By Ian Steven
Airdrie picked up their first league point since October 5 thanks to a spirited fightback against Morton to draw 2-2 at home.
The Diamonds had not managed to notch more than a solitary goal in a league game since the end of August, before Ben Wilson’s double, which cut the gap to Dunfermline at the foot of the Championship to nine points.
And manager Rhys McCabe credited a sudden burst of assurance from his side as the catalyst for a second half fightback.
“I think it was just a moment in the second half where it was almost like the chest came out, the shackles came off them,” McCabe stated. “I think you could see it in the first half, you know, it was still a little bit kind of nervy and kind of playing within themselves a little bit.
“And we played more like the team that we want to be. When we do that, we’re a good team that can obviously give any team problems.
“But, it’s having that, like I say, belief, is it going to come straight away from the kind of position and the performance levels that we’ve had recently? Probably not. But, like I said, very, very pleased considering the start of the game and certainly how we finished it.
“It was great for Ben to get his first two league goals as well, I must say, you know, confidence wise, etcetera. I’m delighted for him. I put those demands on him. We speak in house and I put demands on him and test him in certain ways, expecting more and you could see that he was motivated and wanted to go and score today and that’s Ben Wilson.
“It’s between the ears for him. You see it there, even when he’s grown in the second half, I think you look at his first half performance compared to his second half performance, the difference is purely confidence because he gets his goal and he’s a real asset when he’s doing that.
“I couldn’t really count anyone that played poorly today. Credit to the boys and the resilience. They came back, they rolled their sleeves up and they needed it. They needed to, they showed quality when they needed to I think on another day possibly the chances in the second half we could have maybe capitalised and got the three points, but in the main it’s probably a decent point considering where we’ve been.”
Lewis McGrattan struck the upright early on before Morton took the lead through Cameron Blues.
Airdrie struck back almost immediately as Ben Wilson had his heels clipped in the box by Cammy Ballantyne with Wilson slotting home the penalty himself.
The Ton quickly took the lead again with Jordan Davies before Wilson pounced on a Sam Graham knock on to smash home his second of the game.
McCabe admitted he was put through a rollercoaster of emotions by his side. He added: “Morton getting the second goal and you’re thinking, it’s one of those days again. I think second half performance probably merited three if I’m kind of being honest.”