A five-star display from Airdrie saw them progress into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup following an emphatic 5-1 away win at Dumbarton.
The visitors got off to the perfect start when Lewis McGrattan and Gavin Gallagher found the net inside the opening 10 minutes but it wasn’t until the latter stages of the second half that the Diamonds were able to put the game to bed.
They didn’t have things all their own way in the early stages, however, as both Mason Hancock and Gallagher were forced off through injury inside the opening half-hour.
A quick-fire double on 74 and 75 minutes from Chris Mochrie and Ben Wilson made it 4-0 before Craig Watson added a fifth with a back post header.
Dumbarton did bag themselves a fine consolation strike through Craig McGuffie with what proved to be the final kick of the ball.
Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe made two changes to the line-up from their midweek defeat to Livingston, dropping himself to the bench while Lewis Strapp missed out. In came Sam Graham and McGrattan.
The Diamonds won a thriller at the same ground in a League Cup tie in July – netting twice in the last six minutes to win 4-3 – but it was an altogether more comfortable afternoon this time around against the League One basement boys.
McGrattan dinked them into a fourth minute lead when A free-flowing move ended in the midfielder being sent through on goal with the Airdrie man beating the onrushing debutant Owen Hayward in the Dumbarton goal to open the scoring.
In a blistering start to the game, the Diamonds could have found themselves back on level terms only to then squander a glorious chance to double their lead moments later. Kieran Wright had to be at full stretch to get a fingertip on Cammy Clark’s fizzing long-range effort while Wilson then promptly went up the other end and missed a one-on-one as he fired straight at Hayward.
But the sizeable travelling support didn’t have to wait too long to get back on their feet as Gallagher made it 2-0 after just 10 minutes. A one-two from a corner-kick saw the midfielder cut inside from the left and send an effort on goal through the congested penalty box and beyond the keeper.
Dumbarton were second best for much of the first half but did have Wright panicking when Finlay Gray’s bulleted strike from 25 yards flew inches beyond the diving keeper’s right-hand post and while they enjoyed a fair bit of the ball inside the Airdrie defensive third, they rarely looked like making it count.
The enforced changes following injuries to Hancock and Gallagher did little to alter the momentum with Airdrie in control and looking dangerous with every attack.
They should have added to their advantage shortly before the interval when Wilson teed up McGrattan, who saw his effort saved while the former’s strike from the rebound was blocked when he looked certain to score.
The second half started off as a more even affair and the Diamonds had to be alert defensively with Rhys Armstrong putting in a key block to deny McGuffie while Mouhamed Niang went close with a fierce drive.
With the Sons searching for a way back into the contest, Airdrie made it game over with two goals in as many minutes. Mochrie pounced on the bye-line with Niang looking to see the ball out play before duly driving into the box and slotting beyond Hayward.
The two sides barely had time to reset before it was 4-0 with Wilson expertly controlling a high ball after putting Mark Durnan under pressure. His touch took him past the keeper before rolling the ball into the empty net.
Watson then made it a five-star display when he nodded home Adam Frizzell’s deep corner to the back post four minutes from time.
The Sons spoiled the clean sheet with the game’s final action when McGuffie’s struck sneaked into the near post but it did little to dampen the mood on a rare bright day this season for Airdrie.