Written by John - OTR Tuesday, 10 August 1999 00:00

Report from Grant Pinkerton

The only thing worse than getting hammered in these games is when you have the chances to beat them.

We started off pretty crap with ex-Son Allan Moore scoring a rare header. Things look to be getting worse when Jack had to come off injured and Toby moved back to centre half. To be fair he and Bruce had excellent games after that.

We had a couple of chances with Andy Broon missing a few decent ones. I know the Clydebank guys said he was "cult" but he continues to flatter to deceive. 8ft tall but can't win a high ball, slow on the ground plus crap at shooting.

At the start of the second half we decided to go up a gear (yes, it is true!) and basically pinned them back for the first 15 mins. As per usual the only result was for them to score a soft second for Moore after he beat Des Barnes to a through ball. Our goal came from a fairly soft penalty after Paddy had been fouled. Dillon grabbed the ball( much to Paddy's annoyance) and stroked the ball to the goalie's right.

Right, now for the controversial bit. The ref had already wound up both sets of fans for inconsistent discussions (he booked Bruce for his first foul but let an Airdrie thug away with a few hatchet jobs). Paddy was played through on goal (a la Motherwell last year) and was about to let fly when he was tripped from behind. As blatant a penalty as you can get but the ref booked Paddy for diving.

Best: Bruce & King, New stadium looks good

Worst : Ward (3rd game I've seen this season and he has still to go past a full back) & Broon (mince)
£12 to get in!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know it was only the B&Q cup or whatever it is called these days but the team did seem fired up, especially in the second half. Airdrie could have scored more but they didn't really look like they were two leagues above us.