Airdrieonians (2002) 7
Dundee 0
League (First Division)

Match Report

Airdrie took full advantage of an inexperienced Dee line up at New Broomfield with the young Dundee side being put to the sword with three quick bursts of goals. Alan Kernaghan fielded a completely different line up to the one which had faced Hamilton in the cup less than 48-hours previously and gave debuts to four youngsters throughout the afternoon, three of them, David Black, Robert Hendry and Mark Allison starting, while Scott Robertson the younger came of the bench during he second half. By then the match was long lost. The opening stages brought little hint of the salvo of goals which would follow, but after the first had arrived on 15 minutes through Willie Mclaren's cool finish from Barkey's pass the roof fell in for the white shirted Dee. Just over a minute later it was two-nil with Airdrie earning a penalty when Lovering was tripped by Steven Craig. Garry Twigg slotted away the spot kick to make a comeback from Dundee unlikely.

Seconds later, any possible revival was rendered impossible with Brian McPhee scoring possibly the best goal scored in the division this season. Callum Macdonald was deceived by an awkward bounce and the Airdrie striker was on it in a flash to lash an unstoppable dipping volley home from well outside the box.

Dundee should have pulled one back in 39 minutes as Thursday cup hero Steven Craig raced clear, but with home keeper Robertson advancing to meet him he fired his shot over the bar.

Two minutes later, the Dee were four down, Gary Twigg heading home Lovering's cross and three minutes later it was five as McLaren raced clear to fire home, seconds later Kenny Clark blew the half time whistle to bring a brief respite to the misery of the Dens kids.

Alan Kernaghan made changes at the break, replacing Scott Gates, who'd made several promising runs early on, but become increasingly isolated on the wing, with Craig O'Reilly. Andy Ferguson had endured a frustrating afternoon till then, up front on his own he'd been badly outnumbered and had seen little of the ball, the introduction of O'Reilly saw the pair start to keep the ball at the correct end of the field for much longer periods.

More importantly, Kernaghan pulled Barry Smith back into a back three alongside Allison and Macdonald and the experience, vocal encouragement and organizational ability of the captain improved matters at the back as the second half got under way.

There were still scary moments at times, but for most of the second half Dundee held their own, indeed they had a long spell of pressure, though without ever looking like scoring.

Ironically that ended with Airdrie breaking to score their sixth and it was created by the man who has impressed most against the Dark Blues this season, Brian McPhee, he intercepted up a loose pass deep inside his own half and raced past three challenges before releasing the ball to McLaren who slid the ball home to complete his hat-trick in the 78th minute.

Six minutes later the rout was complete as Airdrie substitutes David Dunn and Fraser Coyle combined, Dunn crossing for Coyle to head home from a yard out.

Dundee twice came closer to scoring than in the closing minutes than at any stage previously. First Callum Macdonald heading narrowly wide and then Craig O'Reilly racing in behind the Airdrie defence and finally beating Robertson. His run and shot deserved a consolation goal, but on a day when nothing went right, it wasn't a surprise that it hit the inside of the post and rebound into play.

Match report written by Dundee Matchday Programme