Match Report - By Grant Hood

Ray McKinnon took his Brechin City team to North Lanarkshire to face Gary Bollan’s Airdrieonians in a bid to extend the Glebe Parker’s unbeaten run to a hugely impressive 14 matches, full in the knowledge that a formidable challenge lay ahead. The Diamonds themselves came into the game on a league run which saw them with only one defeat in 9 and, despite City’s current form, the hosts had every reason to exude their own confidence having lost only once in the last 6 clashes against the men from The Glebe.

Following an idle previous weekend due to the disappointing postponement of an eagerly anticipated Glebe Park clash with Peterhead, the team line up remained largely unchanged from the previous outing at Stair Park where City had enjoyed a confidence-inducing 2-0 away victory against league leaders, Stranraer. The only change was the predictable inclusion of Robert Thomson spearheading the attack in place of Dundee’s Craig Wighton, who had returned to his parent club after his brief but impressive loan spell at City. New loanee signing from Aberdeen, 19-year-old Craig Storie, was listed amongst the substitutes in a team-sheet which also saw the welcome inclusion of long-term injury victim Calum Tapping.

With the floodlights on, and City in their dark blue away kit, the game started with banks of cleared snow at pitchside against a backdrop of a bright blue sky and a deceptively swirling wind – something which would continue to prove troublesome to both sets of players as the afternoon progressed. In the first meaningful exchange, former City frontman Jim Lister was close to latching on to a long through ball, but City keeper Graeme Smith was smartly off his line to intercept.

In the first controversy of the game, City midfielder Gary Fusco slid full length at the end of the penalty box to block a strike at goal from the homesters’ Dundee United loanee Scott Fraser. As the home crowd bayed for handball and a spot kick, referee Craig Charleston chose not to entertain this. The Diamonds’ Ross Docherty then saw a drive parried wide by City keeper Smith after "Buzz" had only been able to palm a dangerous inswinging corner partially clear.

The game was 13 minutes old when City created their first chance. Alan Trouten won possession in Airdrie’s penalty area following a long diagonal free kick from Paul McLean. His trickery created a shooting opportunity but, in looking to find the top right corner, failed to hit the target. Minutes later Robert Thomson headed wide left of the goal from a central area, following a driven cross from Gary Fusco.

It was 30 minutes in before City won their first of 5 corners on the day. A quality delivery from Bobby Barr on the left saw City with a not unreasonable penalty shout, as Colin Hamilton claimed he was impeded through shirt-tugging on the far post. Again, the referee was entirely dismissive.

On 36 minutes, the referee issued the first caution of the game, when he showed a yellow card to Airdrie’s Ross Docherty for handball. This raised the hackles of the home fans who maintained that Alan Trouten had committed a foul before their No 4 fell and clutched on to the ball. Further controversy ensued 2 minutes later as City keeper “Buzz” gathered possession of the ball in his 6 yard box amid claims of a pass-back with both McLean and McCormack in the vicinity. Despite the homesters’ protests, a free kick was awarded to the City custodian for a foul amongst the melee.

As a largely tepid first half drew to a close, it was City who came closest to opening the scoring. Some magnificent interplay on City’s left saw Robert Thomson expertly retain possession and link with Alan Trouten. His astute pass to City’s No 9 saw “Jacko” unleash a powerful shot, and his rising effort didn’t miss the home keeper Andy McNeil’s top left corner by much at all. The half concluded with one minute of added time, and this was enough to see Airdrie’s Marc Fitzpatrick shoot comfortably wide of the target from the left corner of City’s penalty box.

Both sets of supporters went into the half-time break doubtless reflecting on missed chances for both sides, wondering if their favourites could do enough to make a breakthrough in the second half and considering whether playing with or against the wind would prove to be a deciding factor. For City fans, the unpredictable wind would generally be in the visitors’ favour, with City playing towards the end of the stadium occupied by the outnumbered – but noisy – Glebe Park travelling faithful.

The first incident of note in the second half came as something of a surprise to everyone of a City persuasion. Keeper “Buzz” took an unpredictably poor touch to a fairly straight-forward back-pass, and only his sharp reactions to boot the ball clear from an onrushing home striker avoided a considerably worse City outcome. His clearance led to outstanding ball retention from Robert Thomson, but his good work was undone by City captain “Tiger” Molloy whose slack midfield pass was intercepted on Airdrie’s left. This in turn led to a threatening passage of play and a shot narrowly over City’s crossbar from inside the penalty area. In response, more impressive hold-up play from Robert Thomson from a Paul McLean clearance led to mesmerising close control from Alan Trouten on City’s right wing. His cross was slightly too high for Andy Jackson to control or flick on, and with that any threat on the home goal had dissipated.

Moments later, Airdrie threatened again, this time with Jim Lister cutting in from the left but shooting straight at City’s goalie. Then, in one of the most impressive passages of play in the match, a sweeping ball from left midfield reached Nathan Blockley on the right and his early driven ball across the face of City’s goal was only just out of reach of Jim Lister. As play swung to the other end an equally delicious driven cross from Bobby Barr was expertly grasped by Andy McNeil in the home goal.

The match was only a minute away from being an hour old when, to the delight of the travelling support, City took the lead. The hugely impressive Robert Thomson – clearly enjoying his first start since Airdrie’s visit to The Glebe in early December – won possession on City’s left midfield and cut in at pace. It took excellent back-tracking from the home defence to block his shot on the edge of the penalty box, but happily for the Glebe Parkers, the ball broke kindly to ALAN TROUTEN. Having exquisitely side stepped the on-rushing home goalkeeper, City’s top scorer returned to the top of the League One scoring charts, as he avoided the almost inevitable “professional” foul and, to the exultation of the travelling supporters (as well as his team-mates) , did enough to comfortably force the ball over the line and into the net from around 6 yards.

In an almost immediate response, Airdrie won a free-kick 25-yards out, and Scott Fraser’s strike wasn’t far over the bar. The next action was at the other end, when Robert Thomson met a Bobby Barr cross from the left, but couldn’t steer his headed effort on target. Shortly afterwards, Bobby Barr switched to the right and his tasty cross from a Paul McLean through ball earned City a corner. This led to a flurry of mis-kicks and somewhat unorthodox defensive challenges in the penalty area, before a Gerry McLauchlan hooked shot failed to trouble the keeper.

Ten minutes after City had taken the lead, The Diamonds equalised with a quite stunning strike. A diagonal ball into the visitors’ box led to a tussle between Colin Hamilton and Nathan Blockley. It appeared, momentarily, that “Hammy” had done just about enough to clear the immediate danger. What no-one had counted on was that Airdrie full-back JAMIE BAIN would stride forward unchallenged to connect with the loose ball from some 30 yards and unleash an outstanding thunderbolt of a shot into Buzz’s top left corner. The equaliser was as unstoppable as it was unexpected as, in the aftermath of City’s opener, most in the stadium would have expected the second goal to be for the visitors.

As the wisest of soccer pundits now queue up to say, “goals change games”, and it was certainly true now as City faced up to something of a barrage from an Airdrieonians side now brimming with confidence. Despite this, the Glebe Parkers were far from spent as an attacking force as Robert Thomson once again retained possession and slotted a pass through to Andy Jackson who advanced to a threatening position on City’s right. Rather than simply play a conventional cross ball, “Jacko” dinked a clever cut-back towards Thomson around the penalty spot, who adjusted his feet and sent a spectacular bicycle kick effort not far wide of the home keeper’s left hand post.

This was to be Thomson’s last involvement in the game as on 73 minutes he was replaced by debutant loanee Craig Storie, who was doubtless revelling in his opportunity make his first City appearance at Airdrie – not a million miles away from his home town of Carluke. Craig was warmly welcomed on to the pitch by City's travelling support, who were doubtless keen to see exactly what City's latest loanee could bring to the side. Four minutes later, Gary Bollan made his only substitution of the match with Scott Gray replacing Marc Fitzpatrick.

As the match entered its final 10 minutes, the atmosphere in the stadium changed as anxiety grew amongst the home support. Most of the vitriol was aimed at former Airdrie player Alan Trouten as Bryan Gilfillan went down (not for the first time) amidst the claims of a flailing arm. The wrath of the home support seemed to fuel the on-field tension with a series of dubious midfield clashes ultimately resulting in a frank and lengthy exchange of views between the referee and The Diamonds Manager, Gary Bollan.

With only 6 minutes remaining, City keeper Smith produced an outstanding save when, with City defenders looking on, he advanced to block a drive from 8 yards following a threatening dance through City’s rearguard from Paddy Boyle. Just after Craig Storie received City’s only yellow card of the day, history nearly repeated itself when Jamie Bain, understandably enthused by his earlier outrageous strike, evaded 3 City challenges and ‘pinged’ another effort from a similar range – albeit somewhat less threatening – towards the same top corner. To the relief of the City following, Buzz grasped this effort quite comfortably.

In a quite frenetic finish, with both sides looking to clinch 3 points, the action was far from over for the diehard supporters of both teams. With a minute to go, Paddy Boyle was cautioned for a quite reckless challenge on an advancing Alan Trouten 5 yards or so outside the penalty box. With City loading the home penalty area in strong numbers, Colin Hamilton’s strike at goal went a yard or two over without troubling the keeper.

As the game progressed past 90 minutes, City’s defence saw out 2 more particularly dangerous driven crosses, resulting in a couple of corners on Airdrie’s left. The first of these saw a terrific delivery from Ross Docherty met on the run and directed goalwards by Luca Gasparotto at the front of the 6-yard box. As the home faithful rose to their feet as one to celebrate a sensational winner, City’s keeper Graeme Smith somehow found sufficient reaction time and agility to divert Luca's netbound effort over his crossbar. The resultant corner was defended at the near post altogether more comfortably, and the loose ball saw Bobby Barr take possession and drive City up to the other end with an outstanding lung-bursting 70-yard run. With 2 minutes of added time played, the referee’s whistle drew the game to a conclusion.

Manager Ray McKinnon’s team left The Excelsior Stadium with a hard-earned point in challenging conditions, but with the unbeaten run joyously extended to 14 games. Both sets of supporters doubtless felt their team might just have secured 3 points which, in itself is serves to validate that a draw was probably the right result. City are entitled to feel that a point at the home of a dangerous Airdrieonians side is a point more than many rivals will leave with during the remainder of the season. With fourth place still intact in a league which sees the intrigue increasing as each week passes, the thoughts of City’s Management Team and players will now turn to the quite enticing prospect of tackling Championship side Falkirk next Saturday in the Fifth Round of this season’s William Hill Scottish Cup.

Other Results - Scottish League One

Ayr United 0 Dunfermline Athletic 2

Good Away Win For Pars

Forfar Athletic 1 Morton 2

Ton Edge Home At Forfar

Peterhead 2 Stenhousemuir 0

Blue Toon Too Strong For Warriors

Stranraer 1 Stirling Albion 0

One Goal Enough For Blues