IT just had to be Owen Coyle. Airdrie’s greatest-ever striker returned to New Broomfield to seal Queen’s Park’s Championship dream, ending the Diamonds’ own aspirations with it; there's a chance his next welcome won't be so warm.
But don’t expect a return trip to be any time soon. The Spiders, now with money to burn, are a club with ambition and Coyle, Leeann Dempster and company will be demanding more than just a fleeting stay in the second-tier.
Any lingering doubts over their ambitions can be put to bed by this fine, near-dominant triumph. When it mattered, Simon Murray, Liam Brown and Charlie Fox turned up, wrestling promotion out of Airdrie’s hands and into Coyle’s. Murray, the best player on the pitch, kept his composure to slot a 112th minute penalty beyond Max Currie. It proved to be the winner.
At a time when a number of clubs could be accused of lighting up cigars with five pound notes, it’s maybe gone a little under the radar that Queen’s Park could be the ones offering the light. But that decision to shift their 152-year amateur status and sell Hampden has vindicated itself - and then some.
For the first time since the early 1980s, they’ll play in Scotland’s second tier and, if they continue to get the recruitment right, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would bet against them staying there; at the very least.
Even before a ball had been kicked in anger, there were the Spiders, defying their relatively small numbers, giving the packed Excelsior as good as it got. The appearance of Coyle - a three-time Diamond and voted the club’s greatest ever striker - only served to ramp up the occasion.
Perhaps this explained the uncharacteristically chaotic start to the game. Dylan Easton - a player who could be the poster boy for Airdrie’s recently discovered sensibilities - drifted inside, picked up Callum Gallagher’s fine cutback and stung Calum Ferrie’s palms. Then Queen’s were dragged up the other end by Liam Brown and only Connor Smith’s poor connection bailed out the Diamonds.
Given this all happened inside the first three minutes and by the 20th both teams were on the scoresheet, you could be forgiven for forgetting this was supposed to be a nervy afternoon.
It was the hosts who fired the first shot across the bow, and what a shot it was. Like Easton, Rhys McCabe falls into that bracket of surprisingly sensible Airdrie signings and, as he had done with his late penalty on Thursday, he delivered.
This time it was a free kick, struck with such conviction into Ferrie’s far corner that McCabe might as well have been picking up an extra milk from Tesco. His right boot sent the Airdrie fans into delirium, but it was quickly extinguished.
Back came Queen’s Park - shocked into action by the early goal - and when the Diamonds failed to deal with Simon Murray’s trickery, Smith managed to squeeze the ball underneath Max Currie from the edge of the box. Again, cue delirium.
With the Spiders’ tails now well and truly up, they appeared to have Airdrie spooked for a time and there was something rather apt about seeing Brown, the first player the professional Queen’s splashed cash on, strolling through the game.
Murray and Smith were also having the run of the place and only Currie’s fine fingertips stopped Luca Connell’s curling effort making it two. Currie, arguably culpable at the goal, made an equally fine save from Louis Longridge to maintain parity.
Half-time seemed to do little to hinder Queen’s. Jon Afolabi’s drive into Ferrie’s midriff shortly after the break suggested better things to come for the Diamonds, but the game soon fell back into a familiar pattern; Airdrie frustration and Queen’s promise.
Easton shimmied into the box and cried - wrongly - for a penalty. Connell left Brody Paterson for dead, but narrowly missed the far post with another delightful effort. Gallagher burst into the box and thought he had just Ferrie to beat, only for Michael Doyle to appear from thin air and block.
Finally, the relentless pace abated and the match descended into an attritional affair, the next goal surely that of the winners. Airdrie came closest. First, McCabe’s long hurl found Scott Agnew at the back post but Ferrie bravely smothered the shot. Then Adam Frizzel arrowed just wide in stoppage time.
And so began the slow, inevitable march towards penalties. Or at least that’s how it normally goes but Queen’s threw everything at Airdrie, with Murray, a player clearly playing a few tiers lower than he should be, having the final say.
Queen's are on their way.
This is a breaking report. Updated coverage to follow ...
