Scottish First Division round-up

Airdrie Utd 0 Dundee 0

DIAMONDS keeper Stephen Robertson produced a string of stunning saves to deny Dundee all three points.

Now he reckons Airdrie are ready to defy their critics and survive in Division One.

The Airdrie ace almost single-handedly earned his team a precious point with at least six super stops.

He said: “We’re all in this together and it’s not fair to single me out.

“It makes your day a lot better when you don’t concede a goal and winning the man of the match award is nice because it’s about time I got one.

“But next week it will be somebody else who gets the plaudits.”

Robbo reckons the snipers who have written Airdrie off as relegation certainties could be left with egg on their faces by the end of the season.

He added: “It just makes us all the more determined to go out and prove people wrong.

“That’s three games we’re played now and when you analyse it we could be sitting on nine points. No one has given us a doing and I’m sure we’ll be all right in this league.”

Dundee enjoyed by far the better of the chances but found Robertson in unbeatable form.

Offside

He set the tone for a frustrating day for Dundee with three first half saves in quick succession, first denying Colin McMenamin who had cleverly spun clear of his marker.

Then Mickael Antoine-Curier took Chris Pozniak’s pass in his stride and forced another fine stop from the keeper.

Robertson completed a hat-trick of important saves moments later when Freddie Daquin seized on a poor pass out of the home defence and sent McMenamin racing through again.

However, the Dundee striker’s left foot shot was brilliantly clawed behind by Robertson.

Then Simon Lynch was controversially flagged offside as Airdrie finally showed some attacking intent.

Still feeling a sense of injustice, they almost went ahead when Joe Cardle’s netbound shot was turned behind his own goal by Eddie Malone’s flying header.

Chances continued to come on the restart with Robertson again denying Antoine-Curier with another reflex save. At the other end Paul Di Giacomo twice caused Dundee problems down the right-hand side but was unable to find the final touch.

Robertson produced another brilliant diving save when McMenamin turned on the edge of the box and drilled a shot towards the bottom right-hand corner.

However, the striker was left cursing again as the keeper flung himself full length and tipped it away for a corner.

But Robertson should have been beaten in 74 minutes when Paul McHale’s flighted free kick found Antoine-Curier unmarked.

The big Frenchman put his header over the bar from just eight yards.

He was almost made to suffer for the error when Scott McLaughlin linked with fellow substitute Stuart Noble and fired in a left foot shot which had Rab Douglas scrambling to save.

The Dens keeper then had an anxious moment when he flapped at Matt Hazley’s free kick and saw Di Giacomo head the loose ball goalward. However, Gary MacKenzie hooked it off the line to ensure a blank scoreline.

Diamonds boss Kenny Black declared: “Sponsors normally get the man of the match award wrong but they were spot-on this time. There’s no doubt with the chances Dundee had we are indebted to Robbo.

“But in fairness most of the chances they had came from our mistakes and I’m delighted we’ve kept another clean sheet.”

Black reckons his shot-shy troops need more bite if they are to break their scoring duck.

He added: “The downside is that we’ve had another blank scoreline and that’s something we have to work on.

“I think we maybe lack a wee bit of self-belief in the final third but I think the players can take a bit of confidence from the fact that we’ve matched all three sides we’ve played so far.

“The players have shown tremendous determination in the opening weeks of the season and I can’t fault their effort.”

Gutted Dens boss Alex Rae groaned: “The fact that their goalkeeper was man of the match says it all. We certainly created enough chances to have taken the three points and I think if we’d scored with one of our first half chances we’d have gone on and won comfortably.”

AIRDRIE UTD: Robertson, Smyth, Donnelly, Nixon (McLaughlin), Hazley, McDougall (Smith), McDonald, McKenna, Cardle, Lynch (Noble), Di Giacomo.

DUNDEE: Douglas, Paton, MacKenzie, Williams, Malone, Daquin (Davidson), McHale, Pozniak, Gilhaney (O’Brien), McMenamin, Antoine-Curier.

Clyde 2 Ross County 2

Scorers: CLYDE: MacLennan, Clarke ROSS CO: Craig, Morrison

COUNTY boss Derek Adams felt as if he had been mugged as two points were squandered.

The Dingwall men were 2-0 up and cruising before a second-half Bully Wee fightback. Adams said: “We were well in control for most of the game. The first half performance was as good as I have seen from Ross County.

“We had two well worked goals and great finishes so I’m disappointed to be leaving with only a point.”

Former Livi hitman Steven Craig volleyed County ahead from eight yards out when he met a David Winters knock down from Paul Lawson’s corner.

County made it 2-0 just two minutes later when Scott Morrison curled in a 20-yard free-kick after Richie Hart had been fouled.

Winters almost wrapped things up for County with a dipping 25-yard volley before half time but David Hutton got down to palm the ball round the post for a corner.

Clyde boss John Brown reshuffled his pack at half-time with Ricky Waddell coming on and they got back into things midway through the second half as Ruari MacLennan evaded two challenges before firing home.

County were made to pay for not closing the game out when striker Pat Clarke got on the end of a Waddell free-kick in 82 minutes and sent a header over Tony Bullock.

Brown said: “I reckon I should play the lottery tonight as I feel a bit lucky. We were bullied in the first half and I had to have a word at half-time.

“To be fair the boys responded and at the death we were the stronger team.”

CLYDE: Hutton, Gibson, Ohnesorge, Higgins (McGowan), Brown, Kettlewell, Trouten (McKay) , Ru MacLennan, Clarke, Gemmill, Ro MacLennan (Waddell).

ROSS COUNTY: Bullock, McCulloch, Keddie, Dowie, Boyd, Lawson (Scott), Hart, Brittain, Winters (Shields), Craig (Daal), Morrison.

Morton 1 Livingston 2

Scorers: MORTON: Wake LIVINGSTON: Davidson, Griffiths

LIVI star Murray Davidson blasted his first goal of the season but was just glad to avoid a red card.

He was dismissed in only his second match for the Lions last term by the same ref who handled yesterday’s clash, Brian Winter.

Davidson said: “The last time I was here was in my second game for Livi and after coming on at half-time, I was sent off for a challenge in the last minute.

“When I saw it was the same referee I just tried to stay out of his way!

“But I’m delighted to get my first goal of the season, especially after taking so much stick from the boys for missing a few chances.”

Davidson netted a superb half-volley from 15 yards in the 11th minute following a nod down by Leigh Griffiths.

Two minutes later Griffiths fizzed a stunning volley into the bottom corner from the edge of the area after a blunder by Morton defender Allan McManus.

Ton hauled themselves back into it with a superb finish from Brian Wake. He jinked past two defenders before curling a low shot in off the post in 32 minutes.

But the Lions could have added to their tally when James McPake thundered in a shot that keeper Kevin Cuthbert pushed over the bar in 54 minutes.

A minute later Cuthbert kept out Griffiths before Lions keeper Pierre Martini denied Wake a glorious chance to level.

Livi boss Roberto Landi, whose team wore black arm bands in respect of Raffaele De Vita whose father died, said: “I am very, very happy with the performance. We needed this result. The team is gelling very well.”

MORTON: Cuthbert, Shimmin, Harding, McManus, Paartalu, Masterton (Jenkins 79), McGuffie (Weatherson 85), Russell, Wake, Newby (Finlayson 65), McAlister.

LIVINGSTON: Martini, Mackay, Talbot, McPake, Fox, Innes, McParland, Davidson (Miller 82), Quinn, Griffiths, Hamill.

St Johnstone 0 Dunfermline 3

Scorers: DUNFERMLINE: Williamson, Phinn, Bayne

DEADLY Dunfermline laid down a marker for the season by blitzing the suffering Saints.

The raging Perth fans booed off their pre-season title favourites after seeing them taken apart.

Goals from sub Iain Williamson, classy kid Nicky Phinn and one-time Saints target Graham Bayne underlined Dunfermline’s own championship credentials while undermining Saints’ claims.

But boss Jim McIntyre warned that cutbacks at East End Park could jeopardise their chances of a return to the SPL.

He lapped-up a five-star showing but said: “We don’t have a big squad. The law of averages means we’ll get injuries and any more signings will probably have to be loans.

“But it was a satisfying performance and we were worthy winners, dominating from start to finish. Saints remain favourites. They are a still very good team but we played well.”

Angry Saints boss Derek McInnes couldn’t believe his flops were so far off the pace.

He said: “Very few teams come here and dominate proceedings like Dunfermline did so they deserve credit. But my players didn’t do enough to compete. It’s a very disappointing result. It’s rare that we are as poor as that.”

Early sub Williamson bagged the opener before the break to end the stalemate and the Pars rubbed salt in Saints’ wounds after the interval. Midfielder Phinn charged on to Andy Kirk’s low cross to bundle home the second in the 56th minute.

In the final seconds brilliant Bayne latched on to a Kevin Rutkiewicz cock-up to lash a superb 25-yard strike into the top corner of the goal.

ST JOHNSTONE: McLean, Irvine, Smith, Millar, Rutkiewicz, James, Swankie (Samuel), Craig, Holmes (Jackson), Milne, Sheerin (MacDonald).

DUNFERMLINE: Gallacher, Woods, Wilson, Phinn, Shields, McCann, Harper (Williamson), Glass, Bayne, Kirk (Muirhead), Burke.