Airdrie vs Livingston

Football is such a funny game - it seemed that only a few weeks ago, Airdrie were in total meltdown, putting Mark Wilson in charge of the team, with Gordon Dalziel lurking in the background. I honestly can't believe they're only a point behind us now in the league. They didn't look too bad against us last time out, attacking wise they were semi-decent but their defence was awful. Be interesting to see what sort of team we put out for this, given that we're focussing on the league by all accounts, but this is eminently winnable match.

Can see Maley being in goals for this one; 1-2, FG 25 mins.

Thought they passed the ball better than us in that first game Afro, but we were very clinical in it and their defence was mince. Now we can't score for toffee so not optimistic going into this game. Just glad it is a cup game and it'll maybe give us the kick up the backside we need to get the goals going. We've done well against the better (top 4) teams in our league, beating them in all 5 games, so really hoping this will be just the game to gee us up.

Head says 3-1 Airdrie, heart says 3-2 Livi, never go with my head where Livi are concerned so 3-2 Livi it is then, fg 18 mins.

Yep, 5 out of 5 against our biggest rivals for promotion and 4 defeats against teams we should have beaten comfortably. Is it a case of underestimating the opposition or over-confidence in ourselves?

Frankly, I don't give a hoot about anything other then promotion this season so I'm not bothered what happens this weekend; that said, after 2 home defeats on the bounce in games we could have won had we taken our chances and been solid defensively it would be good for morale and confidence to bounce back with a positive result.

We have yet to draw a competitive match this season, it's bound to happen eventually, wouldn't surprise me if this was it giving us the headache of a replay.... But I think Airdrie being on a roll will swing the day.

Air 2 Liv 0 FG 32 mins

Said on twitter De Vita had a hip flexor injury and took a week out from playing as a precautionary measure to avoid further time out.

Dunno if it's worth risking him in the cup game then, would be as well leaving him out for that one too so he's ok for our next league match.

2-1 Airdrie, FG 26 mins

Looks like it's £16 to get into this; Airdrieonians can take a fucking hike.

Is the gate money split between both teams once the home team takes a certain percentage for hosting the game?

Airdrie and Alloa are rip off bassas though but I went to our 4-2 league win there and i'm going to this too, need my football fix in these dreich winter nights.

Feeling more confident as the week goes on, think the 3G pitch will suit our passing game and we'll rattle in 3 or 4 goals past them.

Really have to wonder where you get your supply of happy pills!

You do it to yourself every time. You are definitely the epitome of the eternal optimist.

We can't score for toffee & you are now expecting us to rattle in 3 or 4 against the form team in the division? Taxi!!!!!!

I've been right more times than I've been wrong this season though, just got a good feeling about this game and think we'll start scoring again. It was only 2 games ago when we were scoring goals for fun, not as if we've been struggling all season to score goals. The pitch should help too, that's my theory anyway.

Don't forget Brechin and Alloa have been form teams when we played them and we've beaten both of them twice, Brechin were/are the team with the best goals against stats too and we stuck 3 past them so don't see Airdrie being a problem IF we get our eye in again. I think our players get a wee lift playing against the better teams in our league, esp when they don't sit in against us, and Airdrie wont.

3-1 Livingston. FG 49 mins.

Asmuch as it pains me my assumption on this tie is that it will probably take a replay to seperate these two.The last two matches for Livi against Peterhead and TNS have been so frustrating to watch when we should have done a helluva lot better in both.The boy Ryan and of course Russell have been on very good form as of late,and i reckon our defence is going to have to be at the top of their game to stuff them out.Of course we have various threats of our own if the guys are really up for this although as has been said the League is our priority but a wee cup run could potentialy provide a very welcome financial boost to the coffers.Over to you Livi.Do it!!!

Another win against an in-form team, Airdrie looked very average in the second half after being the better team in the first half. Our defence was very sloppy up until the point when Kelly tried to clear it with his left foot and almost resulted in Airdrie scoring. Great turnaround otherwise considering we were 1-0 down.

Don't know what the script is but we need to get Pittman on a new contract. The boy has been our best player this season and should be in the running for best player in our league. Wouldn't be surprised if he leaves for better things but if we can keep one player, it's got to be him. Defenders love having him in front, strikers enjoying having him playing in behind. Absolute gem of a player.

Also, shout out to Shaun Byrne who was solid when he had to step in for Miller coming off.

Thought Danny had a great game too, constant threat to their defenders and is always jostling for the ball and actually winning it and staying on his feet when he isn't getting fouled. Got a few fouls and Airdrie players booked too and a couple more should've seen cards for persistently fouling him. Really glad he got a goal, should give him a wee confidence boost and hopefully gets him back scoring goals in the league too.

Important win for us over the in form team, should give us a psychological advantage over them when we face them in the league. Bit wasteful again in the 1st half with a couple of chances before Airdrie scored and I thought here we go again, but credit for coming back into the game near the end of the half and we fully deserved the win with our 2nd half performance.

Clearly I need to return to my predictions of defeats.

I wasn't bothered if we won or lost as I'd much rather see us focused on winning the divsion title but hoping we get a money spinning draw now that we're through.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Clearly I need to return to my predictions of defeats.

I wasn't bothered if we won or lost as I'd much rather see us focused on winning the divsion title but hoping we get a money spinning draw now that we're through.

I think this win was important, if we'd lost I think it would've had a knock on affect in the league when we next play them. They'd have gotten a big confidence boost from beating us and we'd have had a dent to our confidence. This shows we can beat all of the other top 4 teams even when they're on top form and we've now beaten them all twice.

Kinda glad we've got a run of away games just now, our recent away form is better than our home one. Won our last 5 away game and lost 3 of our last 5 home ones.

Yeah, I actually was going to say that it could boost the confidence again but forgot to include it so I do agree with you on this, in fact I mention it in my pre-match post above. I would also agree that we might go through a wee spell of doing better away from home, especially on the artificial pitches while our pitch seems to be deteriorating in the wet conditions we had against TNS and the way the pitch broke up against Peterhead. I hadn't realised we had won 5 on the bounce away tho... Long may that continue

Hopefully the run of away games allows our pitch to recover

The preverbial game of two halfs then.Well done Livi to pull it back after they scored first.Ithought oh no hear we go again but to put a psychological marker down against our nearest challengers in the league was inspirational and hopefully will continue into this run of tricky away fixtures coming up.The guys xmas night oot in Dublin last Saturday obviously had an effect on them.Wish we could send them over there every week if its having a response from them on match days.Once again well done lads and i dont care who we get in mondays draw,fact is we are still in it and thats what counts!!!.

It helped that the referee was a lot better than Aitken was last week, and actually gave us fouls when our players got pushed and clobbered, although he was a bit reluctant to give out 2nd yellows to MacDonald and Boateng when they deserved them for fouls on Mullen, and instead just had a word signalling with his hand gestures it was their final warning. Boateng is a big clumsy clugger, halved Buchanan in two for his first yellow and went straight through the back of Mullen for what should've been his 2nd. MacDonald committed 2 cynical fouls and also should've been sent off.

On the whole though i'd rather have Cook than that clown Aitken that just turned a blind eye to every push and barge Peterhead players did on our players.

Yeh, I agree with you re the referee. After last week's performance from Aitken I found it refreshing that our players were getting protection from clumsy fouls.Cook didn't get everything right but he was pretty consistent which is what fans look for.

After a shaky start we finished the game the stronger team and deserved the win. Nice to be in the pot for tomorrow's draw. Hoping for a decent tie at home if possible.

Highlights were up last night on various places but i'll stick them up here for anyone that hasn't seen them.

https://vimeo.com/193237292

Can't get them up as a video on here as this site doesn't embed the link so you'll just have to click on the link yourselves to view it in another window.

Thought when I was at the game that Ryan mishit his shot but it comes off Longridge to deflect it away from Kelly. Belter of a shot by Cadden from a tight angle for our first goal and lovely wee overhead goal by Mullen for the winner.

Glad to be proven wrong based on my prediction, sounds like we pummelled them in the second half. Saw the highlights earlier in the week, Danny's overhead kick would've been worth the admission fee alone. I'll be stunned if he's not in the Premiership up here at the very least in a few years' time.