Muirkirk 2 Ardeer Thistle 2

Ardeer ended a 15-game losing streak away to Muirkirk and came back from two goals down in the process.

Ardeer could have went one-nil up very early in the game but Scott Reid shot over the bar from close range with only a few minutes played. He also had a header saved by the home keeper later in the half. The pitch at Burnside Park hadnt been played on since December and it showed, with parts of the park quickly resembling a cow field. Both the Ardeer (Derek Gemmell) and Muirkirk number 8 picked up a booking after some aggro, and referee Jame Carberry did well to show restraint by not issuing another card to either player despite the ill-feeling clearly lingering between the players for a short period of time.

Muirkirk took the lead after 27 minutes with a rather dubious goal. A striker received a pass despite being clearly a yard offside past Craig Fairbairn when the ball was played. The ball was then passed to a team-mate whose shot hit the bar and the rebound was swept in by the charging home team left-winger. Ardeer were playing against a strong wind and perhaps would have been satisfied with being a goal down at half-time, but conceded again in the 45th minute. The Muirkirk number 9 went one-on-one with Davie Richardson from the right hand side of the pitch and with the keeper being rather slow at coming off his line, managed to squeeze a shot past him which slowly bobbled into the net.

Ardeer showed improved resilience in the second half and did not let the two goal gap dishearten them. Their attacking efforts were rewarded after 57 minutes when Frankie Nolan swung in a free-kick from the left and it was headed into the net with the slightest of flicks from Derek Lamb, who was clearly delighted to score his first goal for the club. Ardeer continued to press forward, with a long-range effort from Tommy Maitland close to finding the net, but it looked as if their efforts would be in vain as full-time approached. However, in the last minute of regular time, debutant Derek McGeachie hit a low shot towards goal from inside the box. Despite initially looking as if it was going wide of the goal, it sneaked into the left-hand corner of the net, sparking celebration amongst the small travelling support.

Muirkirk tried their best to regain the lead in injury time but were well marshalled by the Ardeer defence and a draw was probably a fair result for both teams, despite the contentious opening goal. Ardeer have now managed a win and a draw against Muirkirk this season, and hopefully this result will serve as a turning point for the clubs on field fortunes. Recent matches have shown that a result was forthcoming and it was achieved with a good, solid, fighting performance from the boys.