Rangers and Real Madrid inspired Airdrie comeback over Montrose, admits boss Ian Murray

Ian Murray revealed Rangers and Real Madrid were the inspiration for Airdrie's astonishing comeback after they booked their place in the Championship play-off final.

The Diamonds gaffer watched his side, who trailed Montrose 1-0 from the first leg, stun the Gable Endies in a 10-goal thriller that saw them win 6-4 after extra-time and progress 6-5 on aggregate.

Incredibly, Airdrie found themselves 3-0 down in the tie before the most unbelievable scenes at New Broomfield that saw fans flood the pitch at the final whistle in celebration.

Cammy F Ballantyne's first half brace looked to have put Montrose - who finished a huge 13 points behind Airdrie in League One this season - well on their way to booking a place in the final.

However, Airdrie produced a comeback for the ages with Callum Smith netting a second half hat-trick in between a Lewis Milne strike for Montrose, before Calum Gallagher's 87th minute goal forced extra-time.

In the additional period, Celtic loanee Jon Afolabi struck in first half stoppage time before Gabby McGill's effort in 119 minutes proved decisive in the tie, after Martin Rennie netted in stoppage time for Montrose to see Airdrie prevail 6-5 on aggregate.

Airdrie now face Queen's Park over two legs in next week's final.

And Murray said watching Rangers' comeback heroics in the Europa League semi-finals against RB Leipzig and Real Madrid's extra-time triumph against the odds to sink Manchester City in the Champions League gave his side the belief they could pull off a miracle.

The stunned boss and former Rangers defender said: "It's just incredible.

"We took a lot of heart from watching other teams come back this week like Real Madrid and Rangers and we said never give up in football.

"At half-time