AIRDRIE UTD

Accies

After suffering against a blanket defence on Saturday it was a relief to the fans that we were actually playing a team intent on trying to play a bit. An early Paul Lovering drive after Gow was halved was Airdrie’s best effort of the first half peppered with a lot of long range efforts. McKeown, Gow and Coyle all had efforts. Accies attacked with a little less regularity though Cramb was proving a handful for Docherty. Docherty was booked for a tug on Cramb’s jersey late in the first half.

Airdrie’s makeshift side controlled the game by winning the midfield. Marvyn Wilson provided the majority of the muscle and was well accompanied with another colossal effort from Stephen McKeown. Marv was the main ball winner, McKeown – no stranger to tackling and shutting down himself – provided more of a Paul Scholes-esque attacking role. Captain Docherty, just back after a very quiet month, was under pressure but held out in central defence, thanks to an experienced contribution from Alan McManus.

Second half Accies were on top for a good ten minute spell midway through the half when it looked like Airdrie may capitulate under pressure but the Diamonds kept probing away. McPhee should have done better late on when he was clean through on McGeown, but he managed to completely fluff his effort. Minutes from the end it looked like Gow has sprung the Accies’ offside trap only for the flag happy linesman to pull him back. It looked like time had run out. However a lovely slide-rule pass from Stephen McKeown – one of the night’s real heroes – released Gow again. This time there was no doubt. Gow raced clear of the defence, rounded the goalie, and clipped the ball in from a tight angle as two Accies’ defenders desperately tried to clear. Hallebloodylujah! Even better than Ronaldinho’s effort on live TV doesn’t seem so good.

Airdrie’s dominance didn’t look like it would pay off till the late winner. A lot of attacks broke down due to some poor passing in the last third. It’s actually quite frightening to think how good we may be if we really got our act together.

That brings me to my gripe about Coyle’s performance. I paid a bit of attention to Coyle’s role during the game in the hope of understanding why he’s been toiling lately. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Almost every time Airdrie got possession the ball was being lumped – is there a better word for it? – forward for him to chase. Despite his lack of pace, Coyle chases every ball like a madman. Is he really almost 39? We seem to be short of options to take the pressure off of him.