By Neil brown
April 15 2007

AS AIRDRIE 3 SCOTSMAN 1


airdrie earned a home tie against hardgate or tynecastle in the quarter finals after an uninspiring victory at airdrie sports centre.goals from cooper,capaldi and an own goal saw the airdrie men through but a performance that wasn,t great to say the least.

with hendrie and clark unavailable and edgar still carrying the effects of the ankle injury picked up against forest rowan came back into goal with kaz and smith recalled to the starting line up as the changes to the side that won 7-1 two weeks ago

for the better part of the first half scotsman was the better team pressing airdrie at every opportunity and not allowing airdrie to settle into any pattern.chances however were few and far between with stewart firing wide for the home team then the away team knocking the ball past the post from 12 yards.the first real chance fell to capaldi but his fine turn and shot saw a good save made by the keeper at his near post.by the halfway point of the first half scotsman were on top and nearly took the lead when a free kick from 20 yards was touched onto the bar and over by rowan.however they took a deserved lead after the half hour when some poor defending saw the striker poke the ball home from 8 yards.however airdrie weren,t behind for long.good play from gray down the right saw his cutback met by kaz who laid the ball for pardoe to fire in a shot that pulled off a great save by the keeper.from the corner kenny,s ball was met at the back post by cooper who headered a trademark effort into the goal for the equaliser.scotsman still were the better team but went behind a few minutes before half time when a short free kick from rg to smith saw the captain fire a poor strike toward goal only for it to deflect by the goalie into the net for an undeserved 2-1 lead at half time.

no changes by the manager at half time as airdrie looked for a vastly improved performance

the second half was moments old when the away team should have equalised when a break down the left saw the number 11 clear but fortunately for airdrie he snatched at the chance and the ball went wide.after this near miss however it was probably the closest the away team came to scoring in the second half because,as the half went on,airdrie started to create chances due to scotsman pushing men forward and the home team started to finally get on top.changes made saw morrison on for kaz and sonic on for stewart as the away team lost the number 11 to injury.morrison should have finished it with 20 to go when put through but his effort was saved by the keeper then his follow up was somehow cleared off the line by a scotsman defender.good opportunities on the counter came and went but airdrie couldn,t get the third goal to end the tie and at 2-1 there is always a chance for the other team to gain an equaliser.edgar came on for kenny with 15 to play as airdrie kept catching scotsman on the counter but had to wait until 5 minutes from time to make sure of their place in the quarter finals.good chasing by smith earned a throw in near the away box and a quickly taken throw found capaldi clear in the box and the front man finished with a good shot into the far corner.gray then could have made the score more emphatic but he knocked the ball by the post in the final minute

as stated at the start not a great performance by airdrie but that was maybe down to the away team, especially in the first half,as much as airdrie being careless and sloppy with the ball and possession.credit to scotsman for their display and we wish them well in their remaining games.

at the end of the day airdrie gained the victory and cup games are all about the result.the boys can certainly play better and will have to improve on today,s display if they wish to get anything from monday,s difficult game against tynecastle.some good individual performances today and it is maybe a good sign that we can now win games not playing particular good when in the past we maybe would have lost that type of game.once again the boys came from behind to earn a hard fought win and can look forward to a home tie in the quarter finals.

team

j rowan,s graham a stewart g cooper r graham,n pardoe k pardoe s smith d khorasani,g capaldi a gray

g morrison for d khorasani(62),f burton for a stewart(70),a edgar for k pardoe(75)

goals

g cooper(33),og(41),capaldi(85)