Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
ROVER 70 YEARS IN THE MAKING
Young hails historic victory — then tells players to maintain level of performance
Darren Young has challenged his Albion Rovers history boys to light up League One.
The Coatbridge men shattered a Monklands hoodoo in style on Saturday— winning a league derby in Airdrie for the first time in 70 years.
Not since August 1946 had Rovers picked up the points required to get one over their local rivals in Airdrie.
And the 2-0 victory at New Broomfield was just the seventh league success Rovers have enjoyed against the Diamonds in 134 years.
However, the celebrating was brought to an end last night when the Rovers squad returned to training.
And player/manager Young is adamant that they must see off Queen’s Park at the Exsel Group Stadium this Saturday after dumping the Diamonds.
The 37-year-old (below) said: “It’s a massive result for us and we will look to build on it.
“Every single player fought for everything and you could see how much it meant to them.
“We’ve not started the season as well as we would have wanted but the fans have now got the bragging rights and I hope they enjoy this win.
“Seventy years? I never realised it was as long as that.
“That’s another
hoodoo removed. We never won any of the derbies last season, so this is great.
“We’ve now got Queen’s Park, which will be another difficult game for us.
“That’s us up to eight points and we’ve got two games remaining in the first quarter.
“We picked up 13 points in the same period last season, so there is still a chance for us to really kick on.”
Young was full of praise for the team effort which saw Rovers extend their unbeaten run at New Broomfield to six games.
“We played with a lot of confidence,” he reflected.
“We changed one or two things about and I thought we were right at it.
“Steven Boyd did great and he could have had a couple of goals as well.
“He’s got quick feet, is a great player and gives us that wee bit of quality.
“Paul Willis got up and down the park for us. We defended really well; big Scott McBride was outstanding at left-back.
“Ross Davidson did really well in his first game back after injury and Ryan Wallace was a big threat.”