Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe 'proud' of his stars as they bow out of the play-off

Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe says his side leave the Premiership play-offs with their heads held high after what has been a ‘brilliant’ season.

But he hailed Partick Thistle’s ruthlessness as their 2-1 win at Firhill this evening saw them through to the semi-final 4-3 on aggregate, where they will play Raith Rovers next week.

Brian Graham’s double had Thistle seemingly home and dry early in the second half, and though Arron Lyall pulled a goal back late on and Callum Fordyce struck the crossbar, Airdrie bowed out at the quarter-final stage.

McCabe said: “I’m proud of the team. Sometimes football’s cruel, we’ve certainly played a lot worse and won a game of football.

“Coming into the league, our first year in the Championship and what we’ve achieved, we’ve managed to come in and put our stamp on things, showing everyone about the country.

“There have been more eyes on Airdrie, the way we play, the way we try to do things, conduct ourselves in the right way and everything positive off the pitch as well.

“The only real position that we can do now is grow.

“It has been a brilliant season.

“Last year we were in the play-offs. I think we were third or fourth, and we managed to get out of the gruelling play-offs, with a whirlwind of a finish and end.

“We’ve given ourselves an opportunity in our first season in the Championship, with Dundee United, Partick Thistle, Raith Rovers, and a lot more established clubs, who have been around it a lot longer than what Airdrie have.”

Graham’s first-half strike looked to be offside, but McCabe says that wasn’t all that important.

He said: “It was offside, but it’s not why we lost the game. We played enough football over the course of the two legs and Partick, to be fair, were ruthless when they needed to be, took their chances.

"I’ve been on the receiving end where I’ve come out of a game saying ‘how have we lost that’ but also played really poorly and wondered how we managed to nick a win there.”

McCabe says their model will continue next season.

He said: “We have a young squad, young players, who we try to give the opportunity and platform to show what they can do, and you saw that throughout the season.

“Ultimately we fell short. On another day you go and score the one that hits the bar towards the end, and you’re into extra-tine, but that’s football sometimes and you’ve just got to put it to the back of your mind.

“We need to use it as a wee bit of fuel, hopefully come back, bigger, better, stronger.

“Football sometimes is a cruel sport, and the main message in there to the boys was not to get their heads down and try and lean on the positives.”

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