Manager Post Airdrieonians

Allan Johnston was pleased to take a 2-0 victory away from The Excelsior Stadium

- - Listen to Allan Johnston`s Post Match Comments

"It is a hard place to come and Airdrie have been on a good run as well. You can see that by where they are in the table, so we knew that it was going to have to be a good performance today and we did that. We controlled the game from start to finish and we deserved to win."

The first goal is always important and with Michael Moffat scoring within seven minutes it was a perfect start but the Pars gaffer when asked if that early goal was a bit of a relief, maintained that despite not scoring in the last two league games his team had created chances:-

"With the players that we have got we are always liable to score goals. We were not getting disheartened with the last two results, we know that it is just about us, and about us getting performances and obviously scoring goals. We have players all over the pitch who can score goals."

Airdrieonians were unbeaten in their last four against Dunfermline, did Allan Johnston feel that the hoodoo had been put to bed?

"It is a hard place to come, they are a hard team to play against but it was all about us today, the way we played, the tempo in which we passed the ball, the movement off the ball with the full backs getting forward and getting crosses in the box. That is the way that we have been playing the majority of the season and so it was good to see again today."

Winning matches away from home against teams round about you could be described as the sign of champions, the manager did not disagree.

"Obviously you see Ayr doing very well but we just have to keep the pressure on. We have to keep on improving every quarter and so far we are on track. It is all about putting consistency and results together.

"That is another clean sheet, the boys are doing fantastically. Even in the very last minute they are running to close the ball down to make sure that we don't lose a goal. That gives you a base to build on."

Shaun Byrne scored the Pars second goal less than nine minutes after coming on to replace Rhys McCabe, the manager revealed why that change had taken place:-

"Rhys had felt his calf tighten and Shaun has done excellently for us so it wasn't as if we were weakening the team by bringing in someone of Shaun's quality on. He is a top quality player and he did really well when he came on.

"There were a lot of good performances today; I thought Andy Geggan was different class, I thought the two full banks were different class and Ryan Wallace obviously. He set up the first goal with a brilliant cross. He has waited patiently to get his chance and I am just glad that he took it."

Did the comprehensive nature of the win please the manager?

"You are always wanting more goals and I thought that by the way we played I thought that we maybe could have got a couple more. Maybe in the first half we were a bit wasteful with some of our chances. If we keep passing the ball like that and creating chances then we will score a lot of goals.

"I would rather be top of the league but we are not focusing on what Ayr do, we just have to focus on ourselves, keep on winning games and that will take care of itself."

The team collected another three yellow cards in the match against Airdrieonians and that took Andy Geggan to five for the season. Was that a concern to the manager?

"It is but every team is going to be the same. There were probably a couple of needless ones to be fair - they were going nowhere and there was probably no need to give away a booking. We have not had that many bookings this year so we just have to be careful that they don't mount up and we get suspensions."

- - Listen to Gary Bollan`s post match comments

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