Airdrie player/boss Rhys McCabe says their stunning 2-0 win over 10-man St Mirren blows last year’s victory over Motherwell “out of the water”.
And he says all he could ask of their players was that they gave themselves a chance of progressing out of the Premier Sports Cup Group E.
The Diamonds head to Arbroath on Saturday knowing that a draw might be enough to qualify, and a win is enough to win the group.
Goals from Justin Devenny and Kyan Gunn gave Airdrie a comfortable win over their Premiership opponents, who had Greg Kiltie shown a straight red card in 33 minutes for a crude challenge on Euan Deveney.
“It gives us a chance, that’s all we could ask for at the start of the game," said McCabe.
“We’re not in control of anything else, we’re only in control of our performance.
“The main thing is that we had that positive win over Motherwell last year, but I think we blew that out the water with the way we played.
“It gives us a chance, that’s all we could ask, and we knew that before the game, what kind of game it was, and what was at stake.
“I said to the boys to leave nothing out on the pitch.
“We’ve given ourselves a real chance, so we can go into the game on Saturday and really enjoy it.”
While some managers may downplay an opponent being sent off, McCabe says he cheerfully exploited Saints’ disadvantage.
He said: “I think the red card changes the dynamic of the game, in terms of knocking the ball about, having that extra player.
“We made sure that at half-time the sole focus was on ‘we’ve got 11 players, they’ve only got 10’ and that played to our advantage, especially in the midfield.
“If we can work our passes in behind the back four and the midfield four, we can hurt them.”
McCabe says Airdrie are starting to reap the benefits of his philosophy, and hopes it helps.
He said: “We’ve practiced every day on a style and a method of how we want to play.
“It would have been easy for us to go and shy away from that and play a different style of game, but credit to the lads, and credit to the club who have fully got behind myself, Callum Fordyce and David Hutton, and the boys here.
“Everyone’s almost expecting and wanting us to fail so it’s moments like this that give us that real boost of confidence.
“They kept their heads under pressure and kept the ball, knocked it about well.
“Since we’ve come in it’s the way that I want to play. If we dominate the ball, which I think we will against most teams, it’s then about being brave, especially under pressure when you re against a Premiership side.
“We’re taking the ball from the back, using that numerical advantage and working our way up the pitch.
“You’ve seen that, you don’t have an answer for it and it’s really hard to play against. You see the best teams in the world do it, and there’s so much to gain from playing that way.
“I firmly believe in that style, and the more we do it and we keep practicing, we can only get better.”
McCabe hinted heavily that they re about to bring in some loan players to boost their squad but can’t reveal any news just yet.
He said: “It’s a conversation that it’s not as straight-forward that we can get them over the line in 24 hours.
“A lot of boys are still at parent clubs and stuff, so you have to be respectful to the clubs.
“I think, given the manner of the performance, if anyone was watching, in terms of sending any players to us, I don’t think they will be too worried.”
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