Windlaw 2-0 AS Airdrie

By C McFarlane
January 22 2006

WINDLAW 2 AS AIRDRIE 0


airdrie lost their 3rd away game in a row in a hard fought encounter at castlemilk against the league leaders.on the balance of play it was a deserved win although airdrie can take heart from their second half performance.

one change saw neil pardoe back from suspension in place of the injured capaldi.

for 30 mins airdrie should have stayed in the dressing room as windlaw were first to every ball,every second ball,the defence was all over the place,midfield were getting overrun.after 30mins it was amazing that windlaw were only winning 1-0 thanks to a cool finish by the number 7 who,s run wasn,t picked up by myself.only good handling,a post,a couple of missed chances and some solid penalty box defending saw airdrie hold it to just 1-0.however the last 15 mins eventually saw airdrie work themselves back into the game.a long ball from the back saw gray with a half chance and then hendrie had an effort that the keeper touched round the post. hendrie then had a golden chance when he ran on to a pass that beat the offside trap and as the keeper had committed himself a small touch around him would have left an easy finish.however from where i was it looked like hendrie took his eye off the ball and the chance was lost .airdrie,s final chance saw edgar run on to a clever pass from scotty and his effort just went by the post. ht 1-0.

airdrie started the second half the way they finished the first.the defending was tighter,midfield started to get on top and the forwards started to get space down the channels.airdrie had a good 15 mins and only a fine block by the windlaw number 11 prevented clarks shot from testing the keeper.airdrie were starting to ask questions but windlaw always looked lively coming forward and johhny had to look sharp 2 or 3 times to prevent any opportunities.the big moment came with 20 mins to go when a cut back from pardoe clearly hit the windlaw defender on the arm and it looked like the ref had given the penalty,even windlaw thought it was a penalty.however the ref had said he had blown for offside just before it and gave windlaw the free kick.a big decision that didn,t go our way but the ref calls it as he sees it.the last 15 saw airdrie continue to press without creating any clear cut chances and with pushing men forward were leaving space at the back and with about 5 minutes to go windlaw ensured the 3pts when a through ball wasn,t dealt with properly between myself and johnny and as the ball slipped out of johnny,s hands the striker had the easiest of tasks of putting the ball in the net. ft 2-0

at the end of the day windlaw deserved their win.the first 30 mins they pummeled us and we were very lucky that it was only 1-0.they are well organised,got a good midfield and forwards who move about a lot and they are not top of the league for nothing.for us we have to compete better from the start of the game.too many times this yr and last yr it takes us about 25 mins to get going or being a goal down.once we start playing we are a match for any team in this league and we will pick up more points as the season enters the second half.the last 15 mins of the first half and a good period in the second half we more than competed with the leaders and they had to work hard to earn the 3pts.we have some stuff we have to work on but we can take positives from the game as well.

a hard game it was but there wasn,t a nasty challenge in the game and both teams shook hands at the end of the game.good luck to windlaw and we will see you at our place later in season

team

j rowan

r graham
g cooper
c macfarlane

s graham
r hendrie
s smith
a edgar
n pardoe

a gray
a clark

k pardoe for r hendrie
f burton for s graham
s atkin for n pardoe
d khorasani