Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
SPARKS WILL FLY Milton: Tennent:
This derby clash will be toughest for ages Just remember, remember 5th November
Fireworks ahead!
Bonfire night — and sparks are set to fly when the Diamonds travel the short distance ‘doon the road’ for what promises to be one of the most hotly-contested and, indeed, hardest to call, Monklands derbies in a while.
Airdrie thoughts, and yes, fears, are bound to migrate back to the Guy Fawkes fixture of five years ago when they were humiliated after what can only be described as a nightmare mauling.
Arguably, the 2011 embarrassment won’t be nearly as effective a motivational tool for Darren Young’s men as their win the last time the sides met at Excelsior just over a month ago.
Beating their bitter rivals in a league game on their own patch for the first time in 70 years should have Albion Rovers confidence levels soaring for Saturday. The Diamonds shouldn’t be underestimated, though. Rovers may be delighted with their draw at Alloa Athletic, but one point from a six in their last two outings compared to a back- to- back maximum haul should make the Diamonds slight favourites.
7- 2 or 70 years — the No 7 appears to be a common thread here; so maybe it’s time for our mercurial right flanker Adam Brown to be the difference with that little bit of magic we all know he is capable of.
Or have I just jinxed our chances by spurring on Brown’s opposite number for Rovers, Mark Ferry, who scored his side’s second at Excelsior?
Whatever happens, November 5 should be one explosive contest to remember, remember.
A great point at Alloa Athletic sets Albion Rovers up nicely for the derby at Cliftonhill with our friends from ML6.
Much is being made of the fact that this encounter takes place on fireworks night. Inevitably, thoughts turn to that fifth of November five years ago when Rovers achieved one of the most remarkable results in their history.
For Rovers fans, the 7-2 defeat of the Diamonds that day was as thrilling as it was unexpected.
Just a few weeks beforehand, Rovers had been humbled 4-0 at New Broomfield and looked like a team that would struggle to survive in the Second Division.
By the time November rolled around, Paul Martin’s men were showing some signs of improvement, but the memory of that September afternoon in Airdrie lay heavy on the minds of Rovers fans and many will have headed to Cliftonhill that day with some trepidation.
It took a long time for those negative feelings to be dispelled and even when Rovers went in at half-time leading 3-1, I felt that the game was still far from won.
It’s a fairly common cliché these days to say that fans are in dreamland but the last few minutes of that game are probably the closest I’ve been to experiencing that feeling at a football match.
When Mick O’Byrne’s ferocious strike hit the back of the net to complete the scoring, I really felt that at any moment I would wake up and, in true soap-opera style, discover that it was all a dream.