Shettleston 0-2 AS Airdrie

The Diamonds got back to winning ways in a tough match with fellow promoted side Shettleston.It was the home side which started brightest with fast attacking play from the first whistle, Shettleston's Gartshore(10) was causing Burton problems in the first twenty minutes in a spell that saw the bar and post come to Airdrie's rescue, However the experienced Airdrie player soon got to grips with his lively opponent and was rarely seriously troubled. Ably assisted by Cooper and Drummond and the excellent Rowan in goals Airdrie held firm at the back and with this foundation the midfield started to work the ball, a through ball for Gray caught out Shettleston's Clift(5) who stuck out a hand to palm the ball away from Clark who was bearing in on goal, the referee deemed him not to be last man and was lucky enough to stay on the pitch. From the resulting free kick Clark fired a superb 25 yard curling shot into the keepers top right hand corner to give Airdrie a 1-0 lead after 30 minutes which stayed that way till half time

The game plan was not to let shettleston come at us early as they had in the first half and the boys responded to this with only 5 minutes played in the second half Gray fired a strong shot which the keeper could only parry away Shettleston could not clear there lines and the ball broke to Clark at the edge of the box and he took a step inside before firing an unstoppable drive in to the bottom corner.This spurred Airdrie on and although the home side were still dangerous on the break Airdrie dealt with all they could throw at them.More good work from Airdrie's midfield created another chance when the replacement keeper spilled a Gray effort but Johnstone couldn't react quick enough this time, he had a chance to redeem himself when again he found himself in front of a spilled effort but could only prod the ball forward a few yards where Cooper in an offside position tapped it in no goal though.Clark and Gray created themselves another few chances as the game wore on but to no avail. Airdrie closed the game off replacing Johnstone for R.Graham and shortly after S.Graham replaced Burton who had taken a cut on the head from an aerial challenge, Airdrie saw out the last 10 minutes to record there 4th league win and stay in 4th place in a tough first Division. Next week see's the return match against the Scotsman Bar who Airdrie defeated 2-1 in a close game a few weeks previous however they will have to start matches a lot quicker and that's something to work on for the future.