Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Let’s turn Excelsior into a solid fortress
Aitchison call for a home points haul
Albion Rovers boss Brian Kerr has praised his five star players for bouncing back against Queen’s Park - just a week after conceding five.
Alan Trouten had put the Coatbridge side at Hampden in front just before half-time from the penalty spot after team-mate Jason Marr cancelled out Sean Burns’s deflected opener for the hosts.
Gus MacPherson’s side had a jittery afternoon in defence and mistakes early in the second half allowed Connor Shields to ram in two goals before another calamity saw Trouten roll in his second of the afternoon.
Thomas Orr headed in a late consolation for Queen’s Park but it was a well-deserved win for the visitors.
Kerr praised his side for their“resilience”after shipping five goals to Ayr on the opening day of the season.
“After the defeat at Ayr, the boys had to pick themselves up,”he told the Advertiser.
“Even thought we lost the Ayr game heavily we showed what we can do.
“For the opening 15 or 20 minutes of the game I thought we lacked that bit extra, and we were maybe just a percentage short on where we want to be.
“Maybe there heads had dropped. They looked a bit disheartened after the first goal deflected in - which I can understand.
“To their credit, the boys kept playing their game and stuck with it, and got the rewards in the end.
“We will keep our feet on the ground, but we’re happy with how things have been going so far.”
Kerr is now keen to make their mark on the Monklands Derby this weekend at Cliftonhill, but knows they will be facing off against an unknown quantity when Airdrie arrive in Coatbridge.
“We want to push on against Airdrie and show what we are all about and stick with the way we have been playing.
“They are a good, full-time club who gave us problems at home last season.
“We know Airdrie have their problems but it doesn’t really come into the mindset of the players during a derby game, it’s just two teams trying to win.
“They have a lot of young players that are untested at this level, so it’s a bit of an unknown.
“Connor Shields and a few other under-20’s have came into the team for us and done well and proven they can handle it, so it’s not always a negative.”
Willie Aitchison believes Airdrie should be targeting a win in every game at New Broomfield this season.
The head coach was speaking after his side’s draw with Arbroath to secure their first point of the season.
Omar Kader gave the visitors the lead after prodding home a knockdown from Steven Doris, but Andy Ryan drew the game level with a well-hit shot after 55 minutes - in what is his last game for the club.
Aitchison believes that the Diamonds should be targeting three points whenever they take to the pitch at the Excelsior Stadium.
“I don’t think at any time we should be looking at it as a point gained,” he said.
“I would be looking to win every game here.
“If I was 18 or 19 and someone came in and said I was just a kid I would be pretty angry.
“I would see myself as a man. We’re not here for a draw we are here for a results.”
He continued: “All you can do is build small things. It’s like any education process.
“You don’t pass an exam on the first day. We have to get all the building blocks in place.
“Donald (Jennow) and the guys who have been there before me have done a fantastic job bringing the boys to this stage - but I think we need to go one further and compete with the men at this level.”
Aitchison believed the Diamonds should have been awarded a penalty, after Ryan was taken down just inside the box by Mark Whatley.
However, he conceded a draw was probably a fair result.
“Everybody seen it. The referee makes a decision, and I’m not going to criticise him. We just have to move on.
“Young boys will tend to dwell on that, but we need to get ourselves right back in the game and focus.
“They had as many chances as we did to win the game. Everyone knows that we have a very young side and they are playing against experienced teams.
“It’s a big ask. We only have a couple of boys who are over 20, so it’s a steep learning curve for them.
“That’s a weeks labour there, and there are still millions of things we can get right.
“It’s a sloppy goal to lose. We knew they would put balls into our area, and we didn’t deal with it. I’m then looking to see how we react, and I thought they carried themselves well.”