Dundee win was great, but performance is more important, says Airdrie boss

Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe insists performances are more important than results after sticking away a late penalty to down Dundee in the Viaplay Cup.

Diamonds keeper Josh Rae saved Lyall Cameron's 61st-minute spot-kick before a push on Josh O’Connor saw Airdrie given an award of their own, which McCabe buried for his first goal of the season.

That gives Airdrie six points from their opening two games, as they head to Inverness on Tuesday and Bonnyrigg Rose on Saturday.

McCabe said: “I’m pleased. To get the victory is great, but I thought even the level of performance in 90 minutes was great.

“I don’t think there was much between the teams, it must have been a good spectacle from the side.

“It was two teams trying to play the right way and trying to get the ball down, and going end-to-end, which was exciting to see and to play in.

“The win is great, but the biggest thing is the performance.

“I’m a firm believer that if you get a high level of performance, the results will follow.

“For a young squad to go out and put in that level of performance, and ultimately go toe-to-toe with Dundee is excellent.

“It wasn’t like we sat in and rode our luck for 90 minutes, as a lot of teams would do against a higher level of opposition – I thought we gave as good as we got.

“We tried to play football, stick to our game-plan and beliefs, and I think it was a good game.”

Other than the penalty incidents, there wasn’t a lot to excite fans in what was a decent crowd.

Dundee’s Lyall Cameron saw a curling shot clawed away from the top right corner by Rae, before Jon McCracken made a terrific point-blank stop to deny Adam Frizzell from breaking the deadlock for Airdrie.

In 61 minutes Rae cleaned out Scott Tiffoney as he raced onto a long ball,