Airdrie boss Ian Murray believes his side fully deserved to beat league leaders Falkirk in an entertaining clash.
Goals from Ally Roy and Dale Carrick handed the Diamonds a vital 2-1 win which moved them back into the play-off places.
Airdrie are now unbeaten against Falkirk in their last five encounters and Murray felt his team merited their win last night.
“I felt we deserved to win the game,” Murray told the Airdrie website. “First half we were exceptional. Great energy, great work rate and great commitment to the football club from all the players.
“I was very disappointed, like the Partick Thistle game, to be level at half-time. It knocked the wind out of us for five minutes but we were the dominant side and had to make sure that we didn’t do anything silly.
“That’s always a worry, how will we handle that again and I asked the players if we could learn from the mistakes, the staff and myself included.
“We did and it was a huge penalty save from Max then we got one at the other end and put it away.
Airdrie’s last three fixtures before the split are against Montrose, East Fife and Forfar. After some disappointing recent results, the Diamonds still have a great chance of finishing in the play-offs.
Murray said: “It was really important to get something. We can’t control what happens elsewhere, we have to take care of our business and I knew that if we won tonight then we’d climb the table.
“Results have gone our way everywhere else. We had a really rocky patch 10-12 days ago but we rallied round - not just the players and staff but the whole football club.
“We are ready now, at the right time, to maybe kick on but we’ve said that before so we need to make sure that we keep our feet on the ground.
Ally Roy opened the scoring after just nine minutes to make it two goals in his last two games.
The 23 year-old striker has spoken recently about his desire to succeed at his boyhood club and Murray praised Roy’s performance.
He said: “It was a good finish because it wasn’t as easy as it possibly looked. It was that striker's instinct in the box and he put it in the side netting.
“If we are being really pernickety with Ally then he could have scored more tonight but his work rate was outstanding.
“That’s what we need from Ally Roy though. We’ve not seen enough of that over the last two years, he can do it and he’s very capable. I trust him a lot and I thought he was outstanding.”
After Charlie Telfer equalised for Falkirk on 35 minutes, it was left to substitute Dale Carrick to slot home the winner from the penalty spot with ten minutes remaining.
The former Hearts star was frustrated not to start but Murray was delighted with his attitude after his introduction.
“Dale Carrick was very, very disappointed not to start the game but with his mentality and professionalism, he was absolutely ready for the penalty kick.
“It was our biggest kick of the season so far and there is nobody else we’d rather have than Dale taking that penalty for us - it gives me a selection headache for Saturday,” Murray said.
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