Against Rangers I shipped four goals so three is improvement, jokes new Airdrie keeper after QoS draw on debut

Airdrie’s new signing Dean Lyness was delighted to play his first competitive match in six months but couldn’t believe he didn’t start with a win after the Diamonds netted three times on his debut.

The former St Mirren goalkeeper joined Rhys McCabe’s men on Saturday as a free agent and was thrown straight in for Saturday’s 3-3 draw at home to Queen of the South, which saw Airdrie hold out with 10-men after Cammy Ballantyne’s late dismissal for a second booking.

It was his first outing since being part of St Mirren’s 4-0 defeat to Rangers in April and while he joked he was happy with the improvement in conceding just three on this occasion, he couldn’t believe he didn’t walk away with three points.

The 31-year-old Englishman said: “It’s frustrating. When you’ve scored three goals you should be on the winning side but unfortunately we’ve not done that.

“In the grand scheme of things, when we’ve had a man sent off and you are hanging on for a bit, it was always going to be difficult late on but it is frustrating.

“I wanted to start with a clean sheet and a win.

“My last competitive game was against Rangers towards the end of last season.

“I shipped four that day so three is an improvement there, but I wanted to start with a win and we haven’t managed to do that. We’ll try again next week for those three points.”

Any hope Lyness had of a clean sheet disappeared inside just three minutes when Josh Todd fired Queens in front early on, but Airdrie equalised within two minutes through Calum Gallagher.

In a topsy-turvy clash, Callum Fordyce gave the Diamonds the lead but a Harry Cochrane screamer pulled the visitors level just before half-time.

Callum Smith edge Airdrie ahead early in the second half but Gavin Reilly responded