AS Airdrie 2-2 Windlaw

By C.MacFarlane
March 26 2006

AS AIRDRIE 2 WINDLAW 2
2 goals from cooper in the last 6 minutes gave airdrie a deserved share
of the spoils against the league leaders at a cold and windy central
park
airdrie made 2 changes to the side that won last wk.in came kenny and
sonic in place of ally and walker.
windlaw started strong just like the last game and johnny pulled off a
great save in the first minute.playing against the wind airdrie
struggled for possession and they didn,t help matters by giving the
ball away constantly.windlaw nearly scored when the centre half
headered narrowly over then the number 9 shot over the bar.the goal was
coming and it was a poor goal to lose.an inswinging free kick from
mccann was missed by everyone and just like you see regularly on
television the ball ended up in the bottom corner for a deserved
lead.airdrie gradually worked themselves back into the game and clarky
nearly scored a surprise equaliser when he sprung the offside trap but
his touch round the keeper was too far and the chance was lost.airdrie
should have levelled when fine airdrie build up play found edgar
releasing parry in the clear but the keeper saved easily.the half
finished with airdrie on top in the last 10 minutes.
no changes at half time and the first 15 minutes of the second half saw
little goal mouth action with defenses on top.just when airdrie started
to push for the equaliser they went 2-0 behind due to a terrible
mistake by the normally reliable drummond.under no pressure he fluffed
a pass straight to the windlaw number 18 and after evading gordie,s
challenge burst through on goal and as he went round the keeper johnny
brought him down and left the ref with an easy decision to award a
penalty.luckily for johnny the ref deemed it wasn,t a red card and gave
out a yellow.the number 9 finished neatly into the corner of the net
and at 2-0 it was a long way back for airdrie.however as we have shown
a lot this season airdrie kept battling away and pushed forward at
every opportunity although it was leaving gaps at the back that windlaw
were unwillingly looking to take advantage off.clark then forced the
keeper to touch an effort out for a corner then missed a great chance
with the keeper to beat.airdrie pushed johnstone and arbuckle on for
kenny and the hard working atkin who had another fine game.with 6
minutes to play airdrie pulled a goal back when cooper,who had stayed
up from a corner,glanced a lovely header into the corner after a great
ball from edgar.with a goal back airdrie were back in the game and they
nearly scored an equaliser when poor defending from windlaw saw big
mark have his effort touched over the bar by the keeper.for whatever
reason windlaw started to panic and one last push from airdrie saw them
snatch an equaliser. a good pass down the right saw hendrie in a lot of
space and from his cross there was that man cooper to rifle a header
past the keeper into the net to spark a wild celebration from his team
mates.with little time left the game finished 2-2
from windlaw point of view it was 2 points dropped in their chase for
the title.at 2-0 they had the game won but for whatever reason they
failed to finish airdrie off and by trying to run out the clock they
paid the price when airdrie scored 2 late goals and if there had been a
bit more time airdrie might have grabbed a winner.but they still have a
good lead and it will require a huge effort from greenhills to overtake
them.plus they have the cup to look forward to as well.we wish windlaw
well for the rest of the season and look forward to playing them next
season.for airdrie it shows a lot of character to fight back from 2
goals down against the leaders.as windlaw stated after the first game
no team will get it easy at our place and results back this up.good
determination and spirit saw airdrie through and again fine discipline
shown in a well but hard fought game.we can carry this through for the
cup next wk and an opportunity to get to the quarters.another fine turn
out from the boys and the guys who didn,t play today keep the head up
as they will get opportunities before the end of the season.

team

j rowan

r hendrie
g cooper
g drummond
f burton

k pardoe
a edgar
r graham
n pardoe

s atkin
a clark

a gray for f burton
m johnstone for k pardoe
g arbuckle for s atkin
s graham
g trench
s walker