Match Report

Airdrieonians v Stenhousemuir at Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie on 29.12.15

Ladbrokes League One                  Att 724

Airdrieonians 0 Stenhousemuir 1 [Murray 88]

Airdrieonians – Parry, Bain, O’Neill, Fitzpatrick, Creighton, Lithgow, Brown [ Morton 70], Watt, Prunty, Cox [Sumsky 16] and Cadden. Subs not used – McBride, Stewart, McAleer, Ferguson and Glackin.

Stenhousemuir – Gould, McCormack [b75], Paterson, Meechan, Murray, Robertson, Gilhaney, Millar [b37], McMenamin, Small [Mazana 81] and Cook. Subs not used – Henderson, Malcolm, Stirling, Marenghi, Barclay and Eddington.

Referee – Mike Roncone             Assistants – Gordon Crawford and Matthew MacDermid

Both teams came into this game on the back of difficult games for them on the Saturday and it was going to be interesting to see how the players would react to them. The Warriors had lost 5-1 at home to the then bottom of the league Stranraer whilst Airdrie had thrown away a two goal lead to lose 4-3 in the last 8 minutes of their game at home to Peterhead. There was only one change to the Airdrie side with Bryan Prunty coming into the starting eleven and he would have been hoping to add to his goal tally against Stenhousemuir. Keeper Neil Parry had been sent off on the Saturday but with an appeal impending he was allowed to play. Stenhousemuir made three changes with Euan Murray, Jon Robertson and Alan Cook all coming off the bench. Stuart Malcolm’s captains armband was passed to Mark Gilhaney.

The night was not one for much constructive football with the early stages of storm Frank whistling round the stadium making even short passes at times go astray and as a consequence there were few passages of passing play especially in the second period as the conditions worsened. The Warriors did adapt better though and Parry was the busier keeper overall. Colin McMenamin headed just wide after only 50 seconds, before Parry was called into action in the 8^th minute to tip over a 30 yard free kick by Jim Paterson and the resultant corner caused havoc before being scrambled clear. In the 13^th minute a Nicky Cadden curler just went wide though it looked to get a slight deflection. Stenhousemuir were shooting when they could use the wind and a McMenamin strike was tipped over and a Robertson long range just went over the bar. In between these efforts Airdrie had to make an enforced substitution when David Cox left the field in the 16^th minute after failing to shrug off a knock received earlier in the game. The closest that either side came though to opening their account was in the 41^st minute when Alan Cook picked out Lewis Small and his header looked goalbound but was pushed out by Parry to safety. Further long range efforts just over from McMenamin and Paterson ended the half.

The second half saw Airdrie have the wind in their favour but they struggled to make use of it and almost found themselves a goal behind straight after the resumption when they gave the ball away cheaply to McMenamin who ran at the Airdrie defence before trying to pass to Small but misjudged his run and the change was squandered. A minute later a ricochet fell to Prunty but his shot was dragged wide. Matty Gould had a scare in the 56^th minute when a  Cadden effort caught in the wind and the keeper had to change direction to keep it out. Most of the play was in the wrong half of the pitch for Stenhousemuir fans though that was mainly down to the wind McMenamin saw a shot saved after another Airdrie play broke down. The home side were denied by a great defensive block in the 65^th minute that thwarted a scoring opportunity. At the other end though it was Stenhousemur that came closest when Cook burst through the middle but his strike from just inside the box was parried out by Parry. Airdrie struck the top of the crossbar in the 74^th minute but it would not have counted if it had went in as it was from an Alan Lithgow throw in.

Just as the game looked to be heading for a no score draw the Warriors eventually scoring the winning goal. Cook took ages to take a corner as the ball kept blowing away but eventually he was able to hit it into the danger area for Murray to head home. Perhaps the assistant referee should get an assist for the goal as well as he had to hold the corner flag to stop it hitting the Warrior in the process of taking the corner.

All in all a well deserved win and a good response to the Stranraer debacle.