Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Play-offs just four ‘cup finals’ away Kieran strikes to send Airdrie on their way
Airdrieonians...... 3 Brechin City ........ 1
Every game is a cup final for Airdrieonians from now until the end of the season, according to wing- back Kieran MacDonald.
The Diamonds jumped to third in the table with an impressive win over Brechin City.
An Iain Russell double either side of MacDonald’s breakaway goal put their play-off rivals to the sword at the Excelsior Stadium.
The final four games are huge now for Airdrie as they aim to hold on to their position in the table.
“We’ve been playing well the last few weeks and are looking forward to each game now,” said left wingback MacDonald.
“It’s four cup finals for us now – if we want to make the play-offs we need to win.
“They are games we can win – we’ve beat them all before so there’s no reason we can’t do it again.”
MacDonald has enjoyed a more attacking role recently – but was disappointed at the defensive mixup that led to Jack Leitch’s own goal just before the interval.
“Since I’ve been playing wingback I’ve been trying to get up the park as much as possible,” he continued.
“So when I saw the gap I just ran into it and Ryan [Conroy] played a good ball through – I thought it was a good break from us.
“I slipped when I hit it, so when everybody ran towards me and I knew it was in, that was a really good feeling.”
He added: “It was disappointing to let in the goal, especially because we dominated and had most of the ball in the first half.
“We’re a good team, but we know we will concede goals sometimes as well. We needed the two-goal cushion to relax and start playing again. We knew that if we got that third goal we would be more comfortable.”
Head coach Mark Wilson was full of praise for his squad after they rose to the occasion in the crucial match.
“We knew how important this game was going to be, and all week we emphasised that to the players.
“Wins at this stage against the teams around you are going to go a long way towards where you finish at the end of the season.
“I was pleased with how we played and thought there was a few outstanding performances. Kyle Hutton and Ryan Conroy were excellent.
“Again, we made things harder for ourselves with that goal before half-time. You could see that the boys enjoyed the way they were playing.
“We now look towards the next game.”