FINDLAY: THAT WAS FOR FANS

Airdrieonians...... 2 Forfar..........1 Mark Pirie First-team coach Stephen Findlay admits he was delighted for the fans as his Airdrie outfit fought to a narrow win over 10-man Forfar.

Willis Furtado and Jake Hastie got the goals that pulled the Diamonds away from the foot of the table, despite Dylan Easton handing Jim Weir’s men the lead.

Findlay was ecstatic that the Diamonds could repay the supporters after shipping six to East Fife.

He told the Advertiser: “First and foremost we were delighted for the fans that we could put in a performance.

“Everyone at the club has been through the mill but the players are growing into the task.

“The only small disappointment I have is that we had a lot of chances and must have had about 70 per cent possession.

“We made it hard for ourselves but we got there in the end.”

It was a new-look Diamonds after the terrible showing against East Fife forced the Diamonds management team to ring the changes - with 17-year-old Josh Edwards notably coming in at left-back.

Forfar were reduced to 10 when Eddie Malone received a red card for a crunching challenge on Ryan Conroy – which left the skipper unable to continue.

The visitors were defending in numbers, and did take the lead as Ousman See showed good control before finding Matthew Aitken.

The winger squared the ball across goal for Easton and the midfielder tapped it into the returning Rohan Ferguson’s net.

The Diamonds pulled level in 68 minutes as Furtado turned and shot, before securing an invaluable three points at the foot of the table as loanee Jake Hastie fired the ball into the top corner.

Findlay singled out youngster Edwards for special praise as the teenager was drafted in and added more steel to the backline.

He added:“I’m a firm believer in that if you are good enough you are old enough – and Josh epitomises that.

“He’s one of the younger players myself and Marc Fitzpatrick had been keen to bring in.

“We wanted to freshen the team up after the East Fife game and I thought he had a brilliant debut.

“It was a pressure game and he looked good defensively and going forward.”