AIRDRIE'S players trooped out of Broadwood early on Saturday evening nursing both despondency and bitterness after a controversial second-leg defeat by Clyde saw them lose their second successive First Division play-off final.
However, the Lanarkshire club's gloom could dissipate as early as this weekend in the likely event that Gretna go out of business. That situation would create a void in the First Division and Airdrie, as the losing play-off finalists, appear the
most obvious contenders to make the leap from Division Two. Their manager Kenny Black was only dealing in hard facts, however, and after a match which had seen his side denied a stonewall penalty at a crucial time, he was unable to get too excited about any potential reprieve.
"We've not spoken about that possibility," he said. "If it happens, it happens, but, the way our luck's been going lately, it probably won't happen. We've not heard anything official about the situation, but we've heard all the rumours that we'll go up if Gretna go bust. I've not talked about it before the game, and I'm not going to dwell on it now."
If events don't unfold in Airdrie's favour, Black and his players will spend their summer being tormented by thoughts of what might have been had referee John Underhill awarded them what appeared a blatant spot-kick. Having fallen 2-0 behind on aggregate to a 48th-minute goal from veteran striker Gary McSwegan, Airdrie should have been given a chance to haul themselves back into the tie just three minutes later when Chris Higgins clearly took the legs from Bryan Prunty in the box.
Underhill waved play on, and Airdrie's coffin was duly nailed with 25 minutes left when Pat Clarke, Clyde's first-leg scorer, converted with an acrobatic overhead kick. Although Clyde, over the two legs, deserved the success which saw them become the first First Division team in three years to survive through the play-offs, the penalty decision clearly swung the balance overwhelmingly in their favour after a first half in which Airdrie were the better team, but just lacked a cutting edge.
John Brown, the Clyde manager, admitted his team dodged a bullet when Underhill opted not to point to the spot. "The penalty decision was the turning point – it was a stonewaller," he said. "At 1-0 (on the day] Airdrie could have got right back in the game."
Brown, the former Rangers defender, deserves particular praise for accomplishing the mission he accepted when taking the reins from Colin Hendry in January. He said: "We had the second lowest budget in the league, so it says a lot that we've been able to survive."
The full article contains 468 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
