Airdrie 1 v 0 Forfar

Sandy Stewart has astutely assembled a tight unit on the pitch and the legions of Airdrieonians in the stands are already taking to the players like old friends. It helps of course that many of them are old friends of course! One such kent face, Stephen Docherty, the feature player in the match programme by sheer co-incidence, would send them, us, home in ecstasy courtesy of his majestic flying header which won the tie. More on that later.

Airdrie fielded the same starting line up as faced Albion Rovers in last weeks friendly. On the bench were young keeper Cherry, 'trialist' Paul Harvey, McGuire, Wullie Wilson and Armstrong. Forfar included former Diamonds, McCloy and McCulloch in what looked a very experienced line up that included Martin Bavidge, George Shaw, Paul Tosh and Darren Henderson.

Airdrie dominated possession with Marvyn Wilson and Stephen Docherty controlling the midfield area. They weren't surrounded by such quality though as the strikers struggled for possession and the wide men weren't getting into the game. Sandy himself was organising the defence like it was his own training session. Well most of the time anyway. Forfar made much more use of their limited game time and our old foe Paul Tosh found himself behind our defence twice in the first twenty minutes. Both times goalie Mark McGeown stayed up long enough to block Tosh's piledriven shots. McGeown also had to be alert as Jimmy Boyle hastily snatched a loose ball straight to the goalie. It could be said there have been better first halves, but the second half more than made up for the lack of action in the first.

Airdrie were still toiling a bit in the second half with Boyle frustrated in getting forward and big forward Paul Ronald having another nightmare game. Our best chance of the game till that point came midway through the half when the hard working Martin Glancy got into the penalty box and Forfar goalie Brown had to get down brilliantly to turn Glancy's effort wide for a corner. From the corner Docherty headed just wide. Subsitutions were needed and just like last week Armstrong came on for Boyle to a standing ovation for both players, both firm favourites of the Airdrieonians in the stands. And almost as importantly, David McGuire replaced the hapless Paul Ronald.

Both changes sparked the Diamonds into life with McGuire firstly having an electrifying run down the left when he turned Forfar's leg weary defenders inside out as he made to the bye line to cut back for Glancy. Again Brown foiled him. Moments later some fine work again from McGuire and Glancy worked an angle for Paul Armstrong on the right and the Irishman's searching cross was met at the back post by a phenomonal flying header from Stephen Docherty who wasted no time in running, open mouth in shock, to meet the acclaim of the euphoric Airdrie support. A well deserved goal for a player who has worked hard to turn around the opinion of the fans. Airdrie worked hard to close the game down for the last ten minutes and ended the game rather comfortably whilst retaining possession.

Photo is copyright of Robert Dalzell and is used with permission.

TEAMS:

AIRDRIE (3:5:2): McGeown; Brannigan, Stewart, Vella; Boyle, Gardner, Wilson, Docherty, McVey; Glancy, Ronald. Subs: Cherry, Harvey, W. Wilson, Armstrong, McGuire.

FORFAR: Brown, Rattray, McCulloch, McCloy, Good, Byers, Shaw, Sellars, Tosh, Bavidge, Henderson. Subs: Horn, Stewart, Lunan, Milne, Ferrie.

AIRDRIE RATINGS:

McGeown: Had little to do but saved well twice from Tosh.

Brannigan: Still hard to tell with Brannigan. He definitely lacks pace but he has presence. A lot of his tackles are last ditch things.

Stewart: Reads the game like I read porn. Effortlessly. Still mopping everything up.

Vella: His height will very obviously be his main asset in our defence and he used it well. Likes to pass the ball too which is no bad thing.

Boyle: He uses the ball well under pressure but crucially struggled to get forward enough.

Gardner: Nowhere near as influential as last week but still a big improvement on last season.

Wilson: Looked majestic. Seriously, Marvyn should be playing in the Premier, not this league. Let's hope he can get to play in the big league soon, and in a diamond.

Docherty: A magnificent display on the left of midfield capped by that header.

McVey: Like Gardner he had a less effective game than last week, but he still looked a decent player down that left flank.

Glancy: Worked tirelessly but all his good work is outside the box. To score goals he'll need to get nearer the danger areas. Linked well with McGuire later on.

Ronald: I could be unkind in a critically savage kind of way, but I'm sure he worked as hard a he could without ever looking like performing. Sadly he doesn't look like being the answer to our goalscoring problem.

Armstrong: (Sub for Boyle): Provide the impetus down the right flank in the last 20 mins and of course gets the assist for the goal.

McGuire (Sub for Ronald): Quack looked majestic when he replaced Ronald. A sizzling run had the crowd on their feet and his build up play led to the goal. A certain starter in our next game?

Overall a decent days work. Sandy still has a lot to do with this team and with only 14 signed players he still has room for instant improvement in some areas. Another central defender, another midfielder and crucially another one or two strikers can or will be sought. I couldn't help but notice that youngster Stevie McKeown was in the stand.

Man of the Match: Marvyn Wilson (As voted for by the fans).