Airdrie started off brightly enough without threatening, or being threatened. Best effort in the early stages was a sidefooted shot from Armstrong that eventually rolled tamely wide. With Docherty sweeping the defence was coping reasonably well with Scott Wilson in particular making a lot of good challenges and attacking everything. Midfield we were short of quality and drive. Marvyn Wilson has hit form late this season but looked a decent, if exposed, player. On the right Armstrong worked well but his distribution sometimes missed the spots. On the left Willie Wilson worked hard but couldn't contribute going forward. Any time he had the ball he had to cut back as his left foot is for standing on. And up front it was obvious from early on that Paul Ronald is much better as a useful sub than a starting striker. He failed to make any impression on the Forfar defence and rarely won or held up possession.

Midway through the half Airdrie could have taken the lead after some fine play down the right from Armstrong and Vareille. Jerome's cross into the box evaded the keeper but as usual Ronaldo was too late making his run and missed the cross by a foot. Moments later Forfar launched a trademark long crossfield ball to Tosh who evaded McGowan to tee up Bavage for an easy goal as our defence was all at sea for the only time in the game. Airdrie to their credit got the bit between their teeth and got the equaliser on the brink of half time. Jerome was released by Gow(?) on the edge of the box and he needed no invitation to fire a rasper high and mighty into the Forfar net. Cue jubilant celebrations. Cue deluge on the Forfar goal?

Half time probably came at the wrong time. Airdrie's momentum was broken up by the break and the Diamonds never got going again in the second half. Too many poor balls, lightweight forward line, lightweight midfield and poor wing play led to a frustrating second half against a decent, well organised and powerful opponent. The lack of options on the bench, Ronald and Gardner eventually made way for a heavy looking Dunn and 'one hit wonder' McAuley, didn't help Stewart change things too much. McAuley did have a decent run and shot that troubled the Forfar keeper and MadDog McGowan had a fine header blocked on the line (unwittinghly by Jerome) in the the last minute but it was too little, too late.

The result did help us catch up on the faltering leaders who both lost but three points would have put them under severe pressure in the last two matches. We do still have an outside chance of promotion but this failure did outline our weaknesses that need addressed if promotion is to become a reality next year. We had three obvious weaknesses against Forfar personnel-wise. Ronald is very obviously not good enough as a starting striker. Gardner is too lightweight in midfield, and Willie Wilson, for all his effort, is a D3 calibre player. That's not to say that the other eight players were perfect but their contribution is greater and more consistent. It's too early to write off our chances of promotion just yet. We must win against Hamilton next week (easier said than done) and again hope that Brechin and Raith's bottle crashes. It's still in our own hands!!