Young Airdrie sparkle in Scottish Youth Cup

Nov 11 2009 by Colin Paterson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

JIMMY BOYLE saluted the character of his Airdrie United under-19 side as they booked a spot in the fourth round of the Scottish Youth Cup.

The Diamonds coach watched as the New Broomfield babes struck four times in the second half to hand Inverness Caledonian Thistle a 5-2 humbling.

Goals from Drew Ramsay, Ryan Donnelly, Jonny Fisher and a late double courtesy of supersub Aiden Malone earned Airdrie victory on Sunday.

Boyle admitted the performance in the opening 45 minutes left a lot to be desired but was impressed with the positive response delivered after the break.

He told the Advertiser: “This is a great result for us and I am delighted for all of the boys.

“I thought we got what we deserved in the first half but we thoroughly merited the victory on the back of our second half performance.

“We had a poor result against Livingston last week and I think that was still in their heads judging by their first half performance.

“We didn’t play well. We didn’t get tight enough and we didn’t ask enough questions.

“I just wanted them to play better, work harder and get more crosses into the box. We needed to get wider and get the ball to our strikers quicker and, to be fair, we went on and did that.

“I spoke to my centre-halves at half-time and told them they weren’t getting enough challenges in. Within a minute or two of the restart, one of them let their number nine have it.

“That seemed to give us a real lift and everyone took the lead from that.”

Airdrie opened the scoring in the 28th minute when Ramsay guided Grant Easton’s corner into the net.

But Caley hit back eight minutes later with Calum Dingwall volleying a pinpoint Martin Laing cross past keeper Andy Collier.

Disaster struck for the Diamonds in the 42nd minute when they fell behind. A counter-attacking move resulted in Kyle White converting another Laing centre.

However, Airdrie made the best possible start following the restart with Donnelly’s downward header from Fraser Keast’s corner creeping in.

Midfielder Jonny Fisher made it 3-2 in the 62nd minute when he reacted quickly to a loose ball in the box, and from this point, the Diamonds never looked back.

Malone came off the bench to nod home an Easton free-kick with seven minutes left and he wrapped up a fine win in the dying seconds from the penalty spot.

To make matters worse for the Highlanders, they were reduced to ten men when they had a player sent-off as time ticked away.

The Diamonds are in the hat alongside a number of SPL sides for the last 32 draw and Boyle revealed his only preference was for a home clash.

“We have a good squad here and it doesn’t matter who you get at this stage of the competition,” he said. “As long as we get a home tie, I will be happy.”