ON ANOTHER day, with another referee, Spartans might very well have been preparing for a Homecoming Scottish Cup fourth-round replay at City Park rather than ruing their exit from the competition. But then on another day, this could have been
an entirely different match.
The crucial decision by Alan Muir came late in the match, after the East of Scotland League side had pulled a goal back against their First Division opponents. When Airdrie United goalkeeper Stephen Robertson got a hand to the ball but failed to control it, Keith McLeod stepped in to fire home what appeared to be the equaliser, only to have a foul awarded against him.
At the time the chalking off of the score appeared to have been based on protecting the goalkeeper, but it later emerged that the referee had ruled it out because of an earlier push on an Airdrie defender. Even so, it could well have been a marginal decision, especially given the treacherous under-foot conditions which made a certain amount of physical contact inevitable.
The home side had adapted more quickly to those conditions, which came close to having the game abandoned as the pitch became waterlogged. Spartans made heavy weather of the first half, and they looked dead and buried by the interval.
Having begun the game by playing in a composed manner which belied their lowly status in the second flight, Airdrie took the lead through Paul di Giacomo midway through the first half. The striker ran on to a neatly weighted ball and effortlessly dinked it past Chris Flockhart.
If the Spartans goalkeeper could hardly have done any better at that moment, he could scarcely have done any worse a couple of minutes before half-time. Flockhart appeared to have controlled a Joe Cardle shot, but he dropped it, allowing Simon Lynch to step in and tap home.
The full-timers should really have pressed home their advantage in the second half, but Spartans fought back in spirited style and got back into the match with just over an hour played. The goal was strongly reminiscent of Airdrie's second, as Robertson first seemed to have saved a shot from Gavin Malin, but then fumbled it over the line with no need for a striker to supply the coup de grace.
Lifted by that goal, Spartans went in search of the equaliser, but their best chance of getting it came and went when McLeod's 'goal' was ruled out. Airdrie were relieved to have survived, and will have to play a lot better at home to Dunfermline in the next round if they are to have a hope of progressing further.
The full article contains 467 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
