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Good news and bad news in March, we secured first division football but word from on high that our home crowds have been disappointing this season. This news seemed to shock many of the visitors to site and some of our opposition - visiting Bankies fans took great pleasure in winding our own fans up.
League Table as of the end of February
| 1 |
Falkirk |
30 |
19 |
9 |
2 |
59 |
25 |
66 |
| 2 |
Clyde |
30 |
15 |
10 |
5 |
32 |
23 |
55 |
| 3 |
St.Mirren |
30 |
10 |
14 |
6 |
30 |
22 |
44 |
| 4 |
Airdrie Utd. |
30 |
12 |
7 |
11 |
39 |
40 |
43 |
| 5 |
St.Johnstone |
30 |
11 |
8 |
11 |
33 |
32 |
41 |
| 6 |
QOS |
30 |
11 |
7 |
12 |
27 |
31 |
40 |
| 7 |
Ross County |
30 |
11 |
6 |
13 |
33 |
31 |
39 |
| 8 |
Hamilton |
30 |
9 |
9 |
12 |
26 |
31 |
36 |
| 9 |
Partick Thistle |
30 |
8 |
8 |
14 |
33 |
42 |
32 |
| 10 |
Raith Rovers |
30 |
2 |
6 |
22 |
23 |
58 |
12 |
|
We dropped one position in the league this month, having taken our place in the league to third we now find ourselves sitting behind St Mirren and fourth is a comfortable position to build on for next season.
Matches and Results:
Click the opponents for Stomp Match reports
|
Sat Mar 5 |
|
A |
0 - 0 |
|
Sat Mar 8 |
|
H |
1 - 0 |
|
Sat Mar 12 |
|
H |
2 - 2 |
|
Sat Mar 19 |
|
H |
2 - 4 |
March was a month of highs and lows and both at opposite ends of the month. Having missed the Queen of the South fixture it was described as being the worst match of the season, with maybe only three goals on target for the full 90 minutes.
The re-arranged Hamilton match finally took place and it seemed that a section of Airdrie fans had decided that it was more important to sit at home and watch a Champions League than to see the club securing first division football. Our average attendances have been around 1600 home fans this dropped to less than 1200. Was the Chelsea match a deciding factor? Is this what we are competing against trying to build a future for the club? Any way we won thanks to an Alan Gow last minute goal and that has more or less done it for us.
Our next match against Falkirk we saw how much our team has improved over the season. We had lost our previous three games against the league champions in waiting and to hold them to a draw was a decent display.
Then finally we have the visit of Clyde from the worst game of the season against Queen of the South to by far the worst defensive display this season. The first 20 minutes had all the makings of a classic and I suppose for Clyde it will be but to lose to them four - two at home was a sore one.
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Average Attendance Rankings
Before March |
| |
Team |
Pld |
Total |
Highest |
Average |
| 1 |
Partick Thistle (9) |
13 |
47678 |
5157 |
3668 |
| 2 |
Falkirk (1) |
12 |
43950 |
4491 |
3663 |
| 3 |
St Mirren (4) |
14 |
47366 |
4711 |
3383 |
| 4 |
St Johnstone (5) |
13 |
32815 |
3835 |
2524 |
| 5 |
Ross County (7) |
12 |
30242 |
3151 |
2520 |
| 6 |
Hamilton Academical (8) |
14 |
30014 |
3543 |
2144 |
| 7 |
Queen of the South (6) |
13 |
26406 |
2734 |
2031 |
| 8 |
Airdrie United (3) |
13 |
26336 |
3245 |
2026 |
| 9 |
Raith Rovers (10) |
13 |
23703 |
3050 |
1823 |
| 10 |
Clyde (2) |
12 |
21151 |
3800 |
1763 |
Average Attendance Rankings
After March
| |
Team |
Pld |
Total |
Highest |
Average |
| 1 |
Falkirk (1) |
14 |
51949 |
4491 |
3711 |
| 2 |
Ross County (7) |
14 |
33627 |
3151 |
2402 |
| 3 |
Hamilton Academical (8) |
16 |
31964 |
3543 |
1998 |
| 4 |
Queen of the South (6) |
15 |
29492 |
2734 |
1966 |
| 5 |
St Mirren (3) |
15 |
50102 |
4711 |
3340 |
| 6 |
Partick Thistle (9) |
15 |
50617 |
5157 |
3374 |
| 7 |
St Johnstone (5) |
15 |
34647 |
3835 |
2310 |
| 8 |
Clyde (2) |
15 |
23862 |
3800 |
1591 |
| 9 |
Airdrie United (4) |
16 |
30877 |
3245 |
1930 |
| 10 |
Raith Rovers (10) |
15 |
25053 |
3050 |
1670 |
We had debated in February the need to improve our standing in the community with a need to bring more fans to the games, it seems this discussion was all for nought. After three games our average attendance dropped by almost 100 are there reasons for this?
So as some would love us to believe all is doom and gloom and there is no way forward for us. Average gates of 2000 are not going to enable us to bring in over paid players and thus we are stuck with a budget that is going to see us doing what? Who knows we are building a future and I defy anyone to guess accurately where we can go.
Sorry to be optimistic about our future but I for one refuse to lie down and go gently.
April Fixtures
|
Sat Apr 2 |
Ross County |
A |
|
Sat Apr 9 |
Hamilton Academical |
A |
|
Sat Apr 16 |
St. Mirren |
H |
|
Sat Apr 23 |
St. Johnstone |
A |
|
Sat Apr 30 |
Partick Thistle |
H |
So five games in April leading to the May and our final game of the season, it's going to be a hard month but the vision of being the team to relegate Partick Thistle at home on April the 30th makes this a month worth savouring.
We have it in our hands to finish third or above but as always it will depend on how we decide to play Wins over Ross County and Hamilton are more than possible. St Mirren and St Johnstone will be happy with draws and will make it difficult to beat them. Then Partick Thistle at home, they will be fighting for survival so who knows what can happen?
Overview
March was a decent month three games unbeaten no matter how bad two of the fixtures turned out and now we look forward to a month that could define the full season.
Bring it on.
Update by Chris Mac | 
