Rowan

Stewart S.Graham Cooper Morisson

N.Pardoe Edgar Smith Khorasani

Gray Capaldi

Airdrie started brighter and kept bridge on the back foot for the first 20 minutes. A Pardoe shot was easily saved then grey hammered a drive against the crossbar and capaldi fired in a shot that forced the keeper down to his left.  Shawbridge gradually worked their way into the game and stand in striker dyer forced rowan to pull of a great save from 6 yards then rowan touched an effort by the post from another header. Airdrie pushed on in the last 10 minutes and forced three or four corners that kept the pressure on. The only negative for Airdrie was the three yellow cards.

No changes at half time but the manager warned the players to accept the decisions and keep their discipline

The second half saw Airdrie start strong again and good play down the left nearly saw Capaldi in then a great chance did fall to capaldi but his delicate dink over the keeper was cleared of the line. After 60 minutes Airdrie were awarded a penalty when Khorasani was felled inside the box. With Kenny absent Edgar stepped up but his effort was at a nice height for the keeper and he pulled of the save. Shawbridge then took of dyer and brought on their main striker scally but he lasted a minute before being shown a straight red for a stamp on smith. Airdrie made the first change with Ross Graham on for Khorasani and a 3-5-2 formation with Edgar pushing forward. With 20 to go Airdrie took the lead when Edgar ran on and finished well. Shawbridge then equalised when the number nine went in high on Rowan but got away with it to go on and draw the home team level. The game then took a nasty turn following an off the ball elbow by the number 7 on R Graham which went unpunished but others picked up yellow cards It looked like honours even but up stepped Cooper with a bullet header from a corner to take the points back to Airdrie’s S.Graham was then sent off in injury time

A good three points in our chase for second place. Overall a good team performance with some fine individual efforts. The front two worked hard all through the game and combined well, the midfield looked solid with good contributions from Neil Pardoe and Khorasani wide and Edgar and Smith in the middle against two who dominated the first game between the sides. the defence as well had a couple of dodgy moments but the second half in particular kept the home team’s chances to a minimum and rowan had two fine saves in the first half.

Shawbridge are a good side and, despite their poor season, will bounce back to be up challenging next year.

The only down side today was the amount of yellow cards Airdrie picked up and a red card but it has to be said that only one was for a foul on an opposing player. The least said about the others the better but our disciplinary record has been very good and speaks for itself.