Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Diamonds too hot to handle
FALKIRK ................................................... 0
AIRDRIEONIANS .................................... 3 Ian Murray watched on-fire Airdrie brush Falkirk aside then insisted his team are too hot to handle when they are on top of their game.
The delighted Diamonds boss insists it was too difficult to pick a star man from their 3-0 win - courtesy of a first half strike from Dylan Easton and second half efforts from Callum Smith and Josh Kerr - because every one of his charges excelled at the Falkirk Stadium.
While the Bairns were booed off by their fans, the hardy bunch of travelling Airdrie supporters applauded their side off the pitch.
And Murray beamed: “First and foremost, it’s a fantastic result away from home.
“If you couple that with performance that the players put in - it was outstanding - then it’s very difficult to pick out a top performer because I felt every player, to a man, were great and that’s a continuation of our progress over the last 9 or 10 weeks.
“It was a great three points and a great performance.
“I knew there was more in us at halftime. I didn’t think there was too much more in the opposition, but 1-0 is a dangerous scoreline.
“Falkirk have shown already this season - at Montrose when they were 2-0 down with 10 minutes to go and they get a point and last week at East Fife when they came back - so we knew they had the bottle and the quality to come back into it.
“But once we upped the standards we were very hard to handle.
“We expected a bit of a flurry because they were 1-0 down at home, the crowd were on their back, they are going through a tough time, so we knew they were going to come at us.
“But I told the players that if they did concede a goal to remain calm.
“The quality we have in the middle of the park now and going forward, we don’t need to panic.
“It used to be a case of are Airdrie going to turn up or not? But now, we are turning up every week.
“That’s not to say we are going to win every week and play free-flowing football as we have done, but it’s certainly not a concern.
“On the flip side, we’ll keep our feet on the ground.
“It’s still early in the season, we want more points and we want to keep winning.”
Easton grabbed his first goal for the club when he arrowed in the opener with a low drive into the bottom corner after 35 minutes, completing a fine team move after good work from Rhys Mccabe and Kerr Mcinroy.
The Diamonds were even better after the break and turned the screw when Callum Smith bundled in the second goal of the game after 67 minutes, and Josh Kerr’s header at the back post after a fine cross from Easton made sure of it 10 minutes from time.
The clean sheet - just Airdrie’s second of the season - was very much welcomed as much as the points, with the Diamonds going joint-second in the table with Cove Rangers.
Murray, whose side have won four out of their last five league matches, added: “Max Currie [the Airdrie goalkeeper] had one save in the second half that was very comfortable, so to come here and limit Falkirk to as little opportunities as they had is great testament to the whole team.
“The backline to get that clean sheet under their belts is, again, a continuation of what we’ve been doing.
“They are very important for defenders and goalkeepers - and they are also very important for goal difference.”
Airdrie now host sixth-place Dumbarton on Saturday at New Broomfield. Kick-off 3pm.