Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Airdrie v Well was the big Lanarkshire derby for me
Andy recalls glory days
Airdrie legend Andy Smith expects plenty of needle when the Diamonds host Motherwell in a rare Lanarkshire derby in the Premier Sports Cup tonight.
The sides were familiar foes in the 1990s when striker Smith was in his pomp, but the clubs have only met twice since 1995.
A Scottish Cup clash in 2007 when Airdrie lost 1-0 at home was the last meeting between the sides.
But they will renew their rivalry when the Steelmen come to New Broomfield again this evening and it will bring back plenty of memories for the Diamonds hero, who was also an academy coach at Fir Park.
Graham Alexander’s Motherwell will be huge favourites, but Smith isn’t ruling out his former side and expects there to be no love lost when the ‘real Lanarkshire derby’ comes along.
The 52-year-old said: “It certainly hasn’t been as frequent a fixture as it was back in the 90s, so it’s great to see it back.
“It will be great for the fans to get back in to see it.
“You can’t get a much better game for the fans of both teams.
“I know there’s all sorts of Lanarkshire derbies with Rovers, Motherwell with Hamilton, but the biggest one for me was always Airdrie v Motherwell.
“There’s a bit of history to it and there was certainly that bit of something special to it before I was even at Airdrie.
“They were always good games against Motherwell and when both teams were in the Premier League it was great.
“There was always a bit of needle in the games and it never mattered where we were in the leagues.
“When it came to those games, the fans always turned out in their numbers from both sides because they identify it as a real derby game that everyone wants to see.
“I was lucky to be at Airdrie at a time where we had a lot of success with promotions and getting to cup finals, semi finals.
“Cup runs were always our speciality at that time.
“But I also worked for Motherwell for two or three years, working with their academy, and that was brilliant as well.
“It’s two clubs that I’ve enjoyed working for in different roles and two great clubs with great staff, great people, great fans.”
Motherwell have started their cup campaign with two wins against Queen’s Park and Queen of the South, while Airdrie drew their opener 1-1 with Annan last week – going on to lose on penalties and miss out on a bonus point. On Saturday they took the bonus point with a 4-3 shoot-out win after a 0-0 draw away to Queen’s Park.
Smith, who made 165 appearances for the Monklands men and netted 30 goals, knows what it takes to pull off some big cup results, having played in two Scottish Cup finals in the 1990s with the club and winning the 1995 Challenge Cup.
And he reckons if ever Airdrie had a chance of upsetting their neighbours, it’s early in the campaign when they could capitalise on any ring-rust.
“I think this cup, played at this time in the season, there are so many shock results,” he said.
“There’s teams that aren’t up to full speed and if a team from a lower division has ever got a chance, the best chance is now because there’s maybe a lot of new players in. With the pandemic, what has training been like? You know, not every team will be 100 per cent.
“At this stage for Motherwell, it’s just about making sure they get out of the group because by the time the second round comes along they will be in a much better position in terms of fitness.
“From Airdrie’s point of view, nothing ever surprises me with them.
“They were so unlucky last year in League One. I thought they were going to get promotion last season.
“They’ve kept many of their players and made a couple of additions and they are always a very hard team to play against.
“They do tend to have some young players coming through that do well also.
“Home advantage will certainly help and with some fans in there as well it will be great for them.”
The fans always turned out because they identify it as a real derby