Airdrieonians FC 1 vs 0 St Mirren B

Airdrie made it two KDM wins out of three as Dapo Mebude grabbed the only goal of the game against St Mirren B.

Burton O’Brien’s young Buddies were leading the 40-team pack ahead of the match, having scored nine goals in their two wins, but although the Paisley side looked sharp and competent, they failed to trouble Ruairidh Adams in the Airdrie goal.

Adams was one of seven changes to the side which lost at Queen of the South on Saturday, with Mebude, Ewan Simpson, Matty Yates, AJ Bridge, Adam Devine and Kian Taylor also coming in to the starting line-up.

The first chance fell to Yates inside 35 seconds, but his side-footed effort was held by Grant Tamosevicius.

Jack Lavery got forward on the St Mirren left two minutes later only to curl his cross beyond the waiting pack, and Devine saw off a Thomas Falconer attack on the same side on 11 minutes.

Another Lavery effort saw the ball spin behind for a 14th-minute corner, and as the setpiece found its way to the wide midfielder, his cross was nodded wide by Innes Clark.

Tamosevicius was alert to tip a Bridge free-kick around his post on 16 minutes, with Taylor shooting wide three minutes later as Airdrie’s incisive passing teed up the midfielder.

Liam McLeish was denied by a perfectly-timed block after Mebude and Yates had worked an opportunity midway through the first half, and another nice passage of play ended with Yates scooping over just before the half-hour mark.

McLeish went close again on 32 minutes, teeing himself up for a half-volley after controlling Mebude’s pass, but as the Buddies came back into the game it took a good Sam Fisher block to deflect a powerful strike away from goal.

Lavery fired well over with the last chance of the first half.

Taylor Hogarth almost got a lucky break on 53 minutes, but the ball was forced behind for a corner, with Adams on hand to deal with a deflected strike a minute later.

Yates sent a 57th-minute effort wide of the upright before Fisher’s header went the same way from another Bridge free-kick.

McLeish and Ben Stoddart exchanged off-target attempts in the 61st minute with another chance falling to McLeish a minute later, but this time the striker was denied by a good Tamosevicius save.

Airdrie sub Cole McKinnon sent a 66th-minute strike wide before Lavery did the same at the other end, with Tamosevicius then holding an angled effort from Yates.

As both sides made changes, Gavin Gallagher almost scored a nice goal minutes after joining the fray, but the midfielder spurned the chance he had shown such good feet to create.

Airdrie didn’t have to wait much longer for their goal though, and as Lewis Gibson’s 77th-minute corner was hooked back into the danger zone by Craig Ross, Fisher intelligently nodded down to Mebude who put the chance away to grab his first competitive goal for the Diamonds.

Tamosevicius prevented a quick second as Mebude’s head-flick released Gallagher, the goalkeeper proving equal to the strike.

The young keeper was on his toes to deny Mebude a second with ten minutes remaining, rushing out to clear after the Diamonds scorer had spun on the edge of the box.

McKinnon sent a volley over the bar after fellow sub Divine Iserhienrhien had seen a powerful angled strike saved, and an ambitious 40-yard lob from Gibson drifted wide with three minutes remaining.

Tamosevicius saved the best for last, flying across goal to tip Gibson’s netbound strike round the post and ensure the Diamonds’ winning margin was contained to a single goal.

It’s back to league duty with another home match on Saturday, with Alloa Athletic the visitors as Airdrie try to build on a win and a clean sheet.