Ardeer Thistle will play Kilwinning Rangers in a pre-season friendly on Saturday 24th July at 2pm at Ardeer Stadium.

Provisional fixtures for the Ardagh Glass Sectional League Cup and Stagecoach Ayrshire & District League have now been entered in the "matches" section. We will open the season away to Darvel on the 4th of August and our first league game is away to Winton Rovers on the 21st of August.

Hurlford United are champions of the Ayrshire & District League after a 1-0 win at home to Craigmark Burntonians tonight. Winton Rovers and Lugar BT can both still catch Kilwinning Rangers for the second promotion place but need a three and four goal win respectively this Wednesday.

Ardeer Thistle 2 Irvine Vics 1

In our last home game against Irvine Vics in January 2009, an out-of-form Ardeer side won 3-2 thanks to a injury time Graeme Patterson winner. This season an out-of-form Ardeer side again managed a home win against the same team. The victory was also their first since September last year.

The away side had a plethora of chances throughout but were let down by some awful finishing and some exceptional goalkeeping and defending from Ardeer. After Irvine Vics had spurned some goalscoring opportunities early on, Ardeer took a shock lead with 22 minutes played when Michael Lennox curled a fine effort from outside the box which went high past Vics keeper Jim Catterson off the crossbar and into the net. The away side were clearly stunned at going a goal behind but were looking the most likely team to score prior to half time. However, Ardeer scored again with the last kick of the half when John McMaster was given far too much time on the ball by the away defence and hit an shot over the goalie into the goal from 25 yards.

Irvine Vics made two subs at half time to try and get back into the game, with regular starter Gareth Timoney coming on for Ian Seymour and Kevin Adam coming on for Sean Kennedy. Despite the changes they still struggled to find a way past the solid Ardeer back-line and when they did goalkeeper Gordon Traynor was dealing with what came his way. Not even Scott Reids fourth red card of the season could prevent the home side from a long-awaited victory. Lee McCrae got a goal back from close range in the 85th minute but Ardeer repelled the subsequent Irvine Vics attacks and were able to hang on for three points.

Although Irvine Vics had more chances it was a fully deserved victory for Ardeer based on the commitment and hard-work displayed by the players. Referee Craig Winning also deserves praise for allowing the game to flow and making largely correct decisions throughout but Scott Reids sending off was harsh and he did award the away side a phantom corner in the first half. Manager Dougie McGuire should also be lauded for the victory, especially as it has come so soon after some heavy defeats. Man of the match was probably Tommy Maitland in central midfield as he some a number of important tackles and headers and looked assured in both attack and defence.

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.

Todays "El Classico" fixture pitting Ardeer Thistle against Saltcoats Victoria is ON today, with kick-off at 2pm.

Todays postponed game at home to Saltcoats Vics will now be played Saturday 27th of February at 2pm. The Game away to Muirkirk that was previously scheduled for that day will now be played at a later date.

Todays scheduled game against Saltcoats Victoria has been unsurprisingly postponed due to a frozen pitch.

I have uploaded some photos from last Saturdays home game versus Lugar Boswell Thistle. Thanks to John McCann for taking them and allowing us to use them.

Ardeer have been drawn away to Darvel in the first round of the Ayrshire Weekly Press Cup. The winners of that game will play Kilbirnie Ladeside at home in Round 2. Dates for both fixtures have yet to be decided.