By bobmcp & cmcl
May 8 2016

A 1-1 draw at Meadowbank Stadium yesterday means the winner of the play-off for a place in the SPFL League Two next season remains in the balance after the first leg.  

Playing with a strong wind at their backs Lowland League champions Edinburgh City took the lead in the fifteenth minute after Shire’s Lloyd Kinnaird was deemed to have deliberately handled the ball. Kinnaird had slipped inside his own box, then the ball hit his arm while he was on the ground with no Edinburgh City player within three yards radius. Shire supporters saw it a really soft penalty, but soft or not, Douglas Gair fired City ahead.

Edinburgh City controlled the remainder of the first half, with Shire sitting back and trying to attack on the breakaway. During this period a Darren Dolan save kept the margin to one when he tipped over a long range shot.

In the forty-first minute East Stirlingshire won a corner but the kick failed to get past the first City defender who cleared any danger. From the resultant throw-in there was a scramble in the home goalmouth with the ball falling to Max Wright who hit home.

Delight for the travelling Shire fans and a confidence boost for the team, who would have wind advantage in the second half.

The second half proved to be very even with no real chances for either side but in the seventy-seventh minute the balance of the match threatened to change when Edinburgh City defender Joe Mbu, who had controlled everything at centre half, was sent off for kicking out at David McKenna after the ball was away.

Shire’s one man advantage for the last quarter of an hour made no significant difference and the sides were again level in player numbers in stoppage time when Shire defender Reece Donaldson was sent off for the third time this season when an unnecessarily rash tackle in the opposition’s half left the referee with no alternative but to show the red card.

Both dismissed players will miss next Saturday's second-leg at Ochilview.

The two teams will go into the second leg with increased knowledge of their opponents but the feeling in the Shire camp will be that the team can play better than they showed at Meadowbank yesterday.