Cinch Scottish League One: Three Things we Learned as Airdrie and Dunfermline Maintain 100% Record
Airdrieonians and Dunfermline Athletic are the only third-tier teams to secure back-to-back wins in their opening two league matches as the new season continues…
Gallagher bags a brace for the Diamonds as they cruise past Falkirk
Calum Gallagher opened the scoring for the Diamonds in the 21st minute as the hosts took a narrow lead into the interval. Gallagher then bagged a brace with his second shortly after the hour-mark. The afternoon only went from bad to worse for the Bairns as Gabriel McGill and Salim Kouider-Aissa added a third and fourth in the final five minutes of normal time.
The victory for Airdrieonians sees them replace Clyde at the top of the table in Rhys McCabe’s first home league match as player-manager. Meanwhile, the defeat for Falkirk looks night and day from their progression to the last-16 of the League Cup with John McGlynn’s men sitting ninth and yet to register their first league win.
Next Saturday, Falkirk welcome Jim McInally’s Peterhead to the Falkirk Stadium while Airdrieonians visit Queen of the South at Palmerston Park.
Airdrieonians player-manager, Rhys McCabe: I’m going to be brutally honest, first-half I thought they [Falkirk] were better and caused us problems without creating as many clear-cut chances. I thought we struggled in the middle of the pitch and in the full-back areas and it took us until half-time to nullify that. We then spoke about what needed to be done and the pleasing thing for me is that we got that reaction and came away comfortable winners in the end.”
Falkirk manager, John McGlynn: “I thought the first-half was very open and we passed the ball well for the first 20 minutes and we maybe weren’t as decisive or had enough of that cutting-edge to get that goal. We were behind at half-time and we thought we were still in the game and could get something out of it. However, overall, not a great game, we came here with high expectations, high hopes, but we didn’t make a good account of ourselves and the boys didn’t react the way we wanted them to.”
McCann hits the net twice for the Pars’ as their winning start continues
Lewis McCann’s brace gave the visitors a commanding lead going into the break with both goals scored in the 14th and 41st minute respectively, while Chris Mochrie tripled their advantage deep into the second-half. Jack Brydon was also issued with a straight red card for the Citizens early in the first-half, resulting in a penalty for the visitors, however, McCann’s spot-kick was saved by Robbie Mutch.
The win for James McPake’s men has them second-place in the table, only behind Airdrieonians on goal-difference. The defeat sees FC Edinburgh, in what was their first home match at the Meadowbank Stadium, slip to fifth-place as they get to grips with life in the third tier.
The Citizens will travel to Clackmannanshire next Saturday to face Alloa Athletic, while Dunfermline welcome Montrose to East End Park.
FC Edinburgh manager, Alan Maybury: A disappointing day. I think we got spooked early on, they [Dunfermline] pressed and we didn’t do what we wanted to do. The goals we let in were from set-pieces which is disappointing. The red card and penalty is 100% on me, I told the players to play out and take risks, so I’ll take the blame. We were good last week against a team that won our league, but this week’s been a steep learning-curve against a team that were in the Championship last season and we need to be better.”
Dunfermline Athletic assistant manager, Dave Mackay: “We controlled the game from the start. I felt that even before the sending-off, we had the upper-hand, we were getting into good areas and maybe the final ball let us down on a couple of occasions. It was a good professional performance, but the only disappointing thing was that it could’ve and should’ve been more. It was three points and a clean sheet, so we will take that.”
Wasps earn first win of the season as pointless Kelty prop up the table
An early Stefan Scougall strike put the Wasps in front with Bradley Rodden’s brace extending the hosts lead in the second-half. Andy Graham’s own-goal three minutes from time only proved to be a late consolation for the Maroon Machine as they fell to the foot of the table.
The win for Brian Rice’s men gives them their maiden three points of the season as they climb into fourth-place, while Kelty are now bottom of the pile after the opening two matches and are yet to breathe life into their first season as a League One club.
Next up for Alloa is a second consecutive home match as they welcome FC Edinburgh to the Indodrill Stadium, in what will be the first ever league meeting between the sides, while John Potter’s charges are the visitors at New Douglas Park against Clyde.
Alloa Athletic manager, Brian Rice: “Absolutely delighted with the three points and it’s a great start to our home league campaign apart from not keeping a clean sheet. I’m disappointed we lost the goal and that it was an own-goal. I’m pleased with my players today after their grittiness, determination and ‘we aren’t getting beat’ attitude.”
Kelty Hearts manager, John Potter: “Simply not good enough. There was nothing in the game, we had moments, they [Alloa] had moments, but right now other teams are scoring goals and we aren’t, it’s as simple as that.”
Scottish League One Results:
Airdrieonians 4-0 Falkirk
Alloa Athletic 3-1 Kelty Hearts
FC Edinburgh 0-3 Dunfermline Athletic
Clyde 2-2 Peterhead
Montrose 0-0 Queen of the South
Scottish League One Table: As It Stands