Airdrie boss Ian Murray hailed Celtic loanee Jon Afolabi for "getting his side out of a hole" at Peterhead with his first goal for the Diamonds in their 1-0 win at Balmoor.
The 22-year-old joined the club on loan from the Hoops earlier this month and he earned rave reviews from his gaffer after a key contribution that extended Airdrie's unbeaten run to 10 games in League One.
Striker Afolabi netted the only goal of the game after 28 minutes when he slotted home from Rhys McCabe's cut-back to keep them in touching distance of league leaders Cove Rangers.
And Murray said: "Jonathan did well in his first start for us.
"It was his first for a while, but it was a lovely finish from the big man.
"He is going to take time to adapt to our style of play and our system, but he's definitely a handful and his finish in the box was so composed.
"I'm delighted for him and I'm delighted for the team that we've brought someone in who is helping us and digging us out of a hole at a very important stage of the season.
"Performances go out the window in these games, you've got to win the match, and it was a very difficult playing surface for us today.
"It looked good from above, but it was actually really soft and there wasn't a lot of bounce on the ball.
"We struggled to adapt to that, but it's another game won.
"We are still undefeated in 2022 and that's 10 games in a row.
"It's a very valuable three points at a very hard place to come."
The Diamonds remain five points behind leaders Cove in the title race after they beat Falkirk 2-0.
It was a good day for Airdrie elsewhere as third-place Montrose drew 1-1 with Clyde and fourth-place Queen's Park had the same scoreline away to East Fife.
And that now leaves Airdrie six points clear of Montrose, strengthening their grip on a play-off place at the very least.
Murray added: "We've created a big gap now to fifth place and our first target was to get clear in the play-off positions.
"It would take something remarkable now for us not to be in them, but we'll just stay focused and keep trying to win games.
"All we can do is win our games and what happens, happens.
"As long as we won today, we knew it was a day we couldn't really lose in terms of our position, because something had to give at Cove v Falkirk and Queen's Park and Montrose drew their games.
"We are just creating gaps now, which is great.
"Hopefully, after next week, we can go into the final quarter full steam ahead, win as many games as we can and see what happens."
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