Scottish League One: Three things we learned as Airdrie return to winning ways
There were 16 goals scored across the third tier this weekend, let’s look at the three takeaways from matchday 13…
Jamieson masterclass as Diamonds sparkle in four-goal thriller
Airdrieonians 4-0 Montrose
A Lewis Jamieson hat-trick ensured Airdrieonians their first win in six games after a four-goal demolition of Montrose at the Excelsior Stadium.
Jamieson opened the scoring for the Diamonds in the 21st minute, which was swiftly followed by his second seven minutes before the break. Craig Watson tripled their advantage with seconds remaining of the first period as Airdrie went into the interval in an unassailable lead. The on-loan St. Mirren forward drilled home the hosts’ fourth six minutes after the re-start to cap off a surreal afternoon for Rhys McCabe’s charges.
Victory for the North Lanarkshire side sees them leapfrog both Kelty Hearts and Queen of the South into sixth place, while it is a first defeat in five for the Gable Endies’ who slip out of the play-off positions.
Next week, Airdrie take the trip to Hamilton to visit Clyde, while Montrose welcome Peterhead to Links Park.
Airdrieonians player-manager, Rhys McCabe said: “Before the game, I said that we owe it to ourselves to go and put on a performance. The most pleasing thing for me was keeping a clean sheet, because we’ve been conceding too many slack goals. So, hopefully that gives us a kick-start and a platform to go and build on.”
Dunfermline create distance at the league summit in narrow victory over derby rivals
Dunfermline Athletic 2-1 Kelty Hearts
Dunfermline recovered from last weekend’s first league defeat to strengthen their grasp on top-spot, courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Kelty Hearts at East End Park. Nikolay Todorov broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute, however, Darren Lyon pulled a goal back on the half-hour as both teams went into the interval level. The league leaders regained their lead in the 55th minute through Craig Wighton, to ultimately seal all three points.
Edinburgh’s draw away to Peterhead, enabled the Pars to make a three-point cushion between them and their nearest challengers, ahead of next Saturday’s hotly anticipated meeting with fellow promotion hopefuls Falkirk.
Meanwhile, for the Maroon Machine, the defeat puts a dent in their positive results of late, with their three match winning run coming to an end. The Fife club fall back into eighth place, however, are nine points clear of ninth-place Clyde, emphaising how they have now found their feet in League One. John Potter’s men are back on home ground next week as Alloa travel to New Central Park.
Dunfermline Athletic manager, James McPake said: “The first 45 you could see the hangover from last week. We were nowhere near the standards we ask for in the first-half. It took us 45 minutes to get Montrose out of our system, but that’s it well and truly gone.”
Kelty Hearts manager, John Potter said: “I thought we were the better team in the first-half, we had good chances. In the second-half, Dunfermline started well and got their goal when they were on top. Then I thought we finished quite strong. Overall, we deserved to take something from the game, but we didn’t, simple as that.”
Bully Wee denied much-needed point in late stinging as Wasps climb into fourth
Alloa Athletic 2-1 Clyde
A last-gasp winner from Luke Donnelly denied Clyde a share of the spoils in a narrow defeat to Alloa at the Indodrill Stadium.
Luke Donnelly broke the deadlock for the home side in the 10th minute, before Kurtis Roberts hauled the Bully Wee back into the game shortly after the half-hour mark.
Despite Paul Kennedy’s dismissal in the 89th minute, it looked likely that the 10-men visitors were going to finally halt their losing streak, until Donnelly slotted home the decisive goal in the third minute of injury time.
Victory for Brian Rice’s men secures them back-to-back victories as they climb into the promotion play-off places with only two defeats in their last nine matches.
However, for Clyde, who have assistant manager Allan Moore in interim charge after Danny Lennon was “placed on paid authorised absence”- they are eight points adrift of safety and without a win since August.
Next weekend, Clyde welcome Lanarkshire rivals Airdrie to New Douglas Park, while Alloa visit Kelty Hearts.
Alloa Athletic manager, Brian Rice said: “I thought we started the game fantastically well, we were in control. Clyde’s goal spooked us and we lost our way a little bit before half-time. Listen, I’m delighted to get a well-earned, hard-fought three points and we kept going until the very end.”
Clyde interim manager, Allan Moore said: “Kurtis Roberts was outstanding up top for us. I’m gutted, the players are gutted and I couldn’t have asked any more from them. I thought we were the better team towards the end of the first-half. To go down to 10-men when we did, we had to then be sensible and not do anything silly and we did something silly and that cost us.”
Results:
Peterhead 1-1 Edinburgh
Queen of the South 1-3 Falkirk
Scottish League One Table: As It Stands