John Rankin hailed his “breathtaking” Hamilton Accies after their fast start blew derby rivals Airdrie away.
Connor Smith’s strike inside the second minute and a Sam Graham own goal with just nine minutes on the clock put Accies on easy street in North Lanarkshire, before Kevin O’Hara and substitute Dylan McGowan netted in the second half to seal the points.
Rankin’s men have now picked up back-to-back wins in the league to go sixth and piled the misery on their neighbours, who remain bottom of the pile.
And he said: “I studied Airdrie hard and their league position sort of worried me because I think they are in a false position. They dominate the ball, they’ve got lots of good players in forward areas and we had to make sure we didn’t underestimate them.
“The players gave Airdrie a huge amount of credit in the way we approached the game.
“We knew they start games fast and the challenge for the players was could we make that fast start?
“And I thought we were breathtaking in the first 10 minutes. The way we broke, our pace on the counter attack – the first 10 minutes won us the game. It got the fans on side and energised the players.
“Airdrie dominated the ball and had a lot of it around our box, but we handled it very well.
“I was frustrated at half-time because there was more goals for us. We weren’t ruthless enough in front of goal, so the challenge to the players was to go and finish it off in the second half.
“In August at our stadium we were 2-0 up [against Airdrie] and we lost two points, so I was raging with them that day. But we’ve learned lessons from that and I thought the players were really good the way they managed the game.”
A Gordon Banks-esque save from Accies keeper Charlie Albinson on the stroke of half-time to deny Lewis McGregor also proved crucial.
Rankin added: “The turning point for me is Charlie’s save just before half-time. If it goes 2-1 then it is a different game.
“It is incredible, it really is, how he managed to get it up and over the bar.”
Accies took the lead in two minutes when a Steven Bradley strike rebounded into the path of Smith to sweep home.
And it was soon 2-0 when a quick free-kick saw Bradley feed Smith. He tried to find the far corner with a strike and it deflected off the chest of Graham into his own net.
O’Hara got on the scoresheet 11 minutes into the second half when he fired home from close range after Oli Shaw’s header came off the crossbar.
And Airdrie’s misery was complete nine minutes from time when McGowan rose highest at the back post to nod in from a Smith free-kick.
Airdrie have won just once in their last 14 games and remain four points adrift at the foot of the table ahead of a visit to leaders Falkirk next week.
Boss Rhys McCabe did not appear to speak to the media post-match.