Airdrieonians v Clyde

Recap

Clyde’s poor run of form continued in North Lanarkshire this afternoon as Airdrie ran riot at the Excelsior Stadium.

Danny Lennon made a triple change to the starting line-up that lost to Alloa Athletic a fortnight ago with Peter Grant, Euan Cameron and Oliver McDonald in place of Ross Lyon, Andrew Rodden and Kurtis Roberts.

The first 15 minutes of the match was dominated by a flurry of chances for the Diamonds. In the fifth minute, Jamieson sneaked through the Clyde defence to connect onto Smith’s cross, however, he was denied by Neil Parry.

The ex-Clyde forward tried his luck yet again a few minutes later with both his initial shot and the quick-fire rebound blocked by Parry. Frizzell was next to wade his way into the box, but swift action from Cameron saw his shot cleared.

The Bully Wee got their first opportunity of the game in the 16th minute as Erik Sula rose high to meet Ray Grant’s free-kick only for the ball to roll off the roof of the net. Ross Cunningham was next to trouble Henderson with another shot at the edge of the box, but the ‘keeper reached out a palm to deny his effort and Jordan Allan skewed the rebound wide.

As the first-half progressed, the high intensity had no sign of slowing down as Allan shrugged off an opposition player to hit a powerful shot at the face of goal, however, Henderson stretched out to tip the ball over the edge.

The deadlock was broken in the 37th minute as Airdrie took the lead. Morgaro Gomis made a challenge for the ball on the edge of the box and the ball made it’s way to Jamieson standing offside in the six-yard box, who slotted home. The assistant referee raised his flag for offside, but was overuled by referee Gavin Duncan, deeming Gomis’ touch back to be intentional.

McDonald found ample space at the far corner to drive home a strong effort which whizzed over the bar as the Diamonds took a slender advantage into the break.

In the early stages of the second period, Frizzell looked to have caught Parry out with a low shot, however, the ‘keeper reacted quickly to save his effort. At the other end, Cunningham got hold of Cameron’s corner only to narrowly miss the target and bruise the woodwork.

The match remained tightly contested as the clock neared the hour-mark as Steven Thicot’s powerful header from Paul Kennedy’s cross whistled past the post.

Airdrie continued to hold the lion’s share of possession as The Bully Wee struggled to scratch the surface of a stubborn defence. The hosts doubled their advantage in the 65th minute. An overreaching diagonal cross from outside the box picked out an in-position McGill who fired the ball past a helpless Parry.

The hosts continued to seek and exploit loopholes in the visitor’s defence and reaped the rewards with their third five minutes later. Smith leapt into a counter-attack with a curling shot that lashed into the top corner of the net.

It only went from bad to worse for The Bully Wee in the 78th minute as the Diamonds added a fourth. Smith beat Thicot to the ball inside the box and made no mistake in slotting it past Parry, securing his brace.

Kouider-Aissa nodded home a fifth in the final seconds to further compound what was a miserable afternoon for Clyde.