Decent recovery from Berwick but they were left with too much to do after a shocking start in defence. Every one of the 4 goals came from a defensive mistake and they would have been easier to miss than score. I though the pen was a bit debatable, but we didnt really recover all half. Second half though was a different story, esspecially when Swanson came on for his last game. Ran rings round Airdrie before winning a pen and converting it well. The second goal was a brilliant move between Swanson and Diack. Great finish in the end. I though we had a chance of the third and making it a good ending but eventually we ran out of steam. Hopefully we take the second half performance to Ayr.

And how dare that number 6 stick his fingers up at the Ducket!!! He has no right to swear at me when I am swearing at him!

Mind, Boyle the ref was a fuckin joke all game. CLUELESS!!!

I think your disillusioned if swanson "Ran rings round the defence", the berwick penalty was softer than the Airdrie one, Swanson went down under a shoulder challenge and the ref gave the penalty, but what do you expect from Chris Boyle, the mans a t.it. Dont think Berwick can remain in this league especially now that saviour swanson is going to pick skelfs out his rear end at Utd warming the bench. Good to see Johnny Martin again, even if it is only for a season before Berwick depart through the trap door. I still think County will win the league and the playoffs will be won by whoever is lucky enough to be in it from the 1st division but if nothing else it was a bit of revenge from the blip earlier in the season and nice to see Allan Russell top scorer in the division now....on we go now, bring on the QP.....AGAIN!

Were you at the game? Swanson was sandwiched out betwenn two defenders. Soft penalty maybe, but no softer than the Airdrie (Clydebank) penalty - both pens by the book if you ask me.

Up the Bankies

Don't know where to start with this one. The beginning seems as good a place as any.

Next Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the first Berwick match I ever saw, and the first half display was the worst I have seen in at least 15 years. Woeful doesn't quite do it justice.
Gary has been a great servant to Berwick, but today he was all over the place. He wasn't helped by his 10 team-mates. I don't think Renwick know's what he is doing (Down with that sort of thing (Careful now)), and the players seem to have run out of ideas before the first one has even appeared.

As a comparison, from watching the Dumbarton cup game last month and the game today, I would put Berwick at the bottom of the Ryman Premier Division / top of Ryman Division One North at the moment, which is pitiful and is an embarrassing state of affairs.

As a footnote, (edit; this is not sour grapes) I am sure there are plenty of decent Airdrie United supporters, however why don't you make yourselves known to the opposition fans. Every Airdrie United 'supporter' I have ever met has been a complete w@nker. I know that those people are probably the minority, and they would need to be a good person for me to not despise them (anyone who knows me personally knows my feelings on Airdrie United), but as much as I want to like everyone, each time I come into contact with Airdrie United 'supporters', I feel like a little bit of my soul dies.

As mentioned above, I'm sure the majority of Airdrie United supporters are decent members of the community, however I've yet to meet any of you.

To be fair, there have been a number of worse performances in the past, against far worse sides. All 4 goals were from individual errors and I can remember being 4-0 down earlier than that whilst being ripped appart chance after chance. Were we not 5-0 down at Airdrie and still letting them in every time they had the ball. Far worse than today! QOS also springs to mind. Cowden destroyed us for 5 at Shielfield for example. Other than the 4 goals, Airdrie hardly had another chance, whereas many defeats in the past we have been howked in 1 half, whilst being lucky to keep the score in single figures.

I take it you were in the Black and Gold second half and totally missed what was happening as you seem to totally forget the decent performance, comeback and effort the side put in during the second half? That was nowhere near the worst performance Berwick have put in this season, never mind over the last 5 or 15 years! Individual mistakes cost us the game, but we recovered well and put in alot of fight. The ducket wouldnt have clapped the team off at the end otherwise. Dont get me wrong, losing 4 goals in such quick succession is poor, but lets not get carried away.

And as for your little blast at Renwick (please just say what you think without the little coded blast at Wilson. Nobody will beat you up, you live in London. Paranoid dare I say it after being blasted for the same this week on here), I thought he did well today at sorting out what was going wrong. It was individual mistakes that cost us. He took off Smith and Noble and changed it round with Swanson and Gemmill. He was hardly to know Smith would have such a shocker in the first half and Gary O would have an off day! Swanson was slightly injured and Gemmill hasnt played in months. What formation and starting line up would you have played being the tactical expert that you are?

Snigger snigger, guffaw guffaw, tee hee!!!!

Actually typed this at 04.30, but then got IPS driver thingys;


My responses in bold Brian, although I don't make it to many games these days and can't comment to the extent that you can, in some ways that can also be a good thing as I can comment with a fresh pair of eyes in comparison to expectations.

I was meaning that me and George had been blasted for letting 'boardroom paranoia' spread to us when he dared to suggest Dundee United might have not wanted Danny to play in the few games he was missing.

I didnt watch much Father Ted but I just assumed the little comment was with reference to the situation when some people had got funny phone calls when critisising the club on here. Sorry if that wasnt what you were getting at.

As for the lack of ideas, a few, including me have been critical of Renwick in the past for being unable to change things when we arnt playing well. Failing to use subs ect, but I thought yesterday he managed to totally change things after the break and made some good subs. You might be right that it could take someone watching from time to time to get a better overview of progress than someone who has to suffer it week after week. My opinion though is that we have played worse than yesterday on a few occasions this season. Ayr away, Dumbarton away, Alloa at home, and Airdrie away. I would even say those games were worse than just taking the first half yesterday. I think we are improving, but still quite inconsistant. A good performance followed up by a bad one, but the good performances are getting better. Hopefully January brings some fresh blood in though, because there is a definate quality gap between us and most of the division.

Have to say Airdrie United fans that were at yestersday's match were very well behaved and a credit to Airdrie United Football Club.

Apart from that song - how's it go again - Airderee, Airderee, Airderee, - Airderee, Airderee, Airderee, - Airderee, Airderee, Airderee, AIRDEREE ..............
By God it gets on my tits

I really wish you Berwick lot would pull your socks up and fight to stay in the 2nd. Possibly would be one of the most enjoyable away days for us when if we come up.

the airdrie fans behaviour was appalling....paying in watching the game and going home is simply unnaceptable in this day and age.

An outrage.

I missed all four airdrie goals so have nowt to say!!!!!!

Glad to hear it. Some of our lot in midweek were an embarassment to club and town

Maybe Airdrie fans are simply reacting to the pre-conceived, negative opinion you have of them.

well this is it, with all your debauchery and horseplay and what not lol.....what do they expect, full scale riots and flares being let off??

They seem to think its funny insulting other fans because of their nationality, and telling them they shagged their maw and daughters, just as they insult Ross County and Peterhead fans by accusing them of having certain affections for sheep, and other such pleasantries. these low life Really pisses some of us off at away games.

BTW - did you get herded into that wee caged area where you can only see half the pitch, like we did?

correct, after being fleeced £1.60 for a cold hard pie we were asked to remain SEATED at the far end of a coo shed where the view was obstructed by dug outs and a fat steward that looked like santa. but at least we wont need to go there next season

The way things are going, you wont need to have to go to Central Park either...

excellent, new bayview and stair park as fitting replacements for next season then.

Just for you, We will build a brand new stadium, name it after a brand of Alcoholic drink (Buckfast Stadium anyone?), go bust, nick another club's league status and change our name to United, or has that already been done?........

How did the boy Staunton play? is it just a month he's signed for just now?

He took off Smith and brought on Fraser, he brought Swanson on for Davison and Gemmill for Little. Noble played the whole game.


Given that Smith has been out injured for a while it was perhaps not the smartest move to expose him to one of the paciest attacks in the division. There was no reason based on Wednesday's performance for not starting with Staunton at centre half and McLeish at right back or if he didn't fancy that Fraser at centre half as he had only been suspended not injured.

Sadly Gary O's off days are becoming all too frequent and usually sandwiched by outstanding displays.

naw - i was thinking more like Cappielow and Firhill, because as things are going youre more likely to get there than us

Think it's till the end of the season.

I've been impressed in the two games he has played

And normal service is resumed.....

Alot of Berwick bitterness on this thread I see, sorry guys but it all seems like sour grapes to me. Thought our supporters were very well behaved yesterday, very noisy and got right behind the team for most of the game. If there was any trouble, I sure as hell didn't see it.

Onto the game itself, we were miles ahead of Berwick in the first half, had enough chances to make it double the scoreline they went in behind after 45 mins. Although Berwick were poor and a bit of a mess defensively I thought we played some nice football and took all of our goals well.

Second half was a different story, however, unlike many Airdrie fans I'd reckon the second half was more to do with a good strong attitude from the Berwick players rather than a negative attitude on our part. They fought for every ball and we just didn't close things down quickly enough, in saying that, other than the 2 goals Robbo only had one real save of note to make and I would have been shocked if we didn't claim all 3 points. We started to play a bit more in the last 10 mins and had another couple of half chances but the game was long over by then.

All in all a very good day and very important 3 points. What folk have to remember is we have a squad of 19 players at the moment and yesterday we had 6 of those guys out. We can't keep relying on youth guys and with Dosser seemingly having played his last game yesterday we're gonna need to bring in more players in January to bolster up the squad and I reckon we'll do that.

Can we win the league? Who knows but we are very much still in it. I don't think Berwick will be able to avoid the drop based on the 3 games I've seen this season, their best hopes would be the playoffs and the really depends on what Ayr do in my opinion.

you should try building a team first

four goals in thirty minutes.......airdrie did not even turn up in the second half...nice curry sauce n chips mind.

I'm pretty sure its only a month. Month loan deals aren't really worthwhile if you ask me. It probably takes a few weeks to get settled in. Hopefully it's more than a month. Was he playing centre back yesterday as well?

Aye, if your an old man who sits with a rug over his knee and takes a flask of tea to the football.

what a nice man, thanks!! as was stated before....sour grapes all round me thinks.

I've nothing against Berwick or their fans, and I realise how tight the purse strings are at these clubs, but they dont seem to care about their paying customers - ie away fans. We were treated like animals, caged away in the remotest part of the ground with a restricted view. Same thing Ive already encountered at the Recs and Central Park. We dont get treated like that when we go to the Angus clubs.

not so much central due to the fact that no matter where ye stand there its remote and the recs is jus because of the no stand at the away end but I didnae mind standin there, either coz we slotted 6 by them or jus because yer right on a par wi the players and level wi them. but the angus clubs r great esp. County...a credit to the league but tut tut berwick...very inhospitable and not 1 of the spectacular away days out.

No - he had full game at right back.

That so called stadium is a bloody disgrace. Restricted View restricted toilet facilities. restricted lighting in the so called stand,A muddy exit through what can be best
described as a garden gate. Entrance through a door [no turnstile] a bloke standing at the top of the steps takes the cash and puts it in his pocket then hands out an old bus style ticket.Really poor facilities. Can't imagine how it manages to get a safety certificate well I can but best not say so here.

Maybee because there are tracks around the pitch. Didnt you notice? And the away terrace has as good a view as the home terrace.

You have a bit of a cheek moaning about the way you were treated at Shielfield. We visit Starks and have to pay an unbelievable £14 without even getting the chance to watch the game along the side of the pitch, and you can't stand up.

Id much rather stand on a grass bank and piss in a whole than pay £16 to watch a game in a dull legoland stadium with no atmosphere.

Nothing to do with the track. We were placed behind a high iron fence, a floodlight pylon with a transformer box halfway up it, blocking the top half of the pitch. At least at Stark's its the same arrangement for everyone and you get a decent view of the game.

There is loads of room well passed the fence. The away ducket is nearly half the length of the pitch. Why didnt you move for a better view?

I assume You'll be looking forward to the third division again then?

no there aint - its nothing like half the length of the pitch. theres another fence which prevents people getting further along. there is only a few yards of terracing and if i remember right doesnt even go as far as level with the 18 yd box.

Moving to the end of that made the angle tighter and the pillars more obstructive, unless you actually stood right at the plywood boards level with the pitch, ala the Recs.

Talking shite mate. Surely on the wind up.

You should go down there and see for yourself. The terracing is divided nothing like 50-50 - the away section behind the cage is only a small fraction of the home allocation.

Game was pretty dull after we went 4 nil up, berwick look as good as down there a poor team. Got a soft penalty which gave them a little bit of urgency for 10mins after that though we settled down and closed out the game pretty comfortably. As for slagging Airdrie fans the abuse we received in the terracing was shocking called "Scottish b*****ds" etc if this was the other way about we would have 5 pages on this board about it by now, but seeing as its berwick its alright. All in all Berwick shitey stadium, shitey team which is deserving of the 3rd division!!!

At least you get the chance to stand in the Ducket, we are allocated a section of the stand. I think we would prefer to be where you were.

Did this game sum up our season?

Looked dead and buried a third of the way though, outclassed by Airdrie.

Picked up in the second half, some nice stuff from Gemmi and Swanson, looked good fighting back but too little too late. Hope that's not an omen of our final league position...

Not sure what I wanted the Brechin - Ayr result to be, you'd expect Ayr to be better equipped to improve later in the season, but then you wouldn't expect Ayr to be down there in the first place (I didn't anyhow).

As for the "away" terracing, I've double checked on Google Earth and it goes along to beyond the six yard line though not right to the corner flag.

Point taken, dissapointed in the whole season so far, nothing against AUFC in particular.
Sadly, Shielfield is way past its best, but so was Broomfield if I remember, perhaps I was reminding you what price you paid to get your smart plastic seat under a cantilever stand roof, Berwick can be a great away day, as many team's fans will testify, its all in the attitude.

There is no real spot on either side of the ground that doesnt have a something in the way. High up in the Old enclosure (where you were I presume), is probably the best vantage point. The nearer the pitch, the more things get in the way.

It's funny, a trip to Berwick tends to be either a favourite away day or a least favourite away day for opposition fans, you either love us or hate us. At least the A1 road has improved...



Given some of our displays, maybe a full view of the pitch is a disadvantage for some supporters!

Could you give examples of "w**kerish" treatment you recieved yesterday?

I never seen any trouble the whole match, infact the only Berwick fan I encountered asked me the scores in the table. I, of course, told him.

Aside from the Santa steward, there was nothing remarkable that happened outwith the actual game of football. (Aside from the chant of "can you hear the English sing". Even I, being English-origin, found that amusing.)