AS Airdrie 4-2 Dunbreac
By Neil Brown
February 18 2007
AS AIRDRIE 4 DUNBREAC 2
Two goals in the last 2 minutes gave Airdrie a vital 3 points in their quest to climb the league. A hat-trick from Kenny Pardoe and a valuable strike from Thomson did the damage.
Due to other commitments Smith and Cooper were absent with Khorasani and Thomson coming into the team in their place as Airdrie lined up in a 4-4-2 against a Dunbreac team who were looking for some payback after a 6-1 hammering in the first meeting between the two teams at Nether Pollock.
The first half saw the away team deservedly lead 2-1 at half time. A poor performance from Airdrie after playing so well against Greenbank but Dunbreac were first to the ball and looked like the hungrier team and took the lead after 20 minutes. Airdrie lost possession in the middle of the park and a couple of nice passes saw the ball played into the box and as Graham came in to clear the ball ran under his feet and the striker rounded Rowan for the finish. Airdrie equalised not long after. This time dunbreac lost the ball and from a Khorasani ball into the centre the keeper fumbled it Gray collected the ball and laid it to Kenny Pardoe who finished neatly with a nice effort into the corner. The last 10 minutes saw little action but just before half time the visitors took a deserved lead. Good build up play saw a clever back heel played through to the number 7 and, as Airdrie defence appealed for offside, he went in and tucked the ball under Rowan for 2-1 and a deserved half time lead.
The first 20 minutes of the second half saw a similar pattern to the first with both teams creating little and Dunbreac looking comfortable. Airdrie’s passing and movement remained poor and at this stage it looked like the 3 points were going back to Baillieston. But a moment of madness from the number 9 saw him red carded for dissent and as he walked off he continued to swear expletives toward the ref and earned himself a total of 7 red cards. For whatever reason Dunbreac discipline for the last 25 minutes went completely and Airdrie took full advantage. With 22 left Airdrie made their first change with Morrison on for S Graham and a change to a 3-4-3 formation, moments later Airdrie were awarded a penalty when the defender handled inside the box. Up stepped top scorer Kenny Pardoe to put the keeper the wrong way for 2-2. With 12 to go Airdrie made their second change with MacFarlane on for Khorasani. Within seconds of coming on MacFarlane was caught with a late challenge by the number 6 who was promptly booked. Airdrie kept pressing without creating too many chances but with a couple of minutes left a fine ball from Hendrie saw Thomson clear and he calmly rounded the keeper to make it 3-2. Airdrie wrapped up the points with the last attack of the game. Good play down the left saw Gray clear and his cut back found Kenny Pardoe all alone in the box and he made no mistake from 6 yards for his treble.
A big 3 points for Airdrie as they didn’t play well for the best part of the game but grinding out results like this can lead to better things. For 65 minutes Dunbreac played well with a performance that belied their lowly place in the league. However Airdrie took advantage and Kenny increased his total to 13 for the season. The two teams meet again next week in the Strathclyde cup with Dunbreac being the home team. We look forward to a competitive cup tie.
Team
S.Graham Stewart N.Pardoe R.Graham
Hendrie Edgar K.Pardoe Khorasani
Gray Thomson
Subs
Morrison for S Graham(68)
MacFarlane for Khorasani (78)