The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[Aufc]

Huge game on saturday now

[Eric the half a b]

Best team win last night more positive with 2 up front still one or two passengers. Really enjoyed the game .... or the parts the camera followed

[Jack Reed]

Great win, been critical of Roy but have to say his work rate last night is what we need, we have got  to play attacking football at home, if we get beat at least we have given it a go not waiting on opposition attacking us and scoring, we get our formation right and we will be a handful  for any team in this league , 

[Old Diamond]

Don't know what was more enjoyable, the win last night or the incredible seethe from Falkirk and Partick "supporters" post match and this morning, makes our criticism of Murray look like some friendly banter.  Some of the comments on those other threads are jaw dropping - "Do a Clydebank" WTF?

[AndyDD]

Well. 

I'm really going to miss those tragic c***s if they do stagger over the line and go up. Will be like starting the season on minus points. 

It was a shame about the camera issues because that was a really rather enjoyable game of football. Played at a good tempo, both teams with chances, at times trading attack for attack. Quite an absorbing watch. Sadly a lot of the chances were either hard to see due to the sun or missed entirely by the cameras in what was the worst showing from pixelott since pre-season. Especially bad in the first half. 

Brilliant result and very heartening performance. Murray got the team and tactics spot on. Having failed to double our lead despite what looked (and sounded) like very good chances to do so, I was definitely fearing another Thistle situation, especially when they scored on the break. This time, however, we didn't throw the game away second half. Max Currie makes the save (not the best penalty you'll see but Currie still has to save it) and Dale Carrick scores a goal that might have fundamentally refloated our boat. Perfectly hit penalty. 

Turner is too good for this league, but great showings also from Ally Roy and Gal up top, O'Reilly, McCann and Crighton. Falkirk did us a big favour by playing to the advantages of our centre halves; Fordyce and Crighton won most if not all of the balls into the box. They also did us a favour by changing things up when we were flagging, albeit the boost we clearly got after the penalty save might have had almost as much of an impact as their quite perplexing (and utterly hilarious) switch up on our belief and energy level. 

Absolutely delighted with that performance and win. Montrose is going to be a really tough game on Saturday but if we replicate that performance we will win the match. What a bonkers league. What a bonkers team. I love it. 

[Eric the half a b]

15 minutes ago, Old Diamond said:

Don't know what was more enjoyable, the win last night or the incredible seethe from Falkirk and Partick "supporters" post match and this morning, makes our criticism of Murray look like some friendly banter.  Some of the comments on those other threads are jaw dropping - "Do a Clydebank" WTF?

Was surprised at the level of discontent in the buildup from Falkirk fans considering top if the league. If you look at other threads take Cove, Montrose and to a lesser extent East Fife every other fan base want their manager out and compared to most we are quite civilised.... but then they are not in the same class as the diamonds fans

[airdrieman]

Falkirk's inability to beat ourselves or any other full-time side in League 1 is one of the funniest ongoing storylines in Scottish football. Tremendous.

On the game itself, that's as good as we've played in a long time. Turner makes a world of a difference in that midfield. Composed on the ball, always looking to go forward and able to pick out a pass and can muck in with the dirty stuff too. He's far too good for this level but if we'd had a player even like him for the whole season we'd be much more comfortable in a play-off position or better. Hopefully him and Paton will get to play together in the midfield at some point. That's three goals in three games for Ally Roy now. One swallow doesn't make a summer but he looks as if he's playing with confidence and found a bit of form. And as they say, there's no better time to have found a bit of form. Like Turner, we've been crying out for a consistent goal-scorer all season so if he can keep this up he'll make a big difference in our remaining games also. Crighton, Fordyce and McCann were back to something close to their best. Gallagher put in a hell of a shift upfront. He needs a goal but that's also probably as good as he's played in a while. O'Reilly has looked a different player since the re-start. His final ball still isn't quite where we'd want or need it to be but he's causing teams bother with his pace and running the ball into dangerous areas of the park, which at this level can be enough. Having several options for the starting XI and off the bench again makes a huge difference compared to where we were earlier in the season and should hopefully offer an advantage to us in our remaining games. Encouraging that, unlike against Thistle, we kept the heads up after the equaliser and didn't capitulate as I feared we might. 

There are still some obvious problems, however. We're still getting cut open way too easily on the counter-attack. It's a problem that's cost us several goals now and we need to fix it. And Jack McKay... I just don't see what he brings to the team at all. Sloppy and gets caught out far too easily at the back. And he doesn't create or take chances going forward. In fairness to him, he isn't a right-back or winger (and he's not a striker either says you) but he's the obvious weak link and as long as he continues to play it's going to continue to be a problem. 

Our inconsistency is so frustrating. There's no reason why we can't go on and win all of our remaining games. And we could easily do. But we could just as easily lose them all and find ourselves in the bottom-half come the split. We've been here with Murray before. A run of dreadful and insipid performances and results followed by a run of great results and performances. Not being able to put a good run together is infuriating as there isn't a good or consistent team in this league. For example, we're only 6 points off the top now. If we'd beat Thistle and won even a couple of other games that we lost this season we could be top... 

[AndyDD]

13 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

Not being able to put a good run together is infuriating as there isn't a good or consistent team in this league. 

Good post and agree with what you're saying but I think you've rather answered yourself, here. 

Nobody in this league is consistent and that includes us. Consistent teams are rarely to be found in the third tier and this frustration we have, that we can't put a consistent run of results together, applies to more or less every team across the division. 

If we can get a win on Saturday it will be huge because we'll then have Forfar, and that would be a great chance to suddenly go 4 wins on the bounce at a great time in the season. Going to be tough at Montrose, though. Very tough. 

We showed last night that we have it in us, so here's hoping. If Paton is back, having him and Turner could be huge for us. 

[TheBuckfastTriangle]

There'll be a few of our group feeling a lot better after the last 2 games. I was reluctant (and still am!) to say we've turned a corner, but even in terms of confidence the dressing room must be a much different place to a week ago. Roy has found some form, O'Reilly and Thomson have started contributing in terms of assists and at the back Currie has managed a clean sheet and a penalty save in his last two - all of which will do them the world of good. It helps Murray out too as, like @airdrieman has mentioned, there's been long periods where we've not looked too clever in terms of depth and suddenly there's a number of in form options.

We were the big winners last night but we really do need to carry it forward over the next few with only 3 points separating 7th and 3rd. Top half before the "split" is going to be extremely tight but with the top half still to play again and Cove to play Falkirk before then it really could be anyone's for the taking - so it really is vital we make the cut. Some momentum from Montrose and Forfar would be great as the East Fife game could well be a "winner takes all" for the top half.

[Ballboy]

Hope something will be done about the TV camera for future games.   At this time of year with the low sun we can expect this again everytime the suns out.  

[Caro-Kann]

1 hour ago, Ballboy said:

Hope something will be done about the TV camera for future games.   At this time of year with the low sun we can expect this again everytime the suns out.  

I wish they could take account of this when scheduling the kick-off time. Ok, a clear blue sky over Airdrie might not be too common but it does happen every now and again!

[Mr November]

I quite enjoyed watching this. I forgot Falkirk played such great, free-flowing football, it’s a disgrace that Airdrie like to use long throws which Falkirk consistently can’t deal with.

[gav-ffc]

1 minute ago, Mr November said:

I quite enjoyed watching this. I forgot Falkirk played such great, free-flowing football, it’s a disgrace that Airdrie like to use long throws which Falkirk consistently can’t deal with.

Real lack of class and 99% of our fans will agree. He and Miller played in a Falkirk team who constantly launched long throws under Houston. Embarrassing.

[AndyDD]

^The sort of deflection that won't fool anyone. 

Falkirk fans won't be buying that pile of pish off the guy. They know what the say (well, sunset and camera notwithstanding)

[Eric the half a b]

33 minutes ago, gav-ffc said:

Real lack of class and 99% of our fans will agree. He and Miller played in a Falkirk team who constantly launched long throws under Houston. Embarrassing.

Is a bit of sour grape deflection. I was surprised by the comments from Falkirk fans before the game concerning your  management team. was as bad as our moans on here however when going 2-1 down and Miller came on he totally lost the plot charging around like a bull in a China shop with game plan out the window that attitude must impact the other players until then it was a close game

[el Gringo]

Falkirk: “Airdrie are no too interested in playing football”

Airdrie: Beat Falkirk home and away at *checks notes*... football.

[Chapelhall chap]

Always a well know silky football centre bank,(?) he appears to think opponents who he fails to beat over the last 2 seasons, are not playing football. Everyone is entitled to analyse games but it looks like deflection.  He talks of opportunities and had I been able to see through the glare I suspect Airdrie had as many chances and Mutch seemed to have more vital saves?  

[Eric the half a b]

10 minutes ago, Chapelhall chap said:

Always a well know silky football centre bank,(?) he appears to think opponents who he fails to beat over the last 2 seasons, are not playing football. Everyone is entitled to analyse games but it looks like deflection.  He talks of opportunities and had I been able to see through the glare I suspect Airdrie had as many chances and Mutch seemed to have more vital saves?  

Your spot on thought Airdrie were deserved winners

[Passionate]

3 hours ago, Mr November said:

I quite enjoyed watching this. I forgot Falkirk played such great, free-flowing football, it’s a disgrace that Airdrie like to use long throws which Falkirk consistently can’t deal with.

McCracken a deluded p***k....

 

Gary Holt must be close to pulling the trigger on those two...I

 

 

[Chapelhall chap]

East Fife lose away to Dumbarton who score 2 goals!  Forfar get thumped by Clyde. East Fife have a very poor away record and Forfar are being cut adrift@ all this makes our visit to Montrose really important.  Up against a well drilled and compact side but they could not score at Dumbarton so maybe up front they are not so great?