Airdrie didn't look at the races at all in the game. Early on it was obvious that the midfield just wasn't working. Marvyn wasn't himself from the off and persistently let himself be caught out of position. With Harvey in lacklustre mode we were essentially without a central midfield and the previously dependable defence of McGowan and Docherty looked badly exposed throughout. It was no surprise at all when Forfar took a lead through the surefooted Paul Tosh shortly before half time. Jimmy Boyle encouraged the wrath of the Airdrie support by capitulating to a Forfar challenge near his own corner flag. Airdrie hadn't made that many chances worth talking about although an excellent run and shot from David McGuire stood out as our best chance. Paul Harvey did have a snap shot from the edge of the box fly narrowly over but Forfar deserved their lead.

Marvyn walked off the pitch injured early in the second half and was replaced by Alan Gow. Our thin midfield now had four wingers cum forwards all looking lost and seemingly incapable of tackling. It didn't take long for Forfar to kill the game as a contest. Tosh again, Bavidge and Lunan made it four goals to nil within quarter of an hour of the restart as Airdrie looked totally bedraggled. Sandy's response was to throw on Willie Wilson for the shockingly poor Jimmy Boyle, and Stevie McKeown for Martin Glancy. We did pull one back when the Doc turned a corner in but the fightback was killed stone dead when Lunan added a fifth for the bridie men. The last twenty minutes were miserable enough as only McGuire, McKeown and Alan Gow looked capable of inspiring anything resembling acceptable to the travelling support.

Not a good day at the office for Sandy then. I don't know what his bosses will think of it but it leaves Airdrie in a dire position in the league at first glance. We now sit second bottom but we are one win away from the top half and only eight from the league summit. Sandy had a few people calling for his head during this one and although I had a go at the moaners last month I know where they're coming from despite not sharing their haste. I do want to see a major improvement on this display though. We might not be able to afford quality players like we knew in the past but we should at least be able to at least match the passion and organisation of our part time opponents on our travels. Tactically we had players playing out of position, we didn't use our wings to any effect, we didn't organise the midfield to protect our defence. Last week I praised Marvyn as our Nicky Butt. This week he was all over the place. Harvey proved he can't play centre midfield. Armstrong and Glancy are right footed and playing on the left, McVey's continued absence when he's not declared as unfit and we need a left back....

I could go on but I'd be willing to write it off as a learning experience especially as they had a major cuptie on their minds. The calls for Sandy's head I think are rash but an improvement is neccessary. I'd be willing to bet that there will be a few changes when the winter transfer window opens. A few players are too old to be any use and a couple have never kicked a ball. We can't simply judge and write off a manager after two months especially considering the preseason he had to assemble a team. Remember that McCall had three months the previous season, a far better budget (five times Sandy's) and no transfer window.