Cowdenbeath (1) v Airdrie (2) - 15/3/03

AIRDRIE UNITED

Airdrie took command of the game very early on an looked the more accomplished team despite the rather weak look in defence. Any fears from the decent travelling support were soon quelled thanks mainly to an impressive display from young centre back Scott Wilson. His baptism to the senior game hasn't been easy following his disastrous pair of performances at Ochilview but he's steadily growing in confidence by the appearance. In fairness following on from Simon Vella and Kenny Brannigan has helped 'sell' him to the fans a lot easier. In his last couple of performances Wilson hasn't been tested too strongly defensively but his composure on the ball and his excellent distribution have been eye candy compared the usual 'punt' that we've been accustomed to for most of the last twelve years. Against the Fifers he showed a lot more defensively and did enough to give the fans a bit of hope for the future and hopefully next season's promotion charge. Oh, by the way, Airdrie took a first half lead through, for the second time in four days, Liam McVey. This carbon copy of his midweek goal was supplied this time by a spill from a Marvyn Wilson shot. McVey composed enough to head beyond the prone keeper. Surprisingly McVey didn't have a nosebleed either!

Second half the woeful Fifers added a bit of height to their attack midway through the half to ruffle Airdrie's lethargic attitude. Needless to say that reshuffle paid almost instant dividends as, ironically, Liam Buchannan, the small sub, he could look Jimmy Boyle square in the eye, nodded home as Airdrie's otherwise competent defence were posted missing. At this stage Airdrie may have bottled it as they'd missed a few good chances to kill off the game but as usual too many half chances were 'Verailled'. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Scott Wilson to be precise, and the youngster was supremely composed late on to sidefoot an awkward ball way out of the reach of the Cowden goalie for a fantastic matchwinning goal. The ugly duckling.......

Not the greatest performance ever. Far from it. But the result and more importantly, the statement of intent, were crucial. Sandy Stewart needed a win, any win, to halt the dissatisfaction on the terracing. There were a few comforting signs for him. The emergence of Scott Wilson, a return to form from Marvyn Wilson, and a ultimately too short spell from late sub Darren Miller must have been pleasing. It's hard to imaging Simon Vella displacing Wilson in defence. The shape of the team was infinitely better too. On Tuesday we were far too deep. This time out there was space for the wing backs to push forward and despite Gowser's nightmare form we looked a more compact unit. Dosser and Jerome were still starved of decent service (How many goals can they score chasing long balls into the corners?), but one step at a time I suppose. The worst thing for me was our failure to react quickly enough from the bench. When Cowden changed their shape and personnel it seemed to take forever for us to react. When we have players having stinkers (bearing in mind we only have three subs available) there's no great rush to improve things. Something for the boss to sort out I'd think. Can we now continue to recover without taking another step back? Tune in next week...