By C.McFarlane
January 14 2006

AS AIRDRIE 5 SCOTSMAN BAR 0

airdrie ran out comfortable winners at airdrie sports centre with a 5-0 hammering of scotsman.

airdrie started with their 3-5-2 with myself in for gordie and scotty starting in the right side of midfield.

the first half saw airdrie start well and some good possession saw a couple of half chances to andy and clarky.scotsman had the ball a few times as well but were well marshalled at the back.airdrie went in front when the defender and goalkeeper left the ball to each other and clarky nipped in between the 2 for the finish in the corner of the net.scotsman made a change when their goalie went of and i assume an outfield sub went in goals.airdrie went 2 in front when cooper hit a speculative chip from about 25 yards that looped over the keeper and into the net.scotsman then had their best spell with a series of corners and from the last one the number 4 had a great scissor kick saved well by johnny.airdrie were happy to go in at 2-0. then andy edgar burst into the box and the keeper made a fine save. 5 mins before half time gray got the opportunity from a pass from smithy and rounded the keeper for 3-0 at h-t.

airdrie made a change at half time with kaz on for the injured capaldi.airdrie went out with the intention of keeping it tight at the back and then put some pressure on and for 20 mins both sides created few chances.airdrie then got their 4th when hendrie got on to a through ball and slid it under the keeper.this finished scotsman off although they kept battling away and pushing men forward when they got the opportunity.but this was leaving them short at the back and on the break airdrie were creating 3/4 good chances which gray and clarky both failed to take advantage off.but smithy finished the scoring when a quick break from gray saw an easy pass to smith who passed the ball into the net.airdrie made 2 quick subs with buckles and trenchie both coming on and, apart from a fine effort by the scotsman in the last couple of minutes, saw the last 10 minutes out for a 5-0 score.

a deserved win for airdrie especially with it being our first game in 5wks.some good football played at times and a bit more clinical up front could have scored more in the second half.still plenty of room for improvement though as there were times during the game when scotsman had good possession and passed the ball about and we were slack at picking up men.however with a 5-0 score you can,t really complain too much.credit to scotsman for plugging away especially with the game lost and they have 3 or 4 good players in their team.however the 10 pt deduction they received will give them a lot of hard work to do if they are going to avoid relegation.we wish them all the best.

team

j rowan

r graham
g cooper
c macfarlane

s graham
a edgar
s smith
g capaldi
r hendrie

a gray
a clark

d kharasoni for capaldi
g arbuckle for r hendrie
g trench for a gray
s walker