AIRDRIE UTD

Airdrie settled well despite being a divison lower than St. Mirren and showed the Paisley side no respect at all by dominating from the outset. Airdrie looked solid with McManus again in commanding form beside the gaffer, whilst Coyle and Roberts threatened to tear McGowne and Co. apart. Indeed, it was only in midfield that Airdrie looked a little weaker than their opponents with Marvyn Wilson the only recognised midfielder in our ranks. Either side of him were 'out of position' strikers McKeown and Ronald. Neither of these guys displayed the main attributes you'd expect from a midfielder but they were our main attacking threat in the first half. Airdrie had the bulk of the pressure for the first 25 minutes without seriously threatening before the game sprung to life with a series of corners for us. Ronaldo managed to head into the side netting at one before Saints had their only real chance of the first half. Neil McGowan was 'robbed' by former Diamond Robert Dunn, Marvyn Wilson's challenge was kept in play but thankfully John O'Neill's powerful shot was brilliantly tipped onto the bar by Mark McGeown. Moments later Ronaldo flicked on a header for McKeown but his scrambled effort was cleared off Saints goal line. McKeown had a great chance before half time but his flying header flashed over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

Second half Airdrie failed to continue their dominance, McPherson's early substitutions stifling the game a bit. Sure Coyle, Gow and Roberts kept plugging away, but with the makeshift midfield failing to truly grab the game by the scruff, the strikers were starved of quality service. At the back mistakes were starting to be made with McGowan having an absolute howler of a game and the normally impeccable gaffer making the odd error. Still, a replay looked to be on the cards until a horror substitution was bestowed on Airdrie. Marvyn Wilson, not exactly brilliant by any means, was withdrawn and replaced by none other than new signing Kevin Christie. Christie slotted into the centre of midfield and made a few early crunching tackles (some unfairly given as fouls) but his lack of mobility left us looking a lot more pedestrian. As with such high tempo games it was a tumbleweed moment that let Saints snatch the winner out of the blue, Lavety picking the ball up on the edge of the box and drilling a superb shot past McGeown as the Airdrie back line looked on helplessly. Sandy Stewart looked to mutter something along the lines of "oh, no!!", or words to the that effect, and the heads were down. Some distinctly unhelpful refereeing took the sting out of the game completely in those last five minutes and the home side took advantage of another bad judgement late on to score an unflattering second right on the whistle through sub. McKenna.

Airdrie couldn't blame anyone bar themselves. After dominating for the first half, it only looked like we could throw it away ourselves, so poor were our opponents. But our midfield looked unlikely to dominate the game, Ronald there presumeably to win headers, McKeown looking unimpressive. Up front there was a lot of work but a few times a bit more desire to score would maybe have had the game won earlier. Roberts is improving his overall contribution but still needs to add the goals. I'm not convinced by our formation. With McGowan exposed down the left flank I wondered if we'd have been better 3412 than 4312 when we brought Christie on, especially with Dunn in the midfield by then. Next week it's back to the league and a make or break game at Cappielow. Sandy will need all the support we can muster down there. It's not last chance saloon for our season, but a win there could change the nature of the next four months considerably.