Friendly
Preview For Saturday, 24th July 2004

Airdrie

V

Hearts

Airdrie played there final friendly of the pre-season and did very well against what was the third force in Scottish football last season. Hearts fans who attending the game must have been a little disappointed in the Hearts display.
Airdrie broke the dead lock on 25 mins when the combination of Stephen McKeown, holding up the ball on the edge of the penalty box, and the more than experienced Owen Coyle shot well skidding in to the back of the net.
Most of the game took place in the mid-field with both teams breaking down the play before a chance to shoot was available. In fact the Airdrie defence didn't look like it had moved out of second gear for most of the first half. Airdrie were 1-0 at the end of the first half and a convincing display it had been.

Expecting a flood of changes at the beginning of the second half it was a surprise to see no changes for either team and with this in mind the game continued in the same vain as the first half, play after play being broken down in defence or midfield and no one able to make the break through.
The changes began after about 25 mins and I think a special mention should be given to the young trialist we have at the moment Kevin Barkey, from the Motherwell youth set it. In the last two matches he has looked the part either on the right wing or in the center of mid-field.
During our second round of changes as Scott Wilson was trying to get in to position, Hearts took a quick throw in and from it scored the equaliser, substitute Graham Weir scored for Hearts on the 74 minute and the game went back to the same format as the first half.
A good display by the Airdrie team but we should remember it was only a friendly.
 

Match report by Chris Mac

Referee: Willie Young 

 Team Line Ups

 Opponents

 Airdrie V Head To Heads

 Ref Review

In a game that was played in a friendly nature Young didn't have very much to do, and did nothing quite well. There were only a few times any sort of card could have been used and if it was a competitive match I'm sure he would have.

 Result

A 1 Vs 1 final score seems fair at the end of 90 minutes but there were times when Airdrie had so much possession there were thoughts it could have been more.