Ardeer Thistle 1 Darvel 1

Ardeer, under the command of assistant manager Derek Gemmell, registered their first point of the season in an entertaining draw against Darvel. The game was much closer than the Ardagh Glass Sectional League Cup match earlier in the month and that was reflected in the result.

The home side looked more assured in defence throughout and it was centre back Jim Morrison that came closest to scoring for them in the first half. They had a run of several consecutive corners about 35 minutes into the game and Jim's header from the last of these had to be cleared off the line by a Darvel defender. Darvel almost scored themselves in the dying seconds of the half but an opportunistic overhead kick could only hit the bar.

The gusty wind was against Ardeer in the second half and Darvel quickly went on the attack. Their number 7 beat Ardeer goalkeeper Joe Murphy to a long ball but his header went wide of the goal. Shortly afterwards Toni Paton lost the ball in a dangerous position, giving the away side a real chance to score but their shot was held by Murphy. Ardeer midfielder Darren Hughes then forced the away goalkeeper to make a good save from his half volley in the box before the Darvel strikers wasted two more good chances to break the stalemate. However, the away side did manage to open the scoring just before the hour mark when a free-kick sent in from the left hand side of the park caught the wind and sailed over Joe Murphy into the top corner of the net.

The away sides lead lasted until the 71st minute when a short layoff from Darren Quinn to Toni Paton allowed Toni to unleash a ferocious low drive that powered into the net from about 25 yards. Six minutes later, the Darvel right-back received a second yellow card for a foul on Lee Munro at the edge of the box. Ardeer couldnt get a shot off from the resulting free-kick and although both teams tried to find a winner the game ended in a draw. Overall it was Ardeers best competitive performance this season and they will be hoping to build on it and defeat Saltcoats next Saturday.