Match Report

Airdrie United v Stenhousemuir at Excelsior Stadium Airdrie on 19.3.11
Irn Bru Scottish Second Division Att 634
Airdrie United 2 [Owens 16, 80] Stenhousemuir 2 [Devlin 13, Lynch 42]

The Warriors have been struggling through injuries to personnel in recent weeks, in particular to the centre of the defence and David Irons eased the problem with rthe emergency loan of Michael Devlin from Hamilton Academical.

The teenager when he started the game would not realise that during the game he would create Stenhousemuir history by scoring the Warrior’s first ever goal at the Excelsior [New Broomfield] in the sixth meeting between the clubs at that venue.

The Warrior’s started positively and Iain Thomson strung Mark Ridger’s hands with a fizzing drive after only 3 minutes. Four minutes later Simon Lynch headed over from a Grant Anderson cross as the Warriors continued to push forward.

The opening, however, was not long coming though as they eventually took the lead in the 13th minute. A quick free kick by Eric Paton to Stevie Murray caught Airdrie out and when the wingers cross was only parried out by Ridgers it fell to Devlin who headed home from close range.

At that stage it was a deserved lead but they were unable to hold on for long as the home side equalised in the 16th minute. Gary Mackay Steven took advantage of a slip by Willie Lyle and picked out Graeme Owens in the middle and the striker picked his spot to draw the teams level.

After this the game went flat for a while as the teams tried to get into a rhythm and there was a scare for Stenhousemuir on the half hour when a Mackay Steven cross just failed to pick out Owens. The Warrior’s responded positively and Simon Lynch was thwarted by a Ridgers save a minute later.

Stenhousemuir took the lead again with three minutes of the half left when Sean Dickson appeared on the right before stepping inside and unleashing a powerful drive that Ridgers could only push out and Lynch was on hand to convert from close range.

SECOND HALF

Airdrie stung by that reverse tried hard to get back on level terms after the resumption and they had two opportunities to do so in quick succession, the first saw Mackay Brown fire over after two Warrior’s players slipped and a minute later Scott Gemmell was unlucky to see his shot go across goal and just miss the far post.

After these initial scares the Warriors came back into the proceedings and Eric Paton stepped past a couple of players before firing goal wards where Ridgers was grateful to tip the effort over the bar. The keeper saved Airdrie once again in the 68th minute when he made a superb save from a top class venomous volley from Iain Thomson.

There was a scare at the other end when Gemmell was released behind the Stenhousemuir defence but Ally Brown was alert to the danger and brought off a fine save. The ball was played to the other end and good footwork by Simon Lynch created an opportunity but the player who was visibly tiring by this stage shot over the bar when he just had the keeper to beat.

Airdrie took full advantage of this let off in the 80th minute when they equalised. They had began to build up the pressure in the moments before their strike and following a scramble the ball broke to the edge of the box where an Airdrie player was fouled by Willie Lyle. Graeme Owens stepped up to take the free kick and proceeded to curl it into the net.

The loss of this goal and two points for Stenhousemuir was a disappointment to say the least but it could have been so much worse as Airdrie came close to winning the game before the end with a drive by Gemmell going just over and an exquisite turn and chip by Owens just missing the target with Brown scrambling.

With the game drawing to a close things got worse for Stenhousemuir when Eric Paton went down injured with what looked to be a hamstring injury and may see him miss several key games in the near future

Airdrie United – Ridgers, Bain, Lovering [b40] [Donnelly 55], Smith, Stallard, Devlin, Johnston [Muir 80], Owens, Gemmell, McCord and Mackay Steven.

Subs not used – Craig, Grant and Szpilczynski.

Stenhousemuir – Brown, Lyle, Dickson, Thom, Devlin, I.Thomson, Anderson [Stirling 81], Lynch [Dalziel 85], Williams, Paton [Sloan 90] and Murray.

Subs not used – Quinn and McCluskey

Referee – David Somers

Assistants – Willie Conquer and Gary Kirkwood