Airdrie United 2 Accies 2: Saturday, 3 May 2003

Scottish League Division 2, New Broomfield, Airdrie

Saturday, 3 May 2003

Report by Gilbert Mowat

Before this game, things were fairly simple. Accies knew that they had to get something from the game to avoid being sucked into Division 3, while the hosts knew that they had to win to keep alive their hopes of gaining promotion in the first season since they stole the identity of Clydebank last summer.

Accies went into this crucial game boosted by the return of both captain Jim Sherry and talented midfielder Allan Russell, fresh from his 4 goal game against Kilwinning Juniors in midweek. 18 year old Andy Arbuckle was also drafted into the side to make a rare appearance on the right side of defence. Mahdi Elfallah, Mark Keegans and Paul McDonald all dropped down to the bench while there was no sign of big Ally Graham.

The game got off to a frantic start with both sides getting stuck in straight away. Stuart Callaghan was warned by the referee after a foul in the second minute and managed to last only another three minutes before he saw the dreaded yellow card being flashed in his direction, this time for dissent. Airdrie nearly took the lead when a well hit shot from outside the area was deflected before being miraculously tipped onto the face of the crossbar by Faldo in the Accies goal.

As the 20 minute mark passed, I felt quite content that Accies had sustained the early pressure from Airdrie with their goal intact. Then Airdrie scored with a well taken effort by experienced frontman Jerome Vareille, after he latched onto the ball ahead of the flat footed Accies backline to thump the ball past the exposed Faldo. They celebrated wildly as you would expect and must have thought that promotion was going to be within their grasp come 4.45.

Accies continued to battle hard though, but their efforts didn't bear any fruit until the 34th minute, when model pro Allan Russell cracked the ball past speedboat man Mark McGeown in the Airdrie goal. Accies nearly grabbed the lead right from kick off but Brian McPhee's effort was kept out by McGeown.

The first Airdrie goal had been partly due to sloppiness in the Accies defence and their second goal just after half time was very similar. An Accies attack ended with the ball in the hands of McGeown and he wasted no time in punting it up the park. Ian Dobbins didn't cope with Jerome Vareille at all well and the Frenchman was able to lift the ball expertly over the advancing (and then retreating) Ian Macfarlane. Vareille was in the mood after this and he had another low effort well held by Faldo as Airdrie tried to press home their advantage.

Accies didn't let their heads go down and they continued to try their best to rescue their season. Allan Russell was foiled by McGeown from close range when he got onto a McPhee knockdown. The Bee himself got onto a cross from the right and it looked to some as though his attempt was handled by a defender. The referee didn't agree with him and booked him for his protest.

With the clock running down, Accies won a free kick right in the middle about 25 yards out after Willie Wilson fouled an Accies man. Several players lined up to take an interest in the kick, but it was Allan Russell who curled the ball over the wall and past the outstretched fingers of McGeown to equalise again. This was the cue for pandemonium amongst the Accies support, but sadly Martin Bonnar lost the head just a few moments later.

He went into a tackle and was probably about to be booked for the challenge. He then squared up to the Airdrie man before Jim Sherry arrived to haul him away. Most of the other players then lost the head and there was one of those daft mass brawls in the middle of the pitch with more than a dozen players involved in the pushing and shouting. A punch was thrown by an Airdrie man but this was missed by the referee as he tried to break thing up. When the dust settled, he correctly red carded Martin Bonnar and went to restart the game. When the farside linesman realised that no other disciplinary action was to be taken, he raised his flag and the ref duly sent Airdrie man Scott Wilson from the pitch.

There were no further incidents of note and the final whistle was the cue for celebration from the Accies fans and depression from the Airdrie United followers. Oh dear, what a pity.

This was a very heartening performance from Accies and they fully deserved their point. Faldo had a decent game in goal and the defence was reasonable, with Ian Dobbins not at his best. Andy Arbuckle performed really well in a rare first team game for the 18 year old. I think he'll get quite a few games next season. Martin Bonnar and Jim Sherry did well in the heart of things and Bonnar will be missed against Brechin City next week. Stuart Callaghan was his usual self and should be commended for keeping the heid after his early booking. Brian McPhee was dangerous throughout although he was well controlled by the home defence. Allan Russell took his two goals really well - the only complaint is that he should have been doing that kind of thing more often this season.

Accies might still go down, but this was a precious point.

Macfarlane, wee Ally Graham (Sweeney), Cunnington, Kerr, Dobbins (Elfallah), Arbuckle, Bonnar, Sherry, Russell, McPhee, Callaghan.

Unused subs: Potter, Keegans, McDonald.

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