Raith Rovers 0 - 2 Airdrie United
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Airdrie United have one foot in the First Division playoff finals after an impressive 2-0 victory over Raith Rovers last night at Stark’s Park. Two goals from the leagues Player of the Year Allan Russell were enough to earn a victory for the Diamonds, who never really got going but looked fairly comfortable against an unimaginative Raith side who failed to significantly trouble Stephen Robertson in goals.
Airdrie lined up as expected, with only Steven McDougall and Steven McKenna unavailable for selection. Overall, the performance wasn’t great and in truth, we didn’t offer a lot offensively and were often wasteful in possession, which invited a lot of Raith pressure onto us. Defensively however, we were solid and never really looked like conceding. Our centre halfs and in particular Mark Smyth coped with everything that was thrown at them.
It’s fair to say we got lucky with the two goals although as they say in football, you make your own luck. Huge credit must go to Allan Russell for his determination, without which he wouldn’t have scored, but he shouldn’t have been allowed the chance. The two goals were carbon copies of each other, with two long balls causing hesitation between goalkeeper and defenders and Allan stealing in to head over the stranded keeper - twice.
Other than that, we didn’t really create a chance until a counter attack late in the game when first Kevin McDonald and then Russell picked the wrong option when a cooler head could have seen the tie completely finished on the night.
In midfield, we are much better since the return of Graeme Holmes who not only always looks to get the ball down and play football but also shows a sense of urgency which has been missing in his absence for large chunks of the season. Bryan Prunty and Stuart Noble didn’t really get going offensively but put in a ton of work which often goes unnoticed.
It’s vital to guard against complacency as the tie is not over yet - an early goal for Raith on Saturday would make things nervy, but we’d have bitten your hand off to take a 2-0 lead into the second leg. In truth, Raith are a poor team and if we throw away a 2-0 lead on Saturday we don’t deserve to be in the First Division. Going forward, they lack imagination and defensively they are an absolute shambles.
Assuming we go out on Saturday to try and win the game, I’m sure we’ll score and that will be enough to put us into the final.
Raith Rovers 0 - 2 Airdrie United (Russell 2)
Man Of the Match: Mark Smyth
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