Airdrie boss Ian Murray reckons last night's 1-0 win over Queen's Park could prove to be pivotal to their chances of promotion to the Championship.
Kerr McInroy's 71st-minute stunner gave the Diamonds an absolutely crucial three points at New Broomfield and that, coupled with a 3-1 win over Alloa on Boxing Day, has moved them back up to third place.
The win stretched Airdrie's lead over fourth-placed Queen's Park to five points, and reduced the gap to three between themselves and Montrose in second, with a game in hand.
Murray says those are all important aspects as they look to seriously challenge for a step-up place.
He said: "Those are the kinds of wins you need. It's a long season, you play each other four times, and they're very hard games every week, so any three points in this league are huge.
"But to get it in and around teams that you're competing with is really important to us.
"It's good in the long-run as well as it is in the short term, just because games like last night's potentially could be play-off games. Getting experience of tight games when you're playing well and not scoring is good, but also realising that the dirty side of it is so important in this league.
"We just want to win as many games as we can, and then we'll have a wee look at the situation when we've got 10 or 12 games to go, and we'll do our best.
"It is important to be back up to third. There were so many positives from last night, in terms of picking up three points, it increased the gap over Queen's Park, it narrowed the gap to Montrose, and it increased the gap from fifth place.
"The very minimum we want is to be going into the end of the season knowing that we can really go for it because we're in that top four.
"There's still a long way to go, but we're quite happy with where we are, purely because of the situations we've had this season with different things, like Covid, we've had a lot of injuries, but it's one game at a time-type stuff for us, and it has been a really good week for us.
Murray added: "It was a really good win and a great three points, following up from Sunday. It was a really good performance in different aspects of the game.
"Football-wise the first half was exceptional stuff from us, in terms of movement and trusting each other with the ball, and in the second half it was slightly different, but still really good stuff.
"We dominated possession but had to also defend a little bit more and be really confident in our ability to defend one v one, and be resilient as well."
Celtic loan star McInroy bagged his fourth goal of the season in the win, and Murray has been delighted with his contribution.
He aid: "Kerr scored from a corner up at Montrose, scored a cracker against Alloa on Sunday and had a lovely finish eight yards out against Peterhead, so he's got a full armoury there of goals.
"He's got a tremendous left foot on him, a very cultured left foot, and has incredible power behind it as well.
"I've seen a lot of players over they years who have great power but don't have the accuracy, but Kerr has both.
"When he gets that ball in and around the box he's a real threat, and that was something that we looked at when we signed him.
"It was great for him, great for the team. He has stood up to the mark incredibly well since he's came in, and he has scored some really important goals for us now."
Airdrie now turn their attention to a visit to Dumbarton on Sunday, where they'll look to build on a good week.
Murray said: "It will be a really hard game at Dumbarton, they're a decent side and are very hard to beat - we know that from having gone down there already this season.
"They will make it very difficult for us on a tight pitch, but we're playing well, we've got good players and we're looking forward to it.
"We're under no illusions that it's a very difficult tie, just like every other game in this league, so we have to be on our game.
"We have to play just as well as we did last night if we want to go and win it."
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