Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe 'proud' of his stars as they bow out of the play-off

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe says his side leave the Premiership play-offs with their heads held high after what has been a ‘brilliant’ season.But he hailed Partick Thistle’s ruthlessness as their 2-1 win at Firhill this evening saw them through to the semi-final 4-3 on aggregate, where they will play Raith Rovers next week.

Brian Graham’s double had Thistle seemingly home and dry early in the second half, and though Arron Lyall pulled a goal back late on and Callum Fordyce struck the crossbar, Airdrie bowed out at the quarter-final stage.

McCabe said: “I’m proud of the team. Sometimes football’s cruel, we’ve certainly played a lot worse and won a game of football. “Coming into the league, our first year in the Championship and what we’ve achieved, we’ve managed to come in and put our stamp on things, showing everyone about the country. “There have been more eyes on Airdrie, the way we play, the way we try to do things, conduct ourselves in the right way and everything positive off the pitch as well. “The only real position that we can do now is grow. “It has been a brilliant season. “Last year we were in the play-offs.

I think we were third or fourth, and we managed to get out of the gruelling play-offs, with a whirlwind of a finish and end.“We’ve given ourselves an opportunity in our first season in the Championship, with Dundee United, Partick Thistle, Raith Rovers, and a lot more established clubs, who have been around it a lot longer than what Airdrie have.”Graham’s first-half strike looked to be offside, but McCabe says that wasn’t all that important.