Airdrie United 1 Raith Rovers 1

Last updated : 21 August 2004 By Footymad Previewer

Raith's took an early lead against Airdrie after only six minutes.

A Joe McAlpine cross from the left was poorly dealt with by Neil McGowan and Hamed Sacko took full advantage when he ran past the defender and clipped the ball into the net with his right foot.

Airdrie could have opened the scoring after only 2 minutes when Mark Roberts' cross was headed onto the bar by Stephen McGowan. The rebound then fell to Moussa Ouattara whose blundering attempt at a clearance was scrambled off his own line by keeper David Berthelot.

However, in 61 minutes the home side equalised. The goal though was largely down to a goalkeeping error. Berthelot failed to intercept a cross and Owen Coyle stepped in and slipped the ball to Stephen McKeown.

The striker made no mistake from 16 yards when he chipped the ball over the stranded keeper.

The home side came close to taking the lead midway trough the half. Once again a Roberts cross caused the problem. This time though the woodwork saved Raith when Paul Lovering's header rattled off the bar.

Raith were not without threat and Herve Ebanda came close on two occasions, but neither forced keeper Mark McGeown into a save.

In the end though a draw was a fair result.