| Strathclyde Saturday Morning League: Division 1 | |
| 5th May 2008 Airdrie Sports Centre |
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| AS Airdrie | 5 |
| Windlaw | 0 |
| Team: J.McKenna, A.Dougall, Z.Dougall, Sinclair, McInally, Baird (Stevenson), McCaig, McCann (Thornton), D.McGregor (G.McGregor), D.McKenna, McGinlay | |
Windlaw will always look back on this match as one of the most farcical games they have ever participated in within their SSMFL history.
Windlaw started brightly on a terribly bobbly pitch and took the game to Airdrie from kickoff. Clear cut chances were few and far between though and it was Airdrie who scored first. Airdrie beat Windlaw's offside trap and the frontman made no mistake from 10 yards.
Windlaw still thought they could get back in the game though. That was until all sense of fairness and discipline was lost. Kevin McCann was crudely hacked down on the touchline and this was the cue for the game to turn into a farce. Referee Campbell insisted McCann leave the park, despite his obvious distress and pain. McCann was the first of countless players booked. His crime: Asking the ref why the offending player wasn't booked for a nasty challenge. This was the beginning of Campbell's inept performance as he started an almost work to rule refereeing performance. Cards were produced like confetti at a wedding for the most trivial of offences, his grip of the game and Windlaw's discipline disappeared.
AS Airdrie maintained their discipline and focussed on playing football. They scored a second goal when Smith rose above the defence to bullet a header home at the near post. A brilliant goal but it's worth mentioning there was a clear offside decision not given in the build up prior to the corner kick. Airdrie grabbed a third when a Danny McKenna foul, 5 yards outside the box, was penalised with a penalty kick. Again, no mistake from the spot. Unbelievable? Not really! Airdrie's fourth was courtesy of not one but two players in offside positions over two phases of play but this went unnoticed again. Dithering in the Windlaw defence allowed the Airdrie attacker to run in on goal and round the helpless McKenna before slotting home to complete the rout.
Verdict - Despite Windlaw having nothing to play for in the league, a cup campaign looms so a win and a good performance would have been a good boost before the latter stages of the cup. It was a game Windlaw were never going to win after the discipline went and referee Campbell appeared to inexplicably award a series of seemingly straight forward decisions against us. The only positive to come out of the game was hard to find at first but a now well documented rant from SPL manager Craig Levein has given us inspiration: Colin Campbell will never referee another Windlaw match in our existence.
