Cinch Scottish League One: Three Things we Learned
It was another action-packed week in League One, with all five matches surviving the wrath of Storm Eunice.
Let’s look at what we learned.
Cove go 16 games unbeaten to maintain lead at the top
Mitch Megginson’s strike had the league leaders ahead going into the interval before Fraser Fyvie added a second shortly after the hour mark.
Brad McKay was sent off in the 77th minute to compound a miserable afternoon for the visitors.
Victory for Paul Hartley’s men sees the Toonsers’ stretch their unbeaten run to 16 matches as they remain five points clear of nearest challengers Airdrie. The win also sees them halt their run of three straight draws.
Meanwhile, defeat for Falkirk means they are now four points behind the promotion play-offs in fifth, as they fail to narrow the gap on Queen’s Park, who drew away to East Fife.
However, the Bairns have the chance to close that gap to a point, as they welcome Peterhead to the Falkirk Stadium on Tuesday night, before another home match against East Fife on Saturday- with Cove travelling to Alloa on the same day.
Cove Rangers manager, Paul Hartley: “I thought we were terrific, from our first man to our last man and we controlled the game. It was a top performance today, and I didn’t make any changes, we were playing that well, so it was really pleasing.”
Falkirk Head Coach, Martin Rennie: “It was way off what we expected, I think in the past few weeks, we’ve seen a lot of progress, we’ve seen some good performances and some good wins, so I was really expecting a lot more from today’s game. So, that was really disappointing obviously for me and also to the fans who travelled up here, sorry to them for the performance that they saw.”
Alloa return to winning ways as they start life after Ferguson
Kevin Cawley had the visitors ahead in the 22nd minute and looked likely to hold their one-goal lead heading to the interval, but Paul Paton equalised for the Sons’ on the stroke of half-time.
However, Adam King’s goal eight minutes from time, saw the Wasps grab a vital three points in their first game since Barry Ferguson resigned on Valentine’s Day. Former Hamilton Academical boss, Brian Rice is reported to be on the verge of taking over at the Indodrill.
Victory for the managerless Wasps, sees them leapfrog Dumbarton into seventh place, and with Clyde drawing away to third-top Montrose, they are now three points behind the Bully Wee.
Meanwhile, for Dumbarton, they drop to eighth place, and were unable to build on their 3-1 win away to Clyde last weekend. The Sons’ haven’t strung back-to-back wins in the league since September.
Next week, Alloa welcome Cove Rangers to Clackmannanshire, while Dumbarton face Peterhead at Balmoor.
Afolabi scores his debut goal as Airdrie remain in second
A debut goal from on-loan Celtic striker Jonathan Afolabi proved to be the difference as Airdrieonians earned a hard-fought victory over Peterhead at Balmoor in the League One title race.
Despite Cove beating Falkirk to remain top of the pack, Airdrie remain hot on the heels of the league leaders, in what is promising to be an entertaining run-in to the end of the season.
The win also stretches the Diamond’s unbeaten league run to 10 matches, with Ian Murray’s men yet to taste defeat in 2022.
Furthermore, defeat for Jim McInally’s Peterhead sees the Blue Toon winless in six league matches and remain in ninth, ahead of one of their two games in hand against Falkirk on Tuesday night.
Next Saturday, Airdrie welcome Clyde to the Penny Cars Stadium, in what is the second North Lanarkshire derby between the two sides in the space of a month, while Peterhead host Dumbarton.
Peterhead boss, Jim McInally said: “We just need to keep playing the way we’ve been playing and at some point, we’ll get a wee break. I just spoke to someone from Airdrie and they said it was daylight robbery, but I get fed up having this conversation. It’s a results-based business, it’s about scoring goals and we’re not doing that.”
Scottish League One Results:
Cove Rangers 2-0 Falkirk
Dumbarton 1-2 Alloa Athletic
East Fife 1-1 Queen’s Park
Montrose 1-1 Clyde
Peterhead 0-1 Airdrieonians
