunn cross. Stevie McKeown dutifully despatched the spot-kick into the onion bag to thankfully bring the first half to a close.

The second half was worse than the first. Chris McGroarty managed to misjudge a through ball up at the halfway line as the rest of the team were up for a corner. Alex Burke wasted little time in capitalising on his error to speed away down the right and square for David Winters to tap into the net. Airdrie made some, interesting, substitutions to try to rescue the game. Hardie replacing Dunn was a good move as the big midfielder brought some genuine guile and threat to our play that Dunn is still failing to provide, but the removal of Varielle for NEIL MCGOWAN raised a few eyebrows (McGroarty moved forward to left wing to accommodate McGowan at left full-back), as did the removal of Marvyn Wilson for Docherty.

A pathetic and pitiful performance from Airdrie that will do little to attract punters over the winter months. One can only hope that Sandy Stewart will have Gow and McLaren available soon, but the failure to adapt without them is bemusing when you consider that some of the teams we’ve played are hardly brilliant, County being another. There are questions to be asked. Our team lacked any pace up front but young Hoey on the bench didn’t even seem to be warming up. First choice centre-back McGowan was left on the bench. Why not play our strongest team? Do you stick with lower calibre fringe players when you have your best available out of a misplaced sense of loyalty?

Our defence was terrible. McManus looks a shadow of the player he can be. Christie doesn’t let much get by him but some of his other play is suspect, especially distribution. Wilson and McGroaty at full backs seemed to be all at sea positionally. I though Barkey could have contributed more, but he and Marv put in a reasonable shift, despite some questionable decision making at key moments such as the first goal. Dunn is a major disappointment, failing to stamp his authority on a game this season. He’ll be under pressure for his place soon as Hardie looks to be THE man in midfield. His half hour on the pitch seemed to promise much for the future. He was the main bright spot from today’s otherwise grim match. Up front the lack of pace is shocking. We know Coyle can’t play without pace around him and not the man you want to be looking to hold the ball up. McKeown can’t beat guys like Lauchlan in the air, or go chasing long balls down the channels. Not so good.