Cade Melrose atoned for his error with a five-star performance as the Diamonds triumphed over Raith, and the goalkeeper wants Airdrie to take their momentum into Saturday’s match against Ayr United.

Caretaker boss Aaron Taylor-Sinclair stuck by Melrose last Saturday after the 20-year-old had let a stoppage-time Oisin Smyth effort squirm from his grasp to hand Partick Thistle an undeserved point the week before – and was rewarded with a series of impressive saves to help Airdrie to a clean sheet as they registered a thumping 3-0 win at Stark’s Park.

Melrose, who produced the pick of the bunch in the 94th-minute of play as he clawed out Jai Rowe’s netbound header, was delighted with the shut out.

“It’s always rewarding as a keeper, and for the backline, to keep that clean sheet. At 3-0 up you can get complacent, but we stayed strong at the back and made sure we didn’t concede.

“It was just about trying to get my confidence back and pick myself up, because I’ve never really experienced that in my career. I used it as a learning curve, almost – getting myself down about it. I used that mistake, that lapse in concentration, as an opportunity to learn.

“It’s just about kicking on now. I’ve set the bar against Raith, I just need to keep that level of performance up. Obviously mistakes happen – I’m only human – so it’s just about learning from it and making sure it doesn’t happen again.”

As well as a personal high for Melrose, last weekend’s performance saw the Diamonds pick up a well-earned first away win as goals from Gavin Gallagher, Euan Henderson, and Chris Mochrie saw off the managerless Rovers.

It was three points that many thought Airdrie had also deserved in that Friday night match against second-placed Partick, and Melrose expects his side’s good form to continue.

“We spoke about setting the bar – we set the bar against Partick, we were excellent. For 80 minutes of the game we were in control, and against Raith it was more than 80 minutes, they didn’t really look like they were going to harm us.

“Scoring three goals away from home is a hard thing to do, so at home I back us to get a good level of performance again and kick on.”

Supporters could be forgiven for rolling their eyes when checking the fixture list after the Raith result – this Saturday’s visitors Ayr United have enjoyed a long run of dominance over the Diamonds, winning the last 11 meetings.

A blistering start had the Honest Men three ahead midway through the first half at a rain-lashed Somerset Park in September, Ethan Walker and a Mark McKenzie double putting Scott Brown’s side in a commanding position. Strikes from Lewis McGrattan and Charlie Telfer either side of a Jamie Murphy goal saw the match finish 4-2 in the home side’s favour.

Ayr haven’t had it all their own way since then – they currently occupy fourth spot despite a spell of erratic form which has seen them go five matches without a win.

As the Diamonds scrap for points to move themselves away from the foot of the table, Cade believes that they can take full advantage of their current momentum.

“It’s a snowball effect. When you start having good results, confidence in the changing room rises. We believe in each other and we believe in ourselves that we can go and climb this league.

“We’ve played against the top two, so it’s just people around us now that we’re playing against. I feel like we’ve got every chance of winning against Ayr. They can be excellent, especially at home, but they’re coming to our ground now, so we need to take control of the game.

“If we just keep that momentum and keep at them for the full 90 minutes, I’m sure we’ll come away with a result. We just need to focus on ourselves. We play our game, do everything we can control and the rest takes care of itself.”

And caretaker manager Aaron Taylor-Sinclair reiterates the point that his side need to look after their own performance rather than worrying about their opponents.

“Since I’ve been here we’ve been on the wrong end of results against Ayr, so we’ll be looking to put that right.

“They’re a good team of good, solid professionals, but as I said before the build-up to the Raith game, it’s all about us.

“The run they’re on of five games without a win, they’ll be looking to put that right – but as I said it’s all about how we implement our style and our tactics onto the game.”

Taylor-Sinclair welcomes Lewis Strapp and Liam McStravick back from suspension and international duty respectively, and hopes to include Dylan MacDonald in his matchday squad after the defender resumed full training this week.

Defender Cammy Bruce and midfielders Rhys Armstrong and Alex King continue to ease toward a return to first-team action, along with striker Aaron Reid, who has missed the last two matches with an ankle knock.

Loan forward Jake Hastie is unable to feature against his parent club.

Referee Sean Murdoch was previously in charge of Airdrie’s final Premier Sports Cup group match in July, a 3-2 home defeat to Alloa Athletic.

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