Peterhead endured a disappointing afternoon on Saturday going down 7-0 to Airdrieonians – the facts speak for itself in what was a tough result to take for everyone at the club internally in their fight to beat the drop from League One this season.
The feeling going into the match had been one full of positivity, enthusiasm and hunger but that excitement going into the match on Saturday didn’t last long as Airdrieonians opened the scoring after a minute, Cammy Ballantyne fed Callum Smith on the left, and although his looping cross was just too high for Justin Devenny, the ball bounced off Peterhead defender Kevin Joshua leaving the in-form Englishman to stroke home.
The Blue Toon almost equalised straight from kick-off, Andy McCarthy sending a good shot just wide of the post, but it would prove to be the only real chance of a miserable afternoon for David Robertson’s side.
Shortly afterwards, Airdrie did get a second, Gallagher got on the end of Callum Fordyce’s pass back across goal for defender Craig Watson to side foot home, you could already tell from that moment on that a brutal day was going to be on the cards.
Before we knew it, the relentless Diamonds made it three as Gallagher got his first of the match, and it was an excellent finish from the striker as he accepted McGill’s pinpoint pass and curled the ball beyond McKenzie’s despairing dive.
With Peterhead’s game plan in ruins, the visitors began to sit deep as they attempted to contain the rampant Diamonds, who were still finding routes through to goal with their short, sharp passing.
You thought the visitors had settled into the match with Robertson looking to change formation on numerous occasions across the remainder of the first half. It looked like working until first-half stoppage time when McGill made it 4-0 as Callum Fordyce squared for the unmarked Gabby McGill to finish.
After a quick start to the first half, the Diamonds repeated the feat after the break. McGill’s 47th-minute pass was deflected into the path of Devenny, who pulled the ball across goal for Adam Frizzell to smash into the far corner.
A lot of the goals from an Airdrieonians perspective were similar in quality, fashion and style and this was no different with the sixth as Calum Gallagher completed an instinct finish after Adam Frizzell had an effort saved.
Airdrie wanted another one to complete the assignment and they got a seventh just three minutes from time as Gallagher completed his hat-trick as he jumped in front of Joshua and McKenzie to head home.
It goes without saying that this was tough for everyone at the club on Saturday and we are looking to bounce back this Saturday when we host Alloa to Balmoor.
FFIT going well with Natty and Steven, 10 men and 11 ladies are past the halfway stage and already one participant has lost an incredible 11.3kg (25lbs).
Coaching at Clerkhill School is ongoing and Danny Strachan continues to do great work at Buchanhaven School having a positive impact as Wellbeing Coach as pupil attendance levels continue to increase.
General News
Peterhead is the first venue to kick off John McMaster’s “McMaster and Commander” Highland Tour 2023, this event will take place at Balmoor on 19th May at 7.30pm and tickets can be purchased here
Mother Nature again refused to play ball this week with both the game against Dunfermline and training at Balmoor called off. We are indebted to the army of volunteers who answered our call for help and came to help clear the pich, albiet all in vain. Chairman Rodger Morrison has been a part of many pitch clearances in his time and he admits that the success ratio is low however it’s always worth trying our hardest to get the game played as the financial implications of a postponed match are huge for a club of our size. A rearranged midweek fixture makes things very hard for a part-time club both on and off the pitch as we inevitably lose our match and ball sponsors who cannot commit to a Tuesday night as well as most of our corporate hospitality. The away support decreases therefore the revenue associated with those who travel diminishes but there’s also the added problem of part-time players working during the day before playing a game against a full-time team who have rested ahead of the game. A far from ideal scenario but one that we just have to accept and do all we can to mitigate for.
The club has now submitted our response to the Scottish Governmen’s consultation group regarding the restriction of alcohol advertising and promotion in sports. This is only at the consultation phase and more discussions will take place over the coming months.
Team News
We were delighted to announce that Conor O’ Keefe has penned a new two year deal keeping him at Balmoor until 2025. Read more here.
The rescheduled Dunfermline match will now be played on Tuesday 11th April at 7.45pm and tickets for the game can be purchased here. Any tickets already purchased will still be valid for this match.
Enquiries are coming in for pre-season games, nothing yet confirmed but we will keep you updated in due course.
News from Davie Robertson: “After the disappointment of the game being off after all the fantastic effort from all the volunteers in the community clearing the snow off the pitch, we did manage to train at Cove Rangers stadium on Saturday. Jimmy Lindsay took our South players to Strathclyde Park and myself and Ian took the Dundee/Perth based players for a session on Monday in Dundee. We did not want to risk Balmoor this week so we managed to train in Dundee but hopefully we can get back to Balmoor next Tuesday. It was pleasing to see Hamish Ritchie join in training with the boys albeit non contact, he’s made a lot of progress in a short space of time – his hard work has paid off and we are lucky to have Donal Gallagher to look after him and push him on. Apart from Layton Bisland and Connor O’Keefe (who we are hoping will resume training in 10 days or so) we have no other injury concerns. Airdrie will be a tough game but we competed well against them last time around at Balmoor before losing goals on the closing stages. We will go into tomorrows game with confidence knowing we have improved as a team”.
Davie Robertson is hitting the positivity note prior to Saturday’s trip to Airdrieonians with plenty of twists and turns going to happen between now and the season finishing in May.
Despite being inactive from competitive action last weekend, the Blue Toon trained in Aberdeen and Dundee respectively over the past few weeks with a snowbound Balmoor calling off our game against Dunfermline (rescheduled for April 11th) and subsequently, training at Balmoor on Tuesday.
Robertson is confident about what’s to come and is fascinated by the run-in as Peterhead aim to claw a three-point deficit at the bottom to get a play-off come May. He said, “Everybody’s fine and looking good, there’s a real belief among the group and everyone is starting to come together and gelling well, the week out of no action might help us as everyone’s back in a positive mind after Falkirk.
“The last time against Airdrieonians, it was 0-0 with five minutes to go but we were well in the game and we have high hopes for Saturday. Airdrie is a difficult team to play against, playing away from home is always hard. They’re relentless and we’ll need to be at our best defensively but we can’t just be camped in like Falkirk.
“Kieran Shanks had a penalty shout in that game at 0-0 and we had chances to score, if we can defend well then we have chances to score, I think there will be a few strange results at this stage of the season, we are more a team on the up and have games and results to play for.
“I think the intensity of training has started by training in Peterhead, everyone’s getting used to each other and there’s competition for places, players now realise who they’re playing for in terms of the supporters that come and watch, the office people like Ken, Sharon, and Mandy and also Mary in the kitchen.
“There’s a lot of twists and turns going to come between now and the finish in May, for us, it’s going to be a fascinating end to the season and there’s a lot of confidence within the team despite the results, we’re on the right track and harder to beat now.
“We are working on a squad of about 21 and 22 when Conor comes back from injury, I think the uncertainty of players has gone now, players have a bit of security and confidence with new contracts as well so it’s encouraging.”
Team News: Leyton Bisland is the only one who is a doubt for Saturday.
A new date has been announced for our rescheduled game against Dunfermline Athletic that was called off due to a snowbound pitch on 11th March 2023, this will now be played on Tuesday 11th April – any tickets purchased for this game will still be vaild.
