Airdrieonians manager John Rankin pinpointed Lewis Gibson's two strikes inside 60 seconds as pivotal in their 3-1 defeat to Ross County. The Diamonds made it back-to-back defeats in League One as they followed up their 4-0 derby humbling at Hamilton Accies last week with a frustrating defeat at home to the Staggies.
Gibson's missed chance proves costly
However, Rankin knows it might have been a different game had Gibson followed up his stunning strike from outside the box after 50 minutes to make it 1-2 by finishing an easier opportunity less than 60 seconds later. Straight from the kick-off after Airdrie pulled one back, the Diamonds won possession and Gibson was sent clean through for the chance to rapidly level the scores, only to curl his effort agonisingly wide.
That came back to bite them as 14 minutes later Akil Wright headed home County's third goal of the game - adding to first half strikes from Adam Emslie and Jamie Lindsay - to keep up their 100 per cent start in League One and make it four without victory for Airdrie.
Rankin: 'We spooked County'
Gutted gaffer Rankin said: "I think we got a right good reaction at the start of the second half for the first 20-25 minutes. We spooked County for a good part of that. We got a good goal and then we are immediately through on goal again and I think if we get the second goal there, it changes the full atmosphere and momentum of the game because we had swung the momentum slightly in our favour by getting the goal back."
"But we don't get the second goal and, ultimately, we get done at their third goal, which is a set play. At that point you are looking at it and you almost need to accept it. I don't really mean accept it, but you look at the size of our players and how aggressive and big their players are... That was always going to be the case when you are taking off Liam McLeish and Sam Fisher, who were struggling all week and were always going to flag."
"We were replacing big monsters with garden gnomes, so it was always going to be tough for us defending set-plays towards then end - but I still think we need to do better. Overall, I was pleased with the first 20-25 minutes and we made it competitive."
Progress despite winless run
Rankin's rebuild over the summer has been well-documented with the club's relegation from the Championship forcing a mass clearout. The squad is now filled with inexperienced youngsters and that has been very telling after going four games without a win.
However, Rankin insists he sees progress and their time will come soon enough. He added: "People might say the first win is coming but the question I am asking is: Are we making progress? And I think we are. I think you see a lot of guys who are inexperienced in football and they are only going to get better game by game."
"I am looking at experienced guys in the County squad likes Lewis Strapp and Brian Graham, who are letting someone go across them and then hitting the deck to get their opponent a booking. Whereas we are at the stage in our growth where if there is a 50/50 and we could go down, we want to show how strong we are. But I don't need to know how strong they are, I need them to manage the game better. There are instances in the game that are ultimately to our detriment."
"But we will get better as the season goes. I am convinced of that. You can see spells in the game where we have a really good 20 minutes and then a really poor 20 minutes. Throughout the season, we will get consistent. Hopefully it won't be consistently bad, but consistently better and we will grow. It is a case of sticking together and making sure we get better."
Airdrie are now second bottom of League One with two points from their first four games. They are back in action on Tuesday night when they host Stirling Albion in the group phase of the KDM Evolution Trophy.
