Vale United 3-2 AS Airdrie

By C.McFarlane
February 12 2006

VALE UTD 3 AS AIRDRIE 2


airdrie lost their 4th away game out of 5 with a narrow defeat to last yrs league champions at lochend.

again airdrie had to make changes to the line-up.out went capaldi(work)and gordie(late) and in came kenny and scotty.airdrie went with their 3-5-2 formation with rg going into the back 3 in place of gordie.

airdrie started well in the first 5 minutes and a quick break nearly resulted in a chance for gray.however airdrie were on the back foot when vale scored with their first attack.good play down the right saw the number 11 cut the ball back to the number 7 and from his cross across the box the number 9 glanced the ball into the corner of the net.for the next 20 mins vale were the only team in it.airdrie were all over the place and some poor finishing from vale kept the score at 1-0.however number 2 arrived on the half hour when a long ball into the centre of the box saw sonic struggle to deal with it and the number 9 brushed of the challenge to hammer into the net.2-0 and looking grim for airdrie.but the one thing about airdrie is their resilliance and they battled hard to get back into the game.andy edgar saw his shot from 25 yards touched over the bar then gogs had a header that sneaked past the post.airdrie finished the half strong and aided by a change in formation to 4-4-2 could have got back into it when big mark had a great chance when clean through on the keeper but his control let him down and the chance was lost.the big man was lucky to stay on the park however when he reacted to a kick and the referee missed his head butt on the number 8.it came out of nothing as the game had been fine up till that moment.how things would change in the second half.

no changes at half time but gordie finally arrived to take his place on the bench.airdrie kept up the positive work after half time and continued to take the game to vale which in turn was leaving themselves open to the counter attack.the first 15 minutes saw 3 bookings which resulted in 2 for vale(challenge on scott(10) and dissent(9) and big mark(for kicking ball away).just after this neil brought gordie on for mark and pushed rg into centre midfield.the game itself saw airdrie with the bulk of play but creating little opportunities and likewise vale weren,t creating much either.however with 25 minutes to go airdrie got themselves back in the game.a neat move involving kenny,ally and clarky saw the former upended just outside the box and from the resulting free kick kenny curled the ball high into the net.lifted by this airdrie pushed forward and vale started to lose their composure and the number 10 got a second yellow after a late challenge on edgar.however just as airdrie were pressing for a second a quick break saw the number 8 on a 60 yard run and only a fine save from johnny kept the score at 2-1.but just as airdrie were going to change to 3 upfront vale made it 3-1.an inswinging corner wasn,t dealt with and poor marking allowed the number 9 to complete his hat-trick with a header from 3 yards.this was his last involvement however as he got a second yellow when he kicked the ball away.airdrie then again got back into the match when a free kick from graham found edgar in on goal and he neatly finished to make it 3-2 with 5 minutes to go.this set the game up for one final push to get the equaliser but airdrie couldn,t get the ball forward.the game then saw a third red card for vale when the number 8 got a second yellow for reacting to sonic(who picked up a yellow).just as the game was nearly finished airdrie had one last chance with a free kick from the right.graham swung in a beauty and big gogs got a free header which,with the keeper beaten,flashed by the post by about 6 inches(some of the players and management had started to celebrate early as it looked a certainty to hit the back of the net).just after this the game finished 3-2 to vale.

on their second half display airdrie deserved a point.they competed well,started passing the ball around and finished the stronger.however the first 25-30 minutes of the first half they were second to every ball and vale,s midfield and front 2 were causing all sorts of problems.a change of formation seemed to make the difference as the strikers were then denied balls coming in from the wide positions and the defending was better.neil and myself had discussed a possible change to a 4-4-2 as we seem to play better in this formation and its something to look at in the coming weeks.vale are a decent team when they stick to playing football but in the second half they lost their discipline and composure and made it hard for the referee and airdrie nearly took advantage cause if airdrie had made it 2-2 they would have gone on and maybe have won the game.at the end of the day we lost and have to pick our selfs up for next weeks game against forest at the sports centre

team

j rowan

r graham
g cooper
f burton

s graham
a edgar
m johnston
k pardoe
r hendrie

a gray
a clark

g drummond for m johnston
s atkin for k pardoe
g trench
g arbuckle
n pardoe