December Review

By Chris MacMillan
December 31 2004

Airdrie take 10 points from a possible 15 during the month of Decmeber, it doesn't sound a lot but it has lifted us to fifth in the Bells First Division.

Airdrie News
Friday 31st December 2004

League Table as of the end of December

Falkirk
21 15 4 2 44 17 49
Clyde
19 10 5 4 20 16 35
St Johnstone
21 10 4 7 28 17 34
St Mirren
20 8 7 5 26 18 31
Airdrie United
21 9 4 8 29 29 31
Queen of the South
20 9 2 9 21 23 29
Ross County
21 7 5 9 23 26 26
Hamilton
21 6 6 9 19 25 24
Partick Thistle
21 6 3 12 22 34 21
Raith Rovers
21 1 4 16 12 39 7

December has been another fantastic month for the Diamonds, 3 wins - 1 draw - 1 loss. seven goals scored and three shut outs in amongst all that and we have now settled very nicely in to the Bells 1st Division. Only one team now goes undefeated by us and that is the league leaders Falkirk.

Matches and Results:
Click the opponents for Stomp Match reports

Sat Dec 4
H
3 - 2
Sat Dec 11
H
0 - 0
Sat Dec 18
A
2 - 0
Sun Dec 26
A
0 - 1
Wed Dec 29
Queen of the South
H
2 - 0

We had the chance to watch at least two very good matches this month, the win over St Mirren was a fantastic match and will probably go down as being Airdrie's best display of the season. Even the loss against Falkirk was easier to swallow after the display we put on. But, we also had one of the worst games of the season, the 0-0 draw with St Johnstone was another mind numbing game that just needed a single goal to give it the spark of life. The wins over Raith Rovers and Queen of the South removed any thoughts of bogey teams in this league for this season anyway.

Top Goal Scorers So far
This Includes Cup games

Coyle   13
Gow   4
Roberts   3
Hardie   3
McKeown   2
Vareille   2
Marvyn Wilson   2
Barkey   1
Hardie   1
Lovering   1
McLaren   1
Wilson   1

Owen Coyle leading the way easily as our top goal scorer and some of our fans will be hoping he can continue his form and score more than twenty goals this season. Owen himself will be hoping to reach twenty four goals as this would mean he would reach three hundred career goals. It was good to see goals this month from Martin Hardie and Marvyn Wilson, both picking up the slack in the Raith Rovers game when our strikers were just not getting the run of the green.

Recent Form

I thought this month I would have a look at what the form guide say about us.

Recent Form
  Pld W D L F A GD GFA GAA Pts Rank
Last 8 Overall 8 6 1 1 15 6 9 1.87 0.75 19 2
Last 5 Home 5 3 1 1 9 6 3 1.80 1.20 10 4
Last 5 Away 5 3 0 2 7 4 3 1.40 0.80 9 2

By clicking this link you can see the form guide for all the teams in the Bells 1st Division.

January Fixtures

Sat Jan 1
Clyde
A
Sat Jan 8
Ross County
A
Sat Jan 15
Ross County
H
Sat Jan 22
St. Mirren
A
Sat Jan 29
Hamilton Academical
H

Another five game month, but this one includes the excitement of an away trip to Dingwall for the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup. The league gives us two home matches and two away matches. On paper another difficult month? However we have beaten all of the teams involved during the last quarter. Are we brave enough to expect 12 points and a journey in to the forth round of the cup?

Overview

We saw some fantastic football this month and I would hope to see more in January of 2005, however I do have my worries concerning the future of some of our starlets. How much will it effect us if the likes of Willie McLaren and Alan Gow are snapped up? On Coyles form surely an SPL team will be looking at him and wondering if they could afford to buy him?
However now is not the time to panic, rumour and speculation will only increase the teams unrest and we should just enjoy the team and form we have while it lasts.

Happy New Year from the Broomfield Stomp.

Update by Chris Mac

 

 

  

 

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