Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe insists it was refreshing for his side to get some breaks after they claimed a narrow and controversial 2-1 win over Queen’s Park.
The Diamonds earned back-to-back league wins for the first time this season thanks to Ben Wilson’s penalty double, which came courtesy of two handball decisions going against Spiders defenders Josh Scott and Nikola Udjur in each half.
Spiders had levelled either side with a strike from Josh Scott in 59 minutes- which McCabe insists was offside – and the visitors were denied the chance of a late leveller when Adam Devine appeared to be the victim of a high boot from Lewis McGregor inside the box in the dying minutes.
Referee Iain Sneddon turned down Spiders’ claims and that led to Devine and boss Callum Davidson picking up second bookings for their protests. Davidson later described Lewis McGreggor’s attempt to win the ball as a ‘kung fu kick’.
The result earned rock-bottom Diamonds a vital victory and cut the gap at the bottom to nine points from nearest rivals Hamilton Accies.
And McCabe was happy to see his side get the rub of the green. He said: “It was a good win for us and one I feel we thoroughly deserved, even if we weren’t at our fluent best.
“I would need to be closer to the high boot decison (to comment). The one we can see from our position (Josh Scott’s), that it is a stonewaller. Everyone in the stadium can see it was a handball. The second one I didn’t get a good view of.
“But their goal is offside. We’ve checked that back and it is clear.
“We’ve probably been on the receiving end of decisions going against us so it was nice to get some wee breaks.
“We’ve got those back-to-back wins that we’ve been searching for. You can see confidence is naturally starting to grow and we thoroughly deserved the win.”
Fuming Spiders boss Callum Davidson said: “It was a really soft one for the first penalty and the second penalty I’m a bit baffled with, his hand is in a natural position.
“In the last minute, Adam’s nearly had a kung fu kick to the head. Roddy McGregor got sent off for something similar at Livingston this season, but Airdrie got a goal kick out of it.
“I just had enough at that point. You always try to conduct yourself right and the ref for me…I’d just had enough.”
Airdrie’s success has closed the gap to nine points at the bottom after Hamilton Accies slipped into the relegation play-off spot with a defeat at home to Ayr.
And McCabe added: “It is important we don’t get sidetracked. It is a good wee period for us, with a good couple of wins and building some momentum.
“I’ve said before I didn’t think we were a million miles away and it was about consistency and if we could string a run of results together. Hopefully we can start to do that.
“We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves and keep chipping away at the tree. It was another good performance today.
“We’ve got those back-to-back wins that we’ve been searching for. You can see confidence is naturally starting to grow.”