Greenhills 3-2 AS Airdrie
By Neil Brown
June 20 2006
Airdrie traveled to East Kilbride with the home side desperate for 3 points to keep up there title challenge and took the game to Airdrie right from kick off , Rowan easily gathered up the first effort on goal after only 30 seconds. However Airdrie are made of strong stuff and were not there to simply see out the season, k Pardoe’s superb corner kick was knocked back across goal by Cooper for Clark who headed off the bar but Ally Gray was on hand to smash home his 14th goal of the season to give Airdrie an early lead.
As expected Greenhills came storming back and put pressure on the Airdrie defence but the back 3 were coping well with what was thrown at them, Indeed it was a tad harsh when the home side did equalize Airdrie thought they had cleared there lines but the ball fell to the left winger who managed to get a foot to the ball which S Graham blocked with his body only for the ball to wickedly loop up and in off the far post.
The visitors were dealt a further blow when Gray hobbled off with an ankle injury to end his season , this was further compounded when Greenhills took the lead while Airdrie were down to ten men with a low shot just evading Rowans dive.Airdrie deservedly got back in the game when yet another K Pardoe cross was nodded home by Cooper in typical fashion. So an entertaining half closed at 2-2 with both sides contributing to a good game.
The second half began in much the same fashion as the first with Airdrie dealing with what Greenhills could throw at them and playing quick counter attacking football with Atkin ( who had replaced Gray) causing problems for the home defence, The game followed this same pattern throughout the half. The turning point came with 15 minutes left on the clock as Greenhills searched for the winner they built up good pressure on Airdrie’s right however when the ball came into the box Arbuckle was clearly impeded in his attempt to clear the ball which broke kindly for Greenhills right winger this time to drill a low shot through the crowd and the ball crept in to the bottom corner for a 3-2 lead.
Airdrie threw on Johnstone for a fresh pair of legs in the midfield and gambled on an equalizer by sending Cooper up front to use his height, Airdrie did have a couple of half chances but couldn’t find a way past. Greenhills take the points and have the title within there grasp, For Airdrie a lot of positives to be taken from the game and indeed the season as a whole surpassing the expectations of survival with a top six finish and hope to put in a challenge themselves next season .
MOM – N Pardoe
Team
R Graham Cooper N Pardoe
Arbuckle
S Graham Edgar Smith K Pardoe
Gray Clark
Subs
Atkin For Gray (30) Johnstone For Arbuckle (80) Trench