Hogganfield 3-3 AS Airdrie

By C.MacFarlane
May 20 2007

HOGGANFIELD 3 AS AIRDRIE 3


2 goals from clark and one from gray were unable to lift airdrie to victory in a disappointing display that had an end of season feeling.

airdrie made 7 changes from tuesday.in came hendrie,rg,cooper,gray,kenny,smith and john rennick to replace rowan,stewart,burton,edgar,capaldi,lewis and macfarlane.also a change in formation to a 3-4-1-2

within 5 minutes airdrie found themselves one down.pardoe misplaced a pass inside hogganfield half and from the break a quick pass in behind r graham found the wide man through on goal and he found the net with a tidy finish.airdrie struggled for the first 15 minutes but gradually worked themselves into the game and r graham fired wide then cooper forced the keeper to touch a header by the post.an equaliser arrived after 20 minutes.kaz swung in a corner and as it held up in the wind the keeper was unable to collect it and clark dived in to head the ball into the goal.before the end of the half hogganfield hit the bar with a cross that moved in the wind then hendrie was quick out to block an effort.for airdrie pardoe headered just over and gray fired over the bar following good work down the left.airdrie were forced to make their first change when smith was replaced by edgar

no changes at half time

the second half for the best part saw the home team in the ascendency with the best of the play especially down airdrie,s right hand side where they looked dangerous any time they came forward.but it was airdrie who took the lead after the hour.a fine through ball was matched by a good run from gray and the front man showed good composure to lift the ball into the net for a 2-1 lead.however the lead was shortlived.a break from the home team saw the ball break to the midfielder at the edge of airdrie,s box and his shot,through struck well,took a big deflection and hendrie was unable to keep it out despite a good attempt.hoggnafield then missed an open goal when r graham and edgar both missed their clearance then burton replaced r graham who,s injury flared up again.the goal of the game arrived after 70 minutes when clark lobbed the ball over the goalie from 25 yards.airdrie made their third change with stewart on for clark and a return to the usual 4-4-2 formation.however before it could take shape poor defending saw the number ten in behind and very similar finish to their first goal.with ten to go kenny had airdrie,s best chance to grab a possible winner but as he went in on goal from the left hand side he curled his effort by the post.hogganfield finished on top but hendrie had little to do

a very disappointing performance and some blame should go to myself for changing the team and formation so much from tuesday.however the effort from some of the guys left a lot to be desired and at the end of the game we didn,t deserve much from it.a definite end of season performance and sloppy goals yet again lost.hogganfield were the better team and certainly deserved their point and we wish them all the best for next season.for airdrie its blochairn away next saturday and a much improved performance is needed to get any sort of result.one,maybe two disappointments from today saw smith season finish with a hamstring and r graham with a recurrence of his groin injury

team

hendrie,s graham cooper r graham,pardoe smith rennick kenny khorasani,gray clark

edgar for smith,burton for r graham,stewart for clark