AIRDRIE UTD

St. Johnstone

Let’s just say that the one point we collected here was another case of under achievement on the part of the Airdrieonians. Though he might not say it publically, surely Sandy Stewart, and Jim Ballantyne, will know that yet again they could, and should, have collected more points from this game than they actually did. The Falkirk thrashing apart, hopefully to be rectified next week, there has been nothing, and I mean nothing, in this league that should scare Airdrie. Today against St. Johnstone we looked a much better side all round, despite a few deficiencies of our own, but toiled to make the most telling contribution: GOALS. There were of course a few near chances, but probably just not enough in the areas that counted.

From the word go, Airdrie pounded on a poor St. Johnstone pack. Marvyn Wilson is now playing the game at an SPL tempo and he’s been aided in his midfield partnership by an equally tough team-mate in Martin Hardie. Last season Marv didn’t seem to be at his best with either Docherty or Dunn beside him but he and Hardie are a match for any midfield at the moment. St. Johnstone simply couldn’t cope with them despite having Mahood and Sheerin in there. Apart from some miscued passes from Marv, the wee man was again superb for us. The problem for Airdrie on this occasion was poor finishing and possibly a lack of ambition in the last third of the pitch.

Kevin Barkey had the best of the first half chances with an effort he lifted over the goalie, only to be distraught at the sight of the man with the name that reads like an optician’s eye-chart clearing the goal-bound effort off the line. Early in the second half Stephen McKeown charged down a defender, hussled the advancing keeper who’d strayed outside his box, then proceeded to rush the effort as he had a clear path to goal, albeit from a difficult angle, and sliced his effort across the six-yard box. If he was trying to square to Coyle he was miles out. Besides, that would be making excuses for him. Airdrie had another great chance when Coyle, with his only decent contribution in the first 89 minutes, played in McLaren down the left with a beautiful through ball. McLaren, by this time breathing through his butt, was clear of the defence but at a favourable angle the maverick talent managed to fluff his shot high and wide of the goal when most Airdrie fans knew he’d score. D’oh!

St. Johnstone’s goal was, to be kind, undeserved. With the substition of McConalogue for Hay only a minute old, McConalogue used his pace (something the Saints had previously lacked) to make space down the left. The cross into the Airdrie penalty area was met by our slumbering giant, Kevin Christie, who managed to divert the harmless cross beyond Mark McGeown.

Thankfully the previously infuriating Owen Coyle was there to ‘save the day’. Paul Lovering went the extra yard, and not for the first time either, to close down a counter-attack, and the loose ball fell to late substitute Gow, who fed Marv in the midfield. Marv’s ball into Coyle’s feet, in the ‘D’, let Coyle side-step Rutkiewicz and right-footed, he placed the ball out of McGregor’s reach for a last minute winner.

On paper, it may look like a point saved, but for anyone at the match, the game’s outcome hinged on a bizarre subsitution. About ten minutes into the second half McKeown had picked up a leg knock. By then, the game was already calling for the mercurial talents of Alan Gow to light us up. Till then we’d been disappointing in the last quarter. Instead of Gow though, the crowd almost to a man gasped in near disbelief at the sight of Mark Roberts coming on. Needless to say that decision didn’t look any better in hindsight. When Gow did eventually come on, equally bizarrely for Hardie, hd did look quite superb. With McGowan going off injured earlier using up McManus, it also robbed us of the chance of replacing the ineffective Barkey with Varielle. Maybe it wouldn’t have been enough, but in fairness, it was what the crowd wanted to see. Hopefully McGowan will recover in time for the Falkirk game, his pace will be invaluable against Duffy, and Gow will be deemed fit to start.