Airdrie United v Stenhousemuir at Excelsior Stadium Airdrie on 1.10.11

Irn Bru Scottish Second Division               Att 698

Airdrie 5 [Donnelly 9,66, Lovering 26, Boyle 45, Blockley 83] Stenhousemuir 2 [Hamilton 51, Kean 55]

 

The Warriors went into this game with the same starting eleven from the East Fife victory and were hoping to extend their unbeaten sequence of 6 games into the international break. From the opening exchanges of play it looked to be an uphill struggle as they failed to get into any sort of rhythm and they were soon to be chasing the game   

 

Airdrie United scored their first goal after 9 minutes when the ball was intercepted in the midfield area by Sean Lynch who ran into the danger area before he fed Ryan Donnelly who hit a peach of a curling shot past Ally Brown and into the net.  

 

They extended their lead in the 26^th minute when a long range effort by Paul Lovering took a deflection and with Brown flat footed he was unable to recover the ball before it crossed the line. A minute later it was almost three but Donnelly just failed to steer a cross into the net from close range.

 

The Stenhousemuir midfield was being overran and in the 35^th minute Eric Paton who had been struggling through injury had to leave the pitch with Sean Dickson replacing him, this meant several positional changes but with Brown Ferguson moving into central midfield to partner Iain Thomson it gave a semblance of a stronger physical middle though it missed Paton’s creativity..

 

Airdrie had the ball in the net once again after Ryan Donnelly pinched the ball from Brown as he was about to kick the ball having released it from hand. Donnelly’s reward for this cheeky opportunist play was a caution for ungentlemanly conduct and for the strike to be disallowed.

 

On the stroke of half time the home side made it three when Lovering sent in a cross to the back post that was met by a diving header from John Boyle who had pulled away from his marker.

 

This was a fair reflection of the game at that stage as Stenhousemuir failed to turn up in the first 45 minutes and were totally outplayed by an energetic Airdrie team.

 

Airdrie almost scored again after the resumption but Stenhousemuir secured a lifeline in the 51^st minute when a well directed header by Colin Hamilton from a Stevie Murray corner beat Paul McKane in the home goal. A minute later Stewart Kean looked to have scored the Warrior’s second but the effort was disallowed for offside though it was a marginal decision that could have went either way. Nevertheless he did get on the scorecard in the 55^th minute when he ran onto an Andy Rodgers flick on and steered the ball under the advancing keeper and into the net.

 

Airdrie were shaken at this time but to their credit tried to get the killer goal and Jamie Bain had a shot saved by Brown in the 56^th minute. Two minutes later Brown was cautioned for a push on Donnelly whilst the striker was on the ground and the keeper was lucky to stay on the park.

 

Derek Holmes then had a delicate chip just over before the play transferred to the other end when Iain Thomson had a curling effort go just the wrong side of the post. Either side could have scored at that time but it was Airdrie who scored the crucial fourth goal in 66 minutes. Donnelly once again was the marksman when he took a long ball in acres of space rounded the keeper and placed the ball into the net despite the despairing efforts of Willie Lyle. The Stenhousemuir players were vocal in their protests that Donnelly was offside but he may have timed his run just too well for their liking.

 

This knocked the stuffing out of Stenhousemuir and although Thomson miss-hit an effort from close range Airdrie extended the lead in the 83th minute. Philip Johnstone cut in from the right and his shot was not picked up by Brown whose line of vision was obscured and he could only fumble the ball into the path of Nathan Blockley who made no mistake as he scored his first ever senior goal.

With the game into time added on David Lilley was sent off for a rash tackle from behind on Andy Rodgers and meant that the referee was going to have a busy night writing his report as he had already cautioned ten players in the game.

 

This was definitely a setback for Stenhousemuir, but credit must go to Airdrie who deserved their victory. The break was a hindrance the last time as it stopped the momentum that was building, this time however it may help as several players who have been carrying niggling injuries may be closer to full fitness by the time the league resumes.

 

Airdrie United – McKane, Bain [b11], Lovering, Stallard [b57], Lilley [so 90], Lynch [Blockley 81], Keast [Johnstone h/t], Devlin [b32], Boyle [Holmes 51], Donnelly [b38] and Stevenson. Subs not used – Hill and Fairley

 

Stenhousemuir – Brown [b58], Lyle, Hamilton, Corrigan, McMillan [b66], Thomson [McCafferty 81], Ferguson [b42], Rodgers [b11], Kean [b74], Paton [Dickson 35] and Murray [b33][Fraser 72]. Subs not used – Quinn and McCluskey 

 

Referee – Alan Muir       Assistants – Billy Baxter and Douglas Ross