AIRDRIE UTD

Airdrie made a whirlwind start with Alan Gow firing a right footed shot on target in the first couple of minutes that Dumbarton's goalie did well to get a hand to. The early fizz faded a little as the game settled into the usual long distance prompting and prodding of the two teams sussing each other out. Dumbarton offered little in an attacking sense but Airdrie found it tough to break through the solid Dumbarton back line. Gow and Coyle were finding central defender Neil Collins especially hard to beat in any aerial jousts, whilst the midfield were not getting the passing game going under pressure. Airdrie did make the breakthrough thanks to wingers McLaren and Varielle. McLaren chipped a delightful cross to the back post for the Frenchman to easily head home from one yard out.

Despite having the one goal advantage a second is now the priority but for Airdrie it just doesn't seem that easy. Coyle was one on one with the keeper and seemed to be brought down. I wasn't convinced, but the reaction from the players and the manager would suggest that Dumbarton got off lightly. The last ten minutes of the first half promised there could be more to come with Gow suddenly coming to life, Vareille and McLaren looking promising. However the frayed nerves of this long, desperate winter still foremost in the minds of the fans. We need to play better and build on the lead.

Second half Airdrie bombarded Dumbarton. Collins and McKinstry stood firm in their defence but further out they were taking it in turns to sink the boot. Midfielder Donald was twice booked for fouls on Docherty leaving them with ten men for the last 20 minutes, and down our left flank they were taking turns to try flattening wee McLaren out of the game. McEwan in particular was getting away with murder. Turned inside out by McLaren, he very obviously snapped attempting to bully the kid with his intimidating manner, aided and abetted by a few of his mates including the no 7 who was only spoken to for one horrible, pre-meditated lunge. More later. Before the horrid finale Airdrie had several chances to double the lead. Coyle, Docherty and Vareille all had efforts from a variety of sources, but hapless ref Toner did Dumbarton two massive favours by clearly ignoring two seperate penalty claims. One may have been ball to arm but the second one with about 15 minutes was so obvious my wife could have seen it. At this stage Airdrie weren't playing at all well but were still pretty much in control. Dumbarton had improved after committing their subs, in particular the blond right winger Rodgers. He fired in a powerful long range shot that McGeown almost misjudged, just to remind us we were still in the game...

Airdrie seemed to be panicing with about quarter of an hour left. The team were holding on but seemed to be toiling for the second goal. Stewart reacted to the crowd's impatience by hauling off the dangerous but off the boil Gow for Glancy, and unsurprisingly the thread was starting to unravel. In my opinion the whole club's nerve started to go. We had a one goal lead, were holding out albeit misfiring in places, but the fans, players and management could all be said to have their collective knickers in a knot. Dumbarton fed off this and turned the game nasty. Roberts came on for Coyle with ten minutes left as we pushed for the killer second. McLaren was firing on all cylinders and running rampant down the left but without protection from the hapless ref Kevin Toner Dumbarton nullified our main threat with McEwan's bullying. Stewart took off McLaren presumably for his own protection as hapless ref Toner wasn't capable. Stewart, Kenny Black and a couple of the players looked as if they wanted to hit McEwan themselves as things got out of hands and then BANG!! Three minutes left and Mark Roberts is sent clear in the inside left channel. Vareille is with him taking position on the edge of the box it's two against one. All Roberts had to do was square to Varielle but instead the scourge of Airdrie fans managed to do was tamely, no pathetically, pass to the isolated defender. He in turn launced a counter attack the ended in Mark McGeown racing in a kamikaze fashion from his goal line to attempt an interception on Rodgers down our left but he missed, McGowan sheparded Rodgers wide anyway, but the Dumbarton winger could easily fire home into the now empty net. Yet again we managed to shoot ourselves in the foot in Buster Keaton fashion when the three points were there for the taking. When it came to bottle ours crashed.