A cruel accident of birth dictates that I celebrate my birthday just as the big beasts of Scottish football enter the Scottish Cup.
Thus each year my birthday marks the start of another failed leg of Hibernian's apparently never ending Scottish Cup odyssey. If the jinx hadn't begun more than 70 years before I was born I'd consider myself a bit of a Jonah.
Anyway, a full preview of this weekend's cup action to come. But it's been remiss of me not to mention the two Tuesday third round replays. Two seven goal thrillers.
In the Tuesday afternoon game Airdrie raced into a four goal lead before Beith hit back with three goals in 17 minutes, forcing Airdrie to endure a nervy final ten minutes.
On Tuesday evening Brechin's over powered Annan by five goals to two. That, incidentally, was Annan's first match since the original game ended in a draw over six weeks ago.
So it's old and maybe not as glorious as it once was but the Scottish Cup can still put on a show. Let's hope for more of the same this weekend.
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Showing posts with label Airdrie United. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airdrie United. Show all posts
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Friday, May 04, 2007
Play off, play off and play the game
First Division Play-Offs
Brechin City 1 (Russell) – 3 Airdrie United (Harty,2, Twigg)
Raith Rovers 0 – 0 Stirling Albion
Second Division Play-Off
East Fife 4 (Reilly,3, Gibson) – 1 Stranraer (Moore
David Longmuir accepted the post of Scottish Football League Chief Executive today. He made no mention of the play-offs. He probably didn’t know they were being played.
Anyway they were. Wednesday night in fact. Three games. And nine goals between them. Which is nothing to be sniffed at.
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| Queues formed early at Glebe Park |
I don’t know. Maybe it means a lot to the clubs and their fans. But the play offs strike me as a monumental waste of time. The SFL needs major surgery. The play offs are a miserable piece of cosmetics.
As for Mr Longmuir:
He loves football – would he admit to hating it?
He has a strong background in the alcohol industry and he will be charged with revamping the marketing of the three divisions, the CIS Cup and the Challenge Cup.
Good luck to him. But having come from drink it may only be a matter of time before he is turning to it for solace.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Gretna Make the Grady
Have you got your breath back yet? An incredible afternoon brought the curtain down on an enthralling season of First Division football.
And, at the death, when St Johnstone looked to have secured promotion up popped James Grady to snatch the title for Gretna.
Yes. Gretna will play SPL football next season. We don’t know where or what manager they will have. But all the players and the fans care about is winning. And they’ve done that in the most dramatic way possible.
Four games Gretna had gone without scoring. But in came Grady to grab a double in a three two victory. Ross County fought valiantly but Airdrie United’s victory over Queen of the South consigned them to relegation. Airdrie will now take their chances in the play off.
As I’ve said before Gretna getting promotion raises more questions than it answers. They need a ground, they need more money and better players and – at the moment – they need a manager.
The SPL don’t want them and the feeling persists that not all at Gretna really wanted the SPL.
But they’re there now. And not many people will ever write them off again.
For now though let’s look at the positives: Gretna have secured three promotions in a row and they’ve done it by scoring goals.
And Brook Mileson could not be more different from the usual SPL chairmen who think that romance in football begins and ends with a glass of port whilst reading a balanced set of accounts. Brooks might be the kick up the backside they need.
St Johnstone, of course, will be devastated but Gretna have been rewarded for their early season form. Owen Coyle’s side made a late charge that just wasn’t enough.
And maybe we need the romantic Brook Mileson rather than the pragmatic Saints Chairman Geoff Brown who had this to say before the game:
"When we played Gretna at McDiarmid Park in January they only brought 160 fans. They won't bring many to the party - if they do it then good luck to them.
"I think Brooks Mileson has a dream and he's taken it up and done extremely well. It's his money. But, at the end of the day, it's false.”
Sorry Geoff. You were horribly, horribly wrong. At the end of the day Gretna are very, very real.
Extra: read my post here to see how I wrong I called today’s events.
And, at the death, when St Johnstone looked to have secured promotion up popped James Grady to snatch the title for Gretna.
Yes. Gretna will play SPL football next season. We don’t know where or what manager they will have. But all the players and the fans care about is winning. And they’ve done that in the most dramatic way possible.
Four games Gretna had gone without scoring. But in came Grady to grab a double in a three two victory. Ross County fought valiantly but Airdrie United’s victory over Queen of the South consigned them to relegation. Airdrie will now take their chances in the play off.
As I’ve said before Gretna getting promotion raises more questions than it answers. They need a ground, they need more money and better players and – at the moment – they need a manager.
The SPL don’t want them and the feeling persists that not all at Gretna really wanted the SPL.
But they’re there now. And not many people will ever write them off again.
For now though let’s look at the positives: Gretna have secured three promotions in a row and they’ve done it by scoring goals.
And Brook Mileson could not be more different from the usual SPL chairmen who think that romance in football begins and ends with a glass of port whilst reading a balanced set of accounts. Brooks might be the kick up the backside they need.
St Johnstone, of course, will be devastated but Gretna have been rewarded for their early season form. Owen Coyle’s side made a late charge that just wasn’t enough.
And maybe we need the romantic Brook Mileson rather than the pragmatic Saints Chairman Geoff Brown who had this to say before the game:
"When we played Gretna at McDiarmid Park in January they only brought 160 fans. They won't bring many to the party - if they do it then good luck to them.
"I think Brooks Mileson has a dream and he's taken it up and done extremely well. It's his money. But, at the end of the day, it's false.”
Sorry Geoff. You were horribly, horribly wrong. At the end of the day Gretna are very, very real.
Extra: read my post here to see how I wrong I called today’s events.
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