Cinch Scottish League One: Three Things we Learned as Airdrie are Knocked for Six
It was goals galore during this weekend’s League One action…
FC Edinburgh in historic SPFL victory as they annihilate hapless Airdrie
Cammy Ballantyne was dismissed in the 16th minute for the Diamonds after conceding a penalty, which Daniel Handling converted to give the Citizens the lead. James Craigen doubled the visitors advantage on the stroke of half-time. John Robertson added their third and fourth in the 54th and 61st minute, before Ryan Shanley made it five 10 minutes later. Craigen secured his brace three minutes from time to complete the rout.
The victory for the capital side means they climb to second in the table and are yet to taste defeat on the road. Meanwhile, it is a first league defeat for Airdrie player-manager Rhys McCabe with the Diamonds having relinquished top-spot and fell to fourth. It also marks the end of a 25-game unbeaten run which stretched to last December, including a first home loss in 13 matches.
Next week, Airdrie will look to get back on track with a trip to Links Park as they visit Montrose, while FC Edinburgh welcome bottom-of-the-table Peterhead to Meadowbank.
Airdrieonians player-manager, Rhys McCabe: “We were too soft on the goals, first and foremost. I don’t think we reacted well at all to Cammy’s red card, which threw us a little bit and we didn’t recover. I take responsibility for it. I’m never going to play a style of football that’s going to sit in for 85 minutes and then try and hit teams on the counter.”
FC Edinburgh manager, Alan Maybury: “I thought we were excellent, obviously the red card changes things and with the amount of possession, I don’t think we quite knew what to do with it at times, so I think it got a bit sloppy in the first-half. But to then kick on in the second-half, being ruthless, doing all the right things and running over the top of teams, it was really pleasing.”
Kelty get the better of Falkirk to rack up their first three points of the season
It was sixth time lucky for Kelty Hearts as they finally got up their league campaign up running with victory over Falkirk at New Central Park. Both goals were scored in the opening period with Joe Cardle first on the scoresheet in the 19th minute followed by Scott McGill seven minutes later.
The win for the Maroon Machine means they create a three-point gap between themselves and Peterhead at the bottom end of the table, while Falkirk hit a bump in their ‘mini-revival’ with the Bairns having slipped two positions to fifth. They welcome Alloa to The Falkirk Stadium next Saturday, while it’s a second consecutive home match for Kelty as Queen of the South rock up to Fife- in the first league meeting between the sides.
Kelty Hearts manager, John Potter: “I thought we were good first-half and probably deserved it. In the second-half, it was hard-work, but the players stuck in and got a couple of opportunities on the break. So, delighted to win and fully deserved.”
Falkirk manager, John McGlynn: “We were off it. We gave them [Kelty] encouragement because we were really slack at the back. We continued to make it easy for them, they were set up to depress us and we played into their hands. I’m not throwing any player under a bus, we win as a team, lose as a team. We didn’t win second balls. We didn’t win individual battles and our attitude wasn’t right.”
Clyde suffer a stinging by Alloa in six-goal thriller at New Douglas Park
Bradley Rodden opened the scoring in the sixth minute for the visitors with Jordan Allan equalising shortly before the interval. Conor Sammon regained the Wasps lead in the 52ndminute while Kieran Offord added to their tally 12 minutes later. Steven Thicot pulled one back for the Bully Wee with 10 minutes remaining, but an own-goal from Brian McLean in injury-time sealed the win for the visitors.
The win sees Alloa leapfrog the Bully Wee into sixth place as the hosts lose three league games in a row for the first time since last October as well as their first at New Douglas Park. Clyde welcome table toppers Dunfermline to Hamilton next week.
Clyde manager, Danny Lennon: “I am disappointed in the goals that are being very cheaply given away at this moment in time, but there was a lot of positive play today. Although, we didn’t defend as individuals well, I thought there was a massive nucleus of the good quality of football at the back, but we cannot concede goals with the individual mistakes that are costing us.”
Alloa Athletic manager, Brian Rice: “We were in front and then came off it a wee bit. I thought Clyde were the better team first-half and were deserving of their goal. I freshened things up start of the second-half and we scored another three goals. That’s nine goals in two games, so we are doing something right. It was a brilliant three points.”
Elsewhere, Dunfermline Athletic returned to the top of the table with a 2-0 victory over eighth-place Queen of the South at Palmerston and Peterhead remain at the bottom of the pile in their worst league start since 2011 with a 2-0 defeat to 10-men Montrose.
Scottish League One Results:
Airdrieonians 0-6 FC Edinburgh
Clyde 2-4 Alloa Athletic
Kelty Hearts 2-0 Falkirk
Peterhead 0-2 Montrose
Queen of the South 0-2 Dunfermline Athletic
Scottish League One Table: As It Stands