Airdrie United 2 - 2 Raith Rovers
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Airdrie United secured their place in the 2007-08 First Division playoff final after defeating Raith Rovers 4-2 on aggregate. Goals from Brian Prunty and Bobby Donnelly were enough to win the tie for Airdrie in a game that the Diamonds never really looked like losing. Airdrie will now face Clyde over two legs to determine which division we will play in next season.
Of course, today’s match was potentially a final given that both playoff finalists will play in Division One next season if, as looks inevitable, Grenta go out of business.
Airdrie came into the game looking to protect a two goal advantage established in Kirkcaldy on Wednesday night and were ahead inside ten minutes when Bryan Prunty poked home after some nice linkup play between Graeme Holmes and Allan Russell. Job done it appeared, but Raith hit back inside ten minutes after Marco Andreoni handled while blocking a freekick and Graeme Weir sent Stephen Robertson the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Airdrie didn’t really settle and were again wasteful in possession but in truth, Raith never really looked like scoring and we were fairly comfortable. Our two centre halves were once again excellent and e did appear to be reasonably comfortable as our two goal advantage remained intact at half time.
As expected, we were under the cosh at the start of the second half - more so in terms of possession than clear cut chances - but Raith should have scored from a free header at the backpost 10 minutes into the second half which could have changed the outcome of the game.
The introduction of Kevin Watt and Ricky Waddell for Stuart Noble and Prunty turned things in our favour, however and we were soon back in front after MORE horrible Raith defending led to a Bobby Donnelly clean through and he fired home to send us into the final. Raith did pull one back through a hugely deflected Weir shot but in truth, it was too little too late from a team who lacked any real imagination going forward over the two legs and were a shambles (and I cannot stress that enough) defensively.
Player Ratings:
Robertson - dealt with what was thrown at him, no chance with either goals (6/10)
Smith - a few scary moments, but decent display (6/10)
Lovering - much better than on Wednesday, wasn’t troubled defensively and led by example (7/10)
Donnelly - won everything in the air against Andy Tod and took his goal well (8/10)
Smyth - excellent display again from a future captain who looks much more comfortable at centre half than right back (8/10)
Andreoni - definitely coming onto a game at right mid, used the ball well (7/10)
Holmes - what a difference his return to the team has made, gets the ball down and gets us playing football (7/10)
McDonald - strong in the tackle and worked exceptionally hard as always (7/10)
Noble - didn’t really happen for him again although he worked hard defensively (6/10)
Russell - never really got going and looked a little too eager to be the one who scored the goals (6/10)
Prunty - took his goal well and put in a great shift, much improved performance (7/10)
Watt - looked very lively when he came on with some great runs and was unlucky not to score (7/10)
Waddell - helped shore things up on the left hand side (6/10)
Man of the Match: Bobby Donnelly
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