AS Airdrie 1-1 Shawbridge
By Neil Brown
April 25 2007
AS Airdrie 1-1 Shawbridge
Airdrie had to settle for only their second league draw of the season against a shawbridge side that should never be in their league position going by last night’s display. A goal from leading scorer Kenny Pardoe earned Airdrie a draw which was probably a fair reflection on the game.
With 5 missing and a small squad Airdrie were forced to have the boss and myself on the bench along with shiellsy who hadn’t been involved since September. Into the team from sat game came s graham Pardoe and d Khorasani for f Burton, an Edgar and r graham who missed his first game of the year due to injury.
The first 10 minutes saw the visitors from Ruther glen on top and keeping the ball well and the number 9 had a quick turn and shot easily saved by rowan. Airdrie eventually got a foothold on the game and for the following 15/20 minutes had their best spell of the match. Having his best game for a while Neil Pardoe nearly created the first goal when a lovely ball found capaldi inside the box and his effort flew by the keeper’s far post with Gray lurking. Gray then forced the keeper into a good save when the right back slipped and let him in. fortunately the ball broke to Gray and he pulled the ball back for Kenny to side foot a clever effort into the bottom corner with the aid of a deflection. However just like Saturday Airdrie’s lead was short lived. A ball down the right saw the number 6 out wide and after breaking Morrison’s tackle crossed into the middle of the goal where cooper was caught on the wrong side of the number 9 and missed the header and rowan came of his line and missed as well leaving scally an easy header from 6 yards. For the remaining 15 minutes shawbridge were in the ascendancy and Airdrie were happy to hear the whistle. only other incident in the first half was a bad challenge by the bridge number 10 who rashly had a two footed lunge into smith which I think the referee didn’t see clearly and no action was taken.
no changes at half time but Airdrie looking to take the game to the visitors however for the best part of the second half it was shawbridge who had the lion share of possession and the ball and looked more likely to score as they started to dominate midfield and pressure Airdrie’s defence. Fortunately for Airdrie they didn’t really bother rowan in the Airdrie goal and he didn’t have much to do in the way of action. Shawbridge best chance fell to the number 14 who was put through following excellent play down the right and his shot fired across the goal and shaved the back post. For Airdrie they couldn’t get enough of the ball and thus couldn’t create much. With 20 left they did have the best chance of the half however when Gray got clear following an accidental trip on the number 4 but the keeper came out and narrowed the angle and he pulled off a good stop from Gray's left footed attempt. Airdrie then made their first substition with 15 left when MacFarlane came on for kaz but as the game drew to a close it looked like one more goal would win the game for either team. the last chances fell to scally who put over from 15 yards from a tight angle then a corner from Airdrie with a couple of minutes to go as Kenny and MacFarlane combined to set smith up for a clear shot on goal but the captain slipped at the last moment and the chance was lost. Final score 1-1
no complaints about the result. The away team had the best of the possession and play but little in the way of good chances and Airdrie had their best spell halfway through the first half and defended well for the most part of the game. For Airdrie the boys battled well. With little options on the bench it was always going to be a hard match against a shawbridge team who, cup result apart, have been in good form and are obviously a better side than their league position would suggest. The draw keeps our good run going since January and a point closer to wind law with 4 games still in hand. Hopefully we should be at near full strength for Saturday’s big cup tie against the defending champions and it should be a cracking game. Thanks for shiellsy for helping out when we were struggling for a full side.
Team
S.Graham Stewart Cooper Morrison
N.Pardoe K.Pardoe Smith Khorasani
Gray Capaldi
Subs
MacFarlane for Khorasani(75)
Shiell (unused)
Brown (unused)