Murray mint cool in spite of Raith letdown

Manager lauds work rate

Andrew Bargh

Airdrieonians manager Ian Murray isn’t alarmed despite his side’s recent resurgence being stopped in its tracks on Saturday.

The Diamonds were beaten 2-0 by Raith Rovers in Kirkaldy after three straight wins in previous weeks.

Airdrie sit fifth in League One, two points off Forfar Athletic who currently occupy the league’s final play-off spot.

But such is the competitive nature of the league, the club are also only three points above the relegation play-off position.

With Dumbarton hosting Airdrie this weekend, Murray wants his side to rediscover their form and begin to cement themselves as play- off Murray’s Airdrie were beaten by Raith certainties.

He said: “I’m very pleased with the way things have been going in recent weeks.

“Three wins on the trot is a decent run to put together but we took a wee knock against Raith on Saturday.

“We can’t win them all, but we need to get into the top four.

“We don’t want to be around it or just challenging for it – we need to cement ourselves in it.

“Arbroath and Raith have done that and we’re one of the ones looking to break in.

“Our work rate has improved dramatically in recent weeks and our tempo has been better.

“The boys got their reward against Dumbarton, Stranraer and East Fife and showed what they’re capable of.”

Kevin Nisbet and Liam Buchanan scored first- half goals to sink the Diamonds on Saturday, although Murray wasn’t overly disappointed.

He said: “I’m taking positives out the game as we started very well away from home.

“The first goal was sloppy and it’s an uphill task from there.

“We dominated for a while though after changing our shape for the second half.

“The damage was done in the first half-hour so we’ll take that on the chin and move on.

“But our heads didn’t go down and playing with three at the back worked well.

“We’ll evaluate ahead of the Dumbarton game.

“They’ve been a bit up and down like us recently and won’t treat them lightly.”

Kyle Wilkie was sacrificed on Saturday when Murray changed his team’s tactics and introduced Ryan Conroy.

Wilkie, who scored two goals in Airdrie’s recent winning run, struggled to impose imself as a regular in Stevie Findlay’s plans, but Murray says he has been impressed in the midfielder’s recent form.

He continued: “Kyle has done remarkably well.

“We felt playing him just off the front against Stranraer gave him the freedom to show his quality.

“He’s battling for a place in the team like everyone else and he was unfortunate to come off on Saturday.

“He’s been great in the last few weeks and he can be pleased with the contribution he’s making.”

Loss