Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
DEFEAT WAS A WAKE-UP CALL
A disappointing result for Murray
New Airdrie manager Ian Murray says Saturday’s defeat to Stenhousemuir will act as a “wake-up call” for himself and his players.
Mark McGuigan’s late goal saw the Diamonds slump to another home defeat in Murray’s first game in charge.
Airdrie are in fifth place in League One, two points above bottom side Montrose in an extremely tight table.
Murray told the Advertiser: “I’m extremely disappointed by the result and the performance.
“Sometimes you can drop points but think you deserved more from the game – but that wasn’t the case today.
“I think it will act as a wake-up call for everyone to understand fully what we’re up against in this league.
“The league is so tight and it’s up to us to make sure we win these types of games.”
Murray watched Airdrie thump Montrose 3-0 in the game before the weekend’s loss and was impressed by what he saw in Angus.
But he admitted on Saturday there is lots of work to be done to improve the team’s consistency.
He continued: “I’ve been here for about a week now and sometimes you need a game like this to really see what improvements need to be made.
“The guys did great up in Montrose last week but ultimately it means nothing.
“We have lots to work on, there’s no question about that.
“You can start anywhere in that regard to be honest.
“The guys look low on confidence, especially at home, I’m told.
“We n e e d to be comfortable and sharper on our home pitch.
“I want us to be quicker and add more tempo to our play, and hopefully once we’ve done that we’ll start climbing the league table.
Second- half substitute Kyle Wilkie looked to have given Airdrie the lead with less than 10 minutes to play, but his header was ruled out for offside.
Murray refused to point the finger at the officials though, adding:“I couldn’t really tell if Kyle was offside from where I was.
“The linesman was very confident in his decision though.
“We can’t make excuses though, ultimately we were at home and lost the game.”
The Airdrie support made their feelings known at full-time, with the Diamonds booed off from the Penny Cars pitch.
Murray isn’t overly concerned by fans voicing their displeasure, but added: “We ask for patience from the fans but we also need to win games.
“Fans aren’t stupid, they’ve watched this team, and Airdrie for a while.
“They want their team to win and we can’t kid them on. They’ve seen these guys enough to know that we’re sitting fifth in the table for a reason.
“On that performance today, I think they were spot on.”