Airdrie boss 'won't be too harsh' on players after capitulation against Dunfermline

Rhys McCabe will look at the positives ahead of this week’s re-match with Dunfermline and the Airdrie gaffer says he can’t be too harsh on his players after blowing the Pars away for an hour of Saturday’s 4-3 defeat.

The Diamonds player-boss knows his side should have been able to see the game out, despite going down to 10 men with the scoreline at 3-0 in their favour.

And as they prepare to meet again at East End Park, McCabe is trying to stay upbeat after watching his talented team play the league leaders off the park for the majority of the game.

He said: “I’ve got to make sure the boys are picked up because for large parts of that game they have put in a lot of effort.

“We can’t dismiss that by saying we were easily beaten or we’ve made defensive mistakes.

“They put a lot of hard work into the game so it is important we recover well and we’ll go into Saturday looking to win the next game.

“It is a totally different prospect. We are away from home.

“We know what to expect and Dunfermline will know what worked well for them and what hasn’t.

“I imagine they will have learned a lot from their first half performance and their second half - and we will do the same.”

Victory over the Pars would have given Airdrie’s slim League One title hopes a shot in the arm, but the painful 4-3 reverse leaves them a huge 13 points adrift of the summit.

Asked if their title hopes were gone, McCabe said: “I’m never one of these people who look too much to the future.

“If we’d won on Saturday and the next game, we’d still be behind them in the league so it doesn’t change much from our point of view.

“We need to take responsibility for our performances and our outcomes. If we do that we’ll have a good chance [of closing the gap] but if we