Airdrie United 1 Dunfermline 3

Tuesday, 4th Nov 2008

Calum Woods shoots Pars into early lead but Airdrie equalise in 9th. Glass scores direct from 29th minute free kick. Phinn made it 3-1

For the re-arranged league match against Airdrie United Jim McIntyre was able yet again to name an unchanged side. Steven Bell injured himself warming up on Saturday so Scott Muirhead was on the bench in his place. Airdrie United started with the same eleven that got a draw at Dens Park on Saturday.

The Excelsior Stadium was sparsely populated for the 7.45pm kick off, the home crowd apparently drawn to the alternative attraction in the North Lanarkshire town - the Guy Fawkes Fireworks. Dunfermline got off to an explosive start when Calum WOODS produced an individual piece of genius to open the scotring in the fourth minute. The 21 year old netted his first ever goal in senior football after a good run down the right that allowed him to cut in along the 18 yard line and shoot low into the bottom right of the Airdrie net.

Stephen Glass launched an eighth minute free kick forward but play swiftly moved to the other end and Scott Wilson seemed to pass the ball to his right as Paul Gallacher came out behind him to the top of the penalty box. Paul Di GIACOMO accepted the ball and slipped the ball straight into the empty goal.

There was a 50/50 challenge between Kevin Harper and Joe Cardle that Referee Willie Collum deemed to be an Airdrie free kick and when Cardle flighted in a useful ball from the left the ball was defended only as far as Scott McLaughlin who smashed a 25 yard effort narrowly wide left. Greg Shields tackle on Di Giacomo gave the hosts another free kick this time on the right. The 24th minute setpiece picked out Di Giacomo on the far side of the box but fortunately he headed straight into Gallacher`s arms.

McLaughlin`s block on Woods yielded a 25 yard free kick in a central position. With what was only the Pars second shot at goal Stephen GLASS clipped the ball over the four man wall to beat the keeper to his right. 29 minutes gone and the Pars 2-1 up.

Airdrie were allowed to pass the ball about in the Pars half and In 37 minutes Cardle evaded tackle to get near enough to pop a shot at goal but that effort went over the crossbar.  Scott Thomson had replaced Calum Woods who appeared to have limped from soon after scoring his goal and the sub launched a free kick from half way but Graham Bayne couldn`t get enough on it to trouble Stephen Robertson.

A quickly taken home corner three minutes from the break was easily taken by Gallacher.  Simon Wiles replaced Kevin Harper who had required the physio`s attentions earlier in the match and in his first involvement he delivered a fine cut back from the right byeline that Bayne knocked down to space at the base of the D but Andy Kirk as closed out before he could pull the trigger.

Because they had taken their chances, Dunfermline had the lead at the break but the performance had not completely eclipsed Airdrie.

Half Time: Airdrie United 1 Dunfermline 2

Like the first half the Fifers had a good opening spell on the resumption with Graham Bayne having chances to extend the advatage in the third and fourth minute. The first came after good exchange of passes invloving four or five players but the shot from an angle crept outside the left post. A weak clearance from keeper Robertson next landed at Bayne`s feet but luck favoured Airdrie with the return ball from 25 yards going on the wrong side of that same post.

A Cardle shot in 53rd minute turned was behind by Gallacher but Dunfermline coped with that.  Next when Wiles drove towards the home goal it looked that possession was lost in a tackle but Nick PHINN latched on to the loose ball and whacked it from 25 yards into the net.

Paul Gallacher had to be at his best in 58 minutes to dive low to his right and turn a Di Giacomo header around his post.  Airdrie kept up the pressure with Lynch swinging in a dangerous ball in the direction of Smyth that Wiles had to stuff behind. At the other end Glass played the ball up the left for Kirk but at the end of his run the Irishman struck the ball wide of the right upright.

Play was soon back in front of Gallacher`s goal and McDonald released a shot from 25 yards that whizzed wide right with the aid of a deflection.  The Pars defence slipped deeper and deeper with Jim McIntyre shouting warnings that they were defending `on the edge`.

Still Airdrie enjoyed the territorial advantage.  Shields booted a clearance and Wiles was tumbled as he tried to drive out of defence. Wiles relieved the situation winning a corner on the right.  When that came over for a second time Wiles was blocked as he wound up for a shot 15 yards out. He did however incur injury in the process.

In 78 minutes Gallacher saved from both McDougall and Lynch at his near post to cool the Airdrie vigour. McLaughlin launched a rocket of a shot from 30 yards and again Gallacher pulled off a fantastic save to maintain the two goal margin.  Simon Wiles became the third necessary substitution and Iain Williamson entered the fray with ten minutes to go.

A Wilson tackle saw Di Giacomo going screaming to the ground and McLaughlin lifted the 87th minute free kick well over the bar.  Dunfermline`s second half performance fairly stifled Airdrie`s attempts to score and Gallacher in particular was worthy of much praise.

Another away league win takes Dunfermline to joint second in the league, just two points behind leaders St Johnstone.  Let`s hope the win did not close with any serious injury to Harper, Wiles or Woods.

AIRDRIE UNITED: Stephen Robertson; Marc Smyth, Paul Lovering (c) (Stuart Noble 64), Kevin McDonald, Darren Smith (Steven McDougall 74), Stephen McKenna, David Nixon, Scott McLaughlin, Joe Cardle; Paul Di Giacomo, Simon Lynch
SUBS NOT USED: Matthew Hazely, Michael Brown, Lee Hollis
SCORERS: Di Giacomo (9)
YELLOW CARD: Marc Smyth (65)

DUNFERMLINE: Paul Gallacher; Calum Woods (Scott Thomson 30), Greg Shields, Scott Wilson (c), Austin McCann; Kevin Harper (Simon Wiles 43 (Iain Williamson 80)), Nick Phinn, Stephen Glass, Alex Burke; Andy Kirk, Graham Bayne.
SUBS NOT USED: Scott Muirhead, Callum Reidford (GK)
SCORERS: Woods (4), Glass (29), Phinn (55)
YELLOW CARD: Phinn (57), Kirk (92)

REFEREE: Willie Collum
WEATHER: Dry 9°C
ATTENDANCE 1099

NEXT MATCH: (home) v Dundee, Saturday 8th November 2008
Kick off 3.00pm

Views : 3,767

ParsTV Highlights To Follow for First team matches.

Check out the Gallery for more photo's -- the images below will scroll through automatically.

Preview Airdrie United

Monday, 3rd Nov 2008

In all their guises Airdrie hold the advantage with 33 wins to Dunfermline`s 31. In charge for the match will be Willie Collum, a referee with a phenomenal card record.

Dunfermline travel west on Tuesday for the re-arranged away game against Airdrie United.  Its the first visit there on league business since they were formed in 2002. The only two previous meetings have been the 4-3 defeat at East End Park in the 2005-2006 Scottish Cup in and the 2-0 Challenge Cup win in Lanarkshire last season.

In all their guises Airdrie hold the advantage with 33 wins to Dunfermline`s 31. The Pars away form in this fixture is not particularly good with Airdrie registering two wins to every one by Athletic. In the first meeting this season the Pars were all over Kenny Black`s men despite Nick Phinn behing sent off and should have done better than a 0-0 draw.

Pars v Airdrie: The Full League Record
	P	W	D	L	F	A
At East End	47	20	16	11	80	75
At Broomfield	43	11	10	22	66	100
Division One (up to 1975)	42	19	6	17	83	90
Division Two (up to 1975)	12	1	3	8	24	42
Premier League (since 1975)	4	0	1	3	4	8
First Division (since 1975)	32	11	16	5	35	35
TOTALS	90	31	26	33	146	175

Airdrie are five points behind the Pars but they are typical of what can happen in this league with every team capable of beating their opponents. 

Airdrie United	DDunfermlinene
Current League Position
7	2
Last Six League Results
WLLLWD	DWDWWL
League Points
13	18
Goal Difference
+1	+6
Home/Away Record
P5, W2, D1, L2	P5, W2, D2, L1

Airdrie drew at Dens Park on Saturday but have recently defeated top of the table Queen of the South and have also defeated Livingston at Almondvale.  Their erratic form after hammering Morton 5-0 led them to lose Ross County and Clyde. The Pars have lost only once on the road in this season`s league campaign.

Recent Form
Airdrie United (home)			Dunfermline Athletic (away)
18/10/08	Queen of the South	2-0	30/09/08	Clyde	2-0
20/09/08	Clyde	0-2	23/09/08	Morton	3-2
30/08/08	Morton	5-0	13/09/08	Dundee	0-0
16/08/08	Dundee	0-0	16/08/08	St Johnstone	3-0
09/08/08	Partick Thistle	0-1	02/08/08	Partick Thistle	0-1

Simon Wiles made his Dunfermline debut v Airdrie United 23/08/08

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE: Paul Gallacher; Calum Woods, Greg Shields, Scott Wilson (c), Austin McCann (Scott Thomson 82); Kevin Harper, Nick Phinn, Stephen Glass, Alex Burke (Iain Williamson 70); Andy Kirk (Simon Wiles 74), Graham Bayne.
SUBS: Steven Bell, Callum Reidford (GK)

AIRDRIE UNITED: Stephen Robertson; Darren Smith (McDougall 76), Paul Lovering (c), Kevin McDonald (Brown 76), Liam Smith, Stephen McKenna, David Nixon, Scott McLaughlin, Paul Di Giacomo (Stuart Noble 83), Simon Lynch, Joe Cardle
SUBS NOT USED: Matthew Hazely, Lee Hollis

Referee for the match will be Willie Collum. This is a referee with a phenomenal card record.  Pars fans will recall his nine cards on the Saturday before Christmas in 2006 when he booked five of the team and then sent Stevie Crawford off in a the 0-0 draw with Inverness Caley Thistle. He managed to reach double figures last season in a Hibs Dundee United game and he was in the news last week when he dismissed our old favourite, Lee Bullen. So far this season in seven league games his record is 27 yellow and one red.

Anthony Haggerty described Willie Collum`s last match in a week past Monday`s Daily Record:-

"Falkirk`s Lee Bullen was the victim of rough refereeing justice as the Bairns were reduced to 10 men in injury time. Bullen`s crime? A shoulder barge on fellow defender Scott Severin - who went down all too easily - and ref Willie Collum deemed his punishment worthy of a straight red because his opponent had denied the Aberdeen man a goalscoring opportunity.

"Harsh? You bet your life it was but that put the seal on a dismal display by Collum who also booked six players in a contest that highlighted the inconsistencies of another of Scotland`s Grade One whistlers."

Let`s hope on Tuesday night it is just racism that`s given the Red Card!

Views : 4,269