By N.Brown
February 4 2007

AS AIRDRIE 5 GREENBANK UTD 0

Airdrie bounced back from last weeks hammering with an impressive display against old rivals Greenbank. 2 goals apiece from k Pardoe and Gray and an OG saw off their rivals from Muirend.

Work commitments, injury and illness saw Capaldi, Morrison, Khorasani and Thompson missing from last week along with Burton and Clark, who arrived after kick off due to work, In came Rowan, S.Graham, Stewart and Gray with Hendrie moving from keeper to right midfield and Drummond making his first appearance of the season from the bench.

Airdrie got off to a dream start with a goal in the first minute. A ball played through by Neil Pardoe saw the Greenbank defender miss the ball and Gray took full advantage with a cool finish past the young keeper. 5 minutes later Gray should have made it 2 when good work from Smith and Edgar set him up but he miskicked the ball and the chance was lost. However a second goal arrived after 17 minutes. Picking up a loose pass Neil Pardoe again played a fine ball over the defence to Kenny Pardoe who ran through and calmly chipped the ball over the advancing keeper. 5 minutes later it was 3-0 after good play from Scott Graham found Kenny Pardoe and his nice lay off to Hendrie saw the Airdrie player clear down the right and from his cutback Kenny fired the ball in for the third. All Airdrie at this point but after the third goal Greenbank had their best spell of the first half and they saw plenty of the ball and should have pulled a goal back when good play down the left created a chance for the forward who knocked the ball past the post with only the keeper to beat. Airdrie responded and good play from Gray down the left saw Hendrie just miss the cross. Then Edgar delayed when presented with a good chance. However the fourth arrived after 40 minutes. Nice play down the right saw Hendrie play the ball across the box for the Greenbank defender to knock the ball past his own keeper. Gray then had a goal chalked off for offside then Kenny missed a great chance for his third when he ran through on goal, rounded the keeper then promptly slipped with the goal looming. Half time 4-0

Compared to the first half the second half was relatively quiet. Airdrie were determined to not lose anything and keep it tight while Greenbank had a lot more of the ball as they pushed forward. However Airdrie made it five when a free kick from Ross Graham was knocked back across the goal from Hendrie and Gray got his second from close range. Five minutes later Gray nearly scored his third when a fine ball from Kenny saw his first time shot well saved by the keeper and the rebound fell too quickly to Neil Pardoe and his attempt went wide. The game for most of the half after this was short on activity. Greenbank had a couple of shots from distance which were easily held by Rowan and Airdrie created a couple of chances when a great move involving Hendrie, K.Pardoe and Edgar saw the latter fire just past the post then Clark, who came on for Kenny, was clean through only to hit his shot straight at the keeper with 15 minutes to play. Drummond saw his first 15 minutes of the season when he came on for Hendrie and the game finished with little of note.

What a difference a week makes. Although Greenbank are not as good as Greenhill’s they had a fine result against the leaders last week and the confidence was up. However Airdrie looked sharp at the start of the game and took advantage with early goals. The defending was a lot better, plenty of talking from everyone, kept the ball a lot better and a fine team performance all round. For the visitors they will be disappointed in their first half display but played better in the second half and with a much changed team than before they will pick up enough points to keep them in mid table.

Team

Rowan
S.Graham Stewart cooper R.Graham
Hendrie Edgar Smith N.Pardoe
Gray K.Pardoe
Subs
Clark for K.Pardoe(65)
Drummond for Hendrie(75)