Cinch Scottish League One: Three things we learned as Airdrie cut gap on Cove
It was another action-packed week in League One as teams enter the final third and business end of the season. Let’s look at what we learned.
Wasps stung as rock-bottom Fifers earn rare win
Mark Durnan had the hosts ahead in the second minute of the match at the Indodrill Stadium, before a penalty from Ryan Wallace in the 36th minute and a goal from Kyle Connell turned the game on its head going into the break.
On-loan Hearts striker Euan Henderson was dismissed five minutes after the re-start for a challenge on Jude Smith, and the misery was further compounded on the Wasps after Danny Delholm’s strike in the 81st minute sealed the three points for the visitors.
Victory for the Fifers sees them cut the gap on ninth place to six points. It is the first win in ten attempts for Stevie Crawford and only the fourth win for the Fifers all season. In addition, it also halts their 13-match winless run and extends their unbeaten run to three matches.
However, defeat for Alloa only turned the heat further on beleaguered boss Barry Ferguson. The Clackmannanshire side has failed to pull a string of back-to-back wins together all season and have only tasted victory once since the end of October. With the Wasps a mere point off the relegation play-off place, supporters are struggling to see where their club go from here with Ferguson at the helm.
Next week, Alloa face Dumbarton at the Rock while East Fife welcomes Queen’s Park to Methil.
East Fife manager Stevie Crawford: “We have enough games to get ourselves out of the position we find ourselves in and the boys will take confidence from scoring goals.”
Barry Ferguson was unavailable for post-match comments, with assistant Bob Malcolm filling in the media duties.
Diamonds cement second place in five-goal thriller
Calum Gallagher scored a brace in the space of two minutes to fire the Diamonds in the lead, however, a penalty from Graham Webster on the stroke of half-time, halved the deficiet going into the interval at the Penny Cars Stadium.
In the second-half, goals from Craig Watson and Adam Frizzell sent Ian Murray’s men on their way to a convincing victory over their promotion rivals.
The victory for Airdrie consolidates their place in second position and with league leaders Cove held to a stalemate at home by Queen’s Park, they are now five points behind the Toonsers’.
Meanwhile defeat for the Gable Endies means they failed to shorten the gap between themselves and Airdrie.
Next week, Montrose welcome Clyde to Links Park while Airdrie visit Peterhead, who welcome Premiership side Dundee to Balmoor on Monday night in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.
Airdrieonians manager Ian Murray: “First and foremost, a superb result for us, it was a very hard game against a good side, who have caused us problems this season and last season. There’s not many teams that can take four off Montrose, I think you would have to go down the route of records to find when that last was and we were very clinical in front of goal.”
MacLean at the double as Sons’ climb to seventh
A brace from Ross MacLean and a goal from Stuart Carswell had the visitors comfortably ahead in the opening 20 minutes at Broadwood.
Robert Jones pulled a goal back for the Bully Wee ten minutes before the interval.
However, that only proved to be a consolation for the hosts as a uneventful second-half followed, apart from Lewis Jamieson succumbing to a second yellow card for Clyde in the closing stages as the Sons’ picked up all three points.
The defeat for Danny Lennon’s men ends their five-match unbeaten run as they fail to capitalise on Falkirk’s free weekend and remain in sixth position, five points adrift of the promotion play-offs.
Whereas, Stevie Farrell’s Dumbarton climb to seventh place in the table, courtesy of Alloa’s defeat at home to East Fife and are now four points off the Bully Wee.
Next week, Clyde are the visitors to Links Park as they go head-to-head with Montrose, while Dumbarton have the opportunity to further distance themselves from relegation trouble as they welcome Alloa.
Clyde manager Danny Lennon: “A really frustrating afternoon and I can only apologise to our fans today, which was an awful first-half, particularly the first 20-25 minutes. I’ve got to be open and honest, I thought we were lucky to get away with being 3-1 down at half-time, it could’ve been five or six and that really surprised me because that’s one area where I feel over the magnitude of games there, that we defended really well but we just didn’t do the ordinary things well today.”
Dumbarton boss Stephen Farrell: “We have been playing well recently, so it was good to get the three points to show for it.”
Scottish League One Results:
Airdrieonians 4-1 Montrose
Alloa Athletic 1-3 East Fife
Clyde 1-3 Dumbarton
Cove Rangers 0-0 Queen’s Park
Scottish League 1 Table