Airdrie United v Beith Juniors
Scottish Cup 3rd Round
Saturday 20th November
I wake up feeling slightly worse for wear , it's self inflicted as I was out at a friends last night playing darts & Guitar Hero till 3.30am and walked from Stockbridge to my flat and got to bed about 4.30am. I could have done without the 9.15am wake up call but needs must as I'm off to sort my barnet.
After surprising my girlfriend with breakfast upon my return from the hairdressers, I decide to surprise my dad by turning up before my 12.45pm pick-up deadline. For the first time in a long time he's not sat in the car waiting for me when I get there. Instead he's sat in front of the TV raging at the Kilmarnock keeper for his part in the awarding of a penalty just on half time for Rangers at Rugby Park.
We set off just before one for the short drive over to Airdrie to meet my Uncle Raymond and take in the 3rd round clash between Airdrie United and Beith Juniors in the Scottish Cup. Last time my dad and I saw Airdrie was up at Forfar in September. Airdrie had some great young players on show that day and I'm looking forward to seeing how they get on today. My dad and Raymond are from Ayrshire, both are supporting Beith today and would rather they sat in with the away fans but for the purposes of the blog are happy to sit in with the home support.
We arrive at the ground just before 2pm, Raymond rolls up in his car about ten minutes later. It's far too cold to think about venturing into the ground yet so he comes and sits in the warmth of our car. My dad and Uncle are just like any brothers as it seems as they soon start winding each other about a variety of subjects.
As the kick off time approaches we leave the warmth of the car to go take the required photo outside the ground and visit the Club shop so my dad can purchase his pin badge before we go through the turnstiles.
Before we take our seats we take the now traditional pre-match pie. Straight away just from looking at it I can tell it's going to be a disappointing affair. You can tell Raymond is just a novice at this pie tasting lark as he comments on it being a good pie. My dad and I look at each other in disbelief at this and explain to him that he's wrong. Sure, it may have a decent crust and it is boiling but it's way too dry.
Excelsior Stadium looks like it's been put together using red, white and black Lego bricks, it's open at all four corners and the wind just rips through it. Here's hoping we're in for an exciting game to warm us up.
There's quite a large away following and my dad reckons it must be empty in Beith this afternoon. There quite a noisy and boisterous bunch too with their hooters, banners and beach balls. It's unsurprising then that they're the first to sing us a song, a nice rendition of 'What a shitty home support!'.
As Airdrie run out I'm disappointed to see that their teenage prodigy Tony Watt is only on the bench. Reading the papers you'll see that Watt has been on trial at Liverpool and Celtic already this season. My dad reckons Jimmy Boyle, the Airdrie Manager, doesn't want to risk him against a junior side.
It[s a decent start to the game with both keepers being called into action within the first ten minutes. Airdrie are utilising the pace of their front three by playing the ball over the top of the last defender so they can run on to it. Beith are happier to play the ball to feet and try and play round their league opponents.
Airdrie's Devlin tries his luck cutting in from the left wing to smash a shot at goal, Robertson does brilliantly to tip it round the post, nothing comes from the corner. Up the other end of the park, Martin Stewart has a great chance to score when he runs on to a through ball only ten yards from goal but he somehow manages to get the ball tangled up in his feet and the chance has gone.
Airdrie beginning to take hold of the game and it's Jamie Stevenson who's next to try his luck but this time his shot is easily saved. Moments later Gary Muir bursts from his own half and is blatantly chopped down in full flight by a Beith defender. Sheridan will consider himself a lucky boy to have a defender behind him otherwise it would have a red card he got and not a yellow.
The Beith fans haven't stopped singing and dancing all game and the Airdrie stewards are having a tough time getting them to sit in their seats.
Airdrie go closest yet when Chris Craig cuts in off the left and smashes in a drive which scrapes the top of the bar and goes over. Ryan Wallace then forces the Beith keeper into another save and from the corner, Paul Lovering heads against the bar. Craig is booked moments later for a bad tackle as he went straight through the Beith player.
Beith score just after the half hour mark, great work by Joe Bradley, who Raymond tells me started his career with Celtic, on the right wing passes to Stewart who plays a delightful ball in behind the Airdrie defence. Brian McKeown is onto it in a flash and slots his finish into the bottom corner. The away fans go mental, the home fans aren't to happy.
A horrible challenge on Ryan McCord leads to Sheridan receiving a booking. The home fans think this should have been red however. It was a bad tackle but only worthy of a yellow.
Beith are much better now that they've gone a goal in front and they are playing great one touch football. It's just a shame for them that the half time whistle comes to soon.
I take the opportunity to buy us all another pie, Raymond blouses out and settles for a cup of tea. Poor show eh?
The Airdrie manager decides it's time for the wonder kid to come on as Tony Watt emerges from the tunnel minus his tracksuit. The home fans are delighted to see him take the park. I'm happy to as he's been one of the stand out players I've seen so far.
Airdrie force a corner within the first thirty seconds of the second half, unfortunately Gibson heads over. On the hour mark Marc Ridgers in the Airdrie goal saves his team going two behind when he reaches out to tip the ball off the head of the attacker.
You can feel the tension in the ground. Everyone supporting Airdrie must be thinking that their team could be the next to fall to a junior side. Remember the last round when Albion Rovers got beat by Sunnybank.
Watt had the chance to level when he found himself all alone at the back post as a cross came over, but all he managed was to head the ball two yards wide. It was a bad miss made even worse moments later as Beith scored a second.
Bradley played a great ball between two defenders and the pacey Kenny McLean raced onto the ball and toe-poked the ball beyond the keeper as he raced out of his area. The away fans go mental. The home fans are outraged. One Airdrie fan sat just in front of us starts clapping the Beith goal before launching in to a vicious tirade at the Airdrie management team.
Airdrie are just holding on now and are really lucky not to go three down when a long free kick out of the Beith defense is ignored by the Airdrie defence and Bradley races onto it. He takes the ball round the keeper but hits it a bit hard and by the time he catches up to the ball he can only hit it against the outside of the past and wide. Some Airdrie fans have started clapping the away side.
The game turns on its head with thirteen minutes to go. Airdrie's Lovering and Beith's McShane go for a 50-50 ball and McShane wins it and the ball goes out. Lovering launches himself into the air as the players clashed and then goes into his gymnastic routine rolling over and over.
The home fans are baying for blood, and the home players surround the ref screaming for a red card. We're with the Beith fans and bench, disgusted at the Airdrie left back. Unbelievably the ref reaches into his pocket and pulls out a red card and sends McShane off. As soon as this happens Lovering jumps to his feet and makes his way into the box.
The resulting free kick is whipped in and Lovering guides a back header into the top corner from six yards out. He then has the nerve to celebrate by running right pass the away bench who not surprisingly rise to this provocation and the linesman and stewards have to step in. It's moments like this in football that really make you mad. What a cheat!
Airdrie should have equalised minutes later when cross is headed goal wards by Lovering and Bain tried to knock it in but only managed to sky it over the bar.
With three minutes to go Beith's McKeown played the ball to Spence who had a great chance to win it but only managed to push his shot into the side netting. The whole Beith bench were up on their feet thinking it had gone in.
There are no fourth officials outside the SPL and as a result we've no idea how much injury time will be played. If there is any justice the referee should atone for his previous error and blow his whistle now. He doesn't and in the third minute of injury time a Bain shot is wickedly deflected past the Beith keeper and nestles in the net.
Bain sprints to the home fans, who spill on to the pitch in celebration. Some idiot near us runs down the stairs to the Beith dug out and screams at their management team. He doesn't have the bottle to hang about though and turns and runs away when the assistant manager reaches out for him.
Seconds later the referee whistles for full time. Never have I felt more injustice at the final whistle. Beith were by far the better team and did not deserve to be going away with just a draw.
I was really disappointed with the Airdrie performance, I'd gone there expecting to be entertained and I've come away feeling cheated. God knows how the Beith supporters feel, I hope they get the victory their team deserve in the replay.
The Statistics
Ticket: Adult £15, Concession £10
Programme: £2
Attendance: 1,412
Pie: £1.50
Pie Marks: 6.5 / 10
Man of the Match: Dad - Kenny McLean, Raymond - John Sheriden, Me - Joe Bradley (All Beith Juniors players)
Final Score: Airdrie United 2 v Beith Juniors 2
Mileage: 67 miles
Fascinating Fact of the Day: Many people think Airdrie United are a re-incarnation of the old Airdrieonians who went bust in 2002. They are in fact a re-incarnation of Clydebank. A local Airdrie business man bought Clydebank when they too were in financial difficulty, moved the club to Airdrie and he called them Airdrie United.
Next Game: Ibrox Park aka Castle Greyskull (Rangers)
Scottish Cup 3rd Round
Saturday 20th November
I wake up feeling slightly worse for wear , it's self inflicted as I was out at a friends last night playing darts & Guitar Hero till 3.30am and walked from Stockbridge to my flat and got to bed about 4.30am. I could have done without the 9.15am wake up call but needs must as I'm off to sort my barnet.
After surprising my girlfriend with breakfast upon my return from the hairdressers, I decide to surprise my dad by turning up before my 12.45pm pick-up deadline. For the first time in a long time he's not sat in the car waiting for me when I get there. Instead he's sat in front of the TV raging at the Kilmarnock keeper for his part in the awarding of a penalty just on half time for Rangers at Rugby Park.
We set off just before one for the short drive over to Airdrie to meet my Uncle Raymond and take in the 3rd round clash between Airdrie United and Beith Juniors in the Scottish Cup. Last time my dad and I saw Airdrie was up at Forfar in September. Airdrie had some great young players on show that day and I'm looking forward to seeing how they get on today. My dad and Raymond are from Ayrshire, both are supporting Beith today and would rather they sat in with the away fans but for the purposes of the blog are happy to sit in with the home support.
We arrive at the ground just before 2pm, Raymond rolls up in his car about ten minutes later. It's far too cold to think about venturing into the ground yet so he comes and sits in the warmth of our car. My dad and Uncle are just like any brothers as it seems as they soon start winding each other about a variety of subjects.
As the kick off time approaches we leave the warmth of the car to go take the required photo outside the ground and visit the Club shop so my dad can purchase his pin badge before we go through the turnstiles.
Before we take our seats we take the now traditional pre-match pie. Straight away just from looking at it I can tell it's going to be a disappointing affair. You can tell Raymond is just a novice at this pie tasting lark as he comments on it being a good pie. My dad and I look at each other in disbelief at this and explain to him that he's wrong. Sure, it may have a decent crust and it is boiling but it's way too dry.
Excelsior Stadium looks like it's been put together using red, white and black Lego bricks, it's open at all four corners and the wind just rips through it. Here's hoping we're in for an exciting game to warm us up.
There's quite a large away following and my dad reckons it must be empty in Beith this afternoon. There quite a noisy and boisterous bunch too with their hooters, banners and beach balls. It's unsurprising then that they're the first to sing us a song, a nice rendition of 'What a shitty home support!'.
As Airdrie run out I'm disappointed to see that their teenage prodigy Tony Watt is only on the bench. Reading the papers you'll see that Watt has been on trial at Liverpool and Celtic already this season. My dad reckons Jimmy Boyle, the Airdrie Manager, doesn't want to risk him against a junior side.
It[s a decent start to the game with both keepers being called into action within the first ten minutes. Airdrie are utilising the pace of their front three by playing the ball over the top of the last defender so they can run on to it. Beith are happier to play the ball to feet and try and play round their league opponents.
Airdrie's Devlin tries his luck cutting in from the left wing to smash a shot at goal, Robertson does brilliantly to tip it round the post, nothing comes from the corner. Up the other end of the park, Martin Stewart has a great chance to score when he runs on to a through ball only ten yards from goal but he somehow manages to get the ball tangled up in his feet and the chance has gone.
Airdrie beginning to take hold of the game and it's Jamie Stevenson who's next to try his luck but this time his shot is easily saved. Moments later Gary Muir bursts from his own half and is blatantly chopped down in full flight by a Beith defender. Sheridan will consider himself a lucky boy to have a defender behind him otherwise it would have a red card he got and not a yellow.
The Beith fans haven't stopped singing and dancing all game and the Airdrie stewards are having a tough time getting them to sit in their seats.
Airdrie go closest yet when Chris Craig cuts in off the left and smashes in a drive which scrapes the top of the bar and goes over. Ryan Wallace then forces the Beith keeper into another save and from the corner, Paul Lovering heads against the bar. Craig is booked moments later for a bad tackle as he went straight through the Beith player.
Beith score just after the half hour mark, great work by Joe Bradley, who Raymond tells me started his career with Celtic, on the right wing passes to Stewart who plays a delightful ball in behind the Airdrie defence. Brian McKeown is onto it in a flash and slots his finish into the bottom corner. The away fans go mental, the home fans aren't to happy.
A horrible challenge on Ryan McCord leads to Sheridan receiving a booking. The home fans think this should have been red however. It was a bad tackle but only worthy of a yellow.
Beith are much better now that they've gone a goal in front and they are playing great one touch football. It's just a shame for them that the half time whistle comes to soon.
I take the opportunity to buy us all another pie, Raymond blouses out and settles for a cup of tea. Poor show eh?
The Airdrie manager decides it's time for the wonder kid to come on as Tony Watt emerges from the tunnel minus his tracksuit. The home fans are delighted to see him take the park. I'm happy to as he's been one of the stand out players I've seen so far.
Airdrie force a corner within the first thirty seconds of the second half, unfortunately Gibson heads over. On the hour mark Marc Ridgers in the Airdrie goal saves his team going two behind when he reaches out to tip the ball off the head of the attacker.
You can feel the tension in the ground. Everyone supporting Airdrie must be thinking that their team could be the next to fall to a junior side. Remember the last round when Albion Rovers got beat by Sunnybank.
Watt had the chance to level when he found himself all alone at the back post as a cross came over, but all he managed was to head the ball two yards wide. It was a bad miss made even worse moments later as Beith scored a second.
Bradley played a great ball between two defenders and the pacey Kenny McLean raced onto the ball and toe-poked the ball beyond the keeper as he raced out of his area. The away fans go mental. The home fans are outraged. One Airdrie fan sat just in front of us starts clapping the Beith goal before launching in to a vicious tirade at the Airdrie management team.
Airdrie are just holding on now and are really lucky not to go three down when a long free kick out of the Beith defense is ignored by the Airdrie defence and Bradley races onto it. He takes the ball round the keeper but hits it a bit hard and by the time he catches up to the ball he can only hit it against the outside of the past and wide. Some Airdrie fans have started clapping the away side.
The game turns on its head with thirteen minutes to go. Airdrie's Lovering and Beith's McShane go for a 50-50 ball and McShane wins it and the ball goes out. Lovering launches himself into the air as the players clashed and then goes into his gymnastic routine rolling over and over.
The home fans are baying for blood, and the home players surround the ref screaming for a red card. We're with the Beith fans and bench, disgusted at the Airdrie left back. Unbelievably the ref reaches into his pocket and pulls out a red card and sends McShane off. As soon as this happens Lovering jumps to his feet and makes his way into the box.
The resulting free kick is whipped in and Lovering guides a back header into the top corner from six yards out. He then has the nerve to celebrate by running right pass the away bench who not surprisingly rise to this provocation and the linesman and stewards have to step in. It's moments like this in football that really make you mad. What a cheat!
Airdrie should have equalised minutes later when cross is headed goal wards by Lovering and Bain tried to knock it in but only managed to sky it over the bar.
With three minutes to go Beith's McKeown played the ball to Spence who had a great chance to win it but only managed to push his shot into the side netting. The whole Beith bench were up on their feet thinking it had gone in.
There are no fourth officials outside the SPL and as a result we've no idea how much injury time will be played. If there is any justice the referee should atone for his previous error and blow his whistle now. He doesn't and in the third minute of injury time a Bain shot is wickedly deflected past the Beith keeper and nestles in the net.
Bain sprints to the home fans, who spill on to the pitch in celebration. Some idiot near us runs down the stairs to the Beith dug out and screams at their management team. He doesn't have the bottle to hang about though and turns and runs away when the assistant manager reaches out for him.
Seconds later the referee whistles for full time. Never have I felt more injustice at the final whistle. Beith were by far the better team and did not deserve to be going away with just a draw.
I was really disappointed with the Airdrie performance, I'd gone there expecting to be entertained and I've come away feeling cheated. God knows how the Beith supporters feel, I hope they get the victory their team deserve in the replay.
The Statistics
Ticket: Adult £15, Concession £10
Programme: £2
Attendance: 1,412
Pie: £1.50
Pie Marks: 6.5 / 10
Man of the Match: Dad - Kenny McLean, Raymond - John Sheriden, Me - Joe Bradley (All Beith Juniors players)
Final Score: Airdrie United 2 v Beith Juniors 2
Mileage: 67 miles
Fascinating Fact of the Day: Many people think Airdrie United are a re-incarnation of the old Airdrieonians who went bust in 2002. They are in fact a re-incarnation of Clydebank. A local Airdrie business man bought Clydebank when they too were in financial difficulty, moved the club to Airdrie and he called them Airdrie United.
Next Game: Ibrox Park aka Castle Greyskull (Rangers)
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