Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Gaffer feels empty after shock defeat
Findlay infuriated at his side’s capitulation
Airdrie boss Stephen Findlay says he feels “empty”after his side threw away a two-goal lead in the final few minutes to lose 4-3 against 10-man Raith Rovers.
A brace from Joao Victoria and a Dale Carrick tap- in looked to have sealed the three points for the Diamonds at the Penny Cars stadium.
But despite having a man advantage and leading 3-1 with just over five minutes to play, Airdrie threw away the points.
Findlay said: “There’s an empty feeling there.
“There’s also one of anger and I feel infuriated that we threw that game away.
“We gifted Raith three points on Saturday and we shouldn’t be doing that.
“We were only five minutes away from being able to say we’ve had a good start to the season but the narrative has now changed.
“We dominated the game for 85 minutes and it would have been a deserved win against the favourites for the title.
“We were so far in front but our inability to see the game out has cost us massively and we need to learn from it.”
Despite the frustration, Findlay believes he couldn’t have done anything differently on Saturday to change the end result.
He continued: “Poor decisionmaking has cost us for three of the goals and as a manager you can’t coach that.
“It’s down to the player and what he does at the time.
“Individual mistakes need to be cut out because we were in total control of the match.
“The result on Saturday is down to decision-making, not a lack of effort or hard work.”
Although the embarrassing collapse means it is now two home defeats from two for the club, Findlay is remaining positive.
He said: “All our attackers were excellent on Saturday.
“Having watched the game back I’m really pleased with how the game plan went for 87 minutes.
“I have a tremendous amount of faith and belief in these lads.
“This match was an almighty blow but we’ll take it on the chin and move on.
“I don’t think our boys know when they’ve won a game.
“They need to be more streetwise and just keep the ball off the opposition rather than go for another goal.
“We’ll need to learn quickly as we want a good home record.
“Our forward play is encouraging but we need to assess the last five minutes because it was madness.”