AIRDRIE UTD

Falkirk

As usual, it took a while for Airdrie to find their rythmn. The game was barely two minutes old when a series of lost passes had resulted in Falkirk pressure down our inside left channel. Alan McManus was easily brushed aside by Daniel McBreen, whose centre was tapped in by the unmarked Duffy, to give Falkirk an early lead. One down with only two minutes on the clock, against the league leaders, doesn’t normally bode well for an enjoyable afternoon at the best of times but worse was to follow after around twenty minutes. McManus, struggling to get a grip against the pacy Duffy and muscly McBreen, was attempting to shield a ball out to safety when McBreen looked to stamp the back of his legs. McManus had to be stretchered off with what looks like ankle ligaments or a fracture. McBreen’s challenge at the time looked unnecessary, dangerous and unprofessional. If Falkirk, sorry, Football First’s cameras have caught it, it will be interesting to judge. The only bright spot was that it meant Neil McGowan could make an entry, a move that predictably settled the defence. But not before Stephen Docherty limped off injured too! Not even half an hour on the clock and our central defence was completely changed. With no other defensive cover on the bench Martin Hardie, himself out of sorts in the first half hour, had to move to centre half.

McGowan’s first involvement was to catch a hard hit ball solidly on the side of his injured face. The look of concern on his and Sandy Stewart’s face said it all but thankfully McGowan recovered to turn in an absolutely tremendous performance that should surely cement his status as our best defender by a long way. Alan Gow looked most likely to get Airdrie back into the game. Late in the first half he had what looked like a stonewall penalty turned down after jinking his way into the Falkirk box. Falkirk looked more likely to reduce us to a five a side team than to increase their lead. Darrel Duffy was horrendously late with a hideous challenge on McGeown that went unpunished by the worst ref this side of Willie Young, Brian Cassidy.

Airdrie were less than brilliant in the first half. Falkirk have good experienced players in every position and seemed to keep possession better than we did. Airdrie had went with an altered formation with three in midfield to counter Falkirk’s ability in there. McKeown and Marvyn Wilson continued their good form but Hardie then Dunn, both failed to match their team-mate’s contribution over the course. Gow seemed to be enjoying his role on the left a lot more and looked a cut above the rest. At the back, McGowan really steadied the ship, his pace and aggression really contrasting our earlier deficiencies.

After the break Airdrie settled into a good seam of form. The half was barely five minutes old when Kevin James handled in the box. Alan Gow stepped up and sent Ferguson the wrong way. I didn’t see the ball strike James’ hand, so again, I’ll need to rely on Footy First’s confirmation of the authenticity of the award. There was no doubting our second goal about ten minutes later though. A defence splitting pass from Coyle released Stephen McKeown to power forward from midfield and emphatically drill his shot past Alan Ferguson. Airdrie were deservedly in front at this point after superbly recovering from a horrible run of luck earlier in the game. Indeed Sandy Stewart’s men could have increased the lead further such was our form. Owen Coyle had the best chance with a back post header that he may have scored with, but the ball agonisingly rebounded to safety off the post. Coyle also had a chance when put clean through by sub. Roberts but he allowed himself to be crowded out. As usually happens a potential 3-1 lead became a 2-2 draw. Duffy won – diving wee knobjockey – a freekick inside our half with an outrageous swallow dive. A long ball played into our box, wasn't cleared well enough by the defence and the squirming ball was deflected - off his standing foot - into our net by Kevin James. McGeown looked to have it covered but the ball skewered helplessly past him.

In the end it was actually disappointing to not win the game after getting back into it. Looking back though it was a tremendous display by our side considering we were playing the league leaders, we lost our central defence after barely thirty minutes, and the nature of the goals we gifted. We had a kid at right back that’s not really ready for that level of game and a midfielder at centre-half! Not so bad after all. The form of guys like McGowan, McKeown, Marv Wilson and Gow bodes well for next season. Today was a good marker for us. If we can strengthen a few positions that we’re weak in, we’d have a chance next season. Falkirk? I was less than impressed with a few things today. McBreen didn’t have to injure McManus. Duffy has been turned into Sam McGivern by Hughes. I still remember Hughes verbally abusing McGivern for kicking a ball into touch to allow one of our injured players some treatment. Yogi used to act like a steroid freak when he was playing. Are his teams going to be like that in future? Older guys like James, Latapy, O’Neill, McKenzie, McPherson, etc., won’t change that much, but the younger guys are starting to reflect Hughes’ personality. That’s an ugly thought. I’m not sure how that lot will cope in the SPL. Probably as well as ICT are at the moment, but I can see them levelling out now.