Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Young keeper steps up in hour of need
Boss hails Liam Tuite’s display in routing of Albert
Gerry Bonham this week hailed super stand-in Liam Tuite after Gartcairn’s thumping win at Royal Albert.
Former Airdrie Pro Youth keeper Tuite deputised for experienced stopper Bryn Halliwell who was injured.
Tuite kept a clean sheet with an accomplished performance at Stonehouse’s Tileworks Park on Saturday.
And boss Bonham was proud of Gartcairn’s Under- 19s keeper for stepping up in the Junior side’s hour of need. He said: “Liam was outstanding.
“He collected crosses, high balls, was confident and made a couple of good saves. He had not even trained with us.
“I told the boys at half-time that we had to keep a clean sheet for him after he did a favour for us. This is a great moment for him.”
Two goals in each half sent Gartcairn up to second place in the table.
Jordan Love opened the scoring early on with the Airdrie men not looking back as they strolled to a comfortable third league win.
“It was brilliant to get such an early goal,” Bonham said. “I didn’t expect that and the game plan opened up for us. It was a long-ball game in the end.
“Royal Albert is always a difficult venue and we had worked on things on training. I thought it was important to get the second goal just before halftime. It changed the whole team talk.
“It happened to us against St Anthony’s on the opening day and it was hard to take.
“We became hard to break down and then got another couple of goals. The two strikers and two wingers both scored, which was pleasing.”
The Central District Second Division takes a break due to the September Weekend holiday but Gartcairn go into the mini-shutdown buoyed by their form since the opening-day reverse at promotion hopefuls St Anthony’s.
“I’m over the moon with our start to the season,” Bonham added. “We have stood up to the challenge since losing our first game. I feel we have deserved to win the three games. We’re sitting in a good position going into the break.”
Meanwhile, the Gartcairn Football Academy was honoured last week by UEFA.
Chairman Robert McCallum and his team of volunteers received the Silver Award in the “Best Grassroots Club” category at this year’s UEFA Grassroots Awards. The top prize went to Belgium’s RWDM Girls.