Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Gal isn’t giving up on title aspirations
Airdrie striker Calum Gallagher isn’t giving up hope on the League One title just yet – despite a costly draw at Montrose handing leaders Cove Rangers the chance of clinching the crown this weekend.
The Diamonds went into Saturday’s clash with the Gable Endies two points off the top of the table, but a battling 2-2 draw at Links Park, coupled with a 2-0 win for Cove at Falkirk, saw the deficit go back to five points at the summit.
There’s just three games remaining in the season and an Airdrie slip-up at home to Dumbarton on Saturday, along with a win for Cove against Alloa, would see the Aberdeenshire side seal the title and automatic promotion.
Airdrie’s draw extended their unbeaten run to 17 games and with Cove on a 23-game streak themselves, it would take a huge collapse from Paul Hartley’s side now for the trophy to be heading to New Broomfield.
But Gallagher, who scored Airdrie’s second equaliser at Montrose after Callum Smith’s earlier effort, said: “It becomes more challenging now. It’s less likely that we will win [the league], but it’s about maintaining the unbeaten run, keeping the performances high and doing everything right.
“We want to approach these last few games with the right mentality that allows us to either keep on our streak and clinch the league if the opportunity comes, or to go into the play-offs with a head of steam.
“We weren’t aware Cove were winning [their game]. On the pitch we were going for it because we were under the impression that maybe they weren’t winning.
“But we heard the result in the changing room and that’s difficult to take.”
Airdrie felt unlucky not to win, , as Dylan Easton missed a penalty and Alan Fleming’s heroics in goal denied them.
Gallagher added: “It was a game of tennis. It was end-to-end stuff for virtually the full 90 minutes.
“The boys put an awful lot into it and we had good chances to win the game. Their goalie had an outstanding game, kept them in it, and kept us from the three points.
“When you’re hurting it’s important to take the positives out of it and we’ve gone down twice at potentially the toughest place to come in this league, and we looked resilient.”