The under 17s skipper led by example on Friday night, firing the Diamonds to another Ayrshire victory with a hat-trick against the Honest Men.

Head Coach Scott Craig had as close to a full squad to choose from as possible, with Sam Gallagher returning to the starting 11 and Darryl McMutrie making an appearance on the bench after returning from his suspension. Forward Aaron Weir continues to miss out due to his ongoing health issues.

The Diamonds started the game brightly, when Gallagher showed good feet inside the penalty area to create space for a shot, which only found the side netting in the end.

However, it was the hosts who landed the first blow. On 6 minutes, an unfortunate ricochet saw the ball land at the feet of an Ayr midfielder, who lobbed Liam Lindsay with an audacious attempt which sailed over the head of the Airdrie goalkeeper and into the net.

Airdrie responded instantly, last week’s saviour Connor Hay saw the ball drop to him on the edge of the box following a corner, and his shot took a fortunate deflection on its way into the net for the equaliser 8 minutes in.

Kaleb Donnachie showed quick feet to skip past some defensive challenges into the box in the 11th minute, but his shot was blocked in the end by a home defender.

Midfield maestro Stephen McKay almost found the net with a curling free kick 3 minutes later, but his delivery was headed away from danger.

The game had started to calm down until the 21st minute, when McKay again created a chance out of nothing, laying the ball to Connor Hay who could only fire over the bar this time.

McKay was then cautioned after 23 minutes, bringing down an Ayr striker after a poor ball into the midfielder which was intercepted by the hosts who looked to pounce on the error with a second goal. The resulting set piece whistled past Lindsay’s post.

Liam Lindsay made his first save after 26 minutes, reacting well to push a low strike away from danger.

The first of two penalties for Airdrie then followed, Stephen McKay the architect as he danced his way into the box before being hacked down from behind. Guy Bainbridge stepped up and confidently tucked the penalty away in the 30th minute to give Airdrie the lead.

History repeated itself 2 minutes later, when Kaleb Donnachie showed his sharpness by nicking in front of an Ayr defender to touch the ball past a dangling leg which brought down the Airdrie forward. Bainbridge again stepped up and thumped the ball home, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance.

Bainbridge saw the headlines in the 36th minute, when a Donnachie flick landed perfectly in his path, but the Diamonds captain was always leaning back and sent his volley sailing over the bar.

Airdrie didn’t give their opponents any respite, as McKay again nipped in to win possession from the resulting goal kick, playing through Hay – but this time he delivered to the back post, just missing the head of Donnachie in the middle.

43 minutes in, Lindsay made the first of two crucial saves – holding a zipping free kick well. Ayr attacked again and this time Lindsay reacted superbly to claw the ball away after it took a last-second bounce inside the six-yard box which sent the ball towards the goal.

Airdrie almost went three up inside the opening minute of the second half, but centre back Sean Dempsey couldn’t direct his volley on target at the back post when he met a fantastic McKay cross.

Dempsey was the called into action at the other end, diving in to block a shot as the hosts launched a quick attack after winning the ball in their own half.

50 minutes in, Sam Gallagher continued to cover every blade of grass – storming from midfield into the box and unleashing a shot which was initially blocked before the ball fell to Trialist 7 – but his shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

Trialist 7 was involved once again just 3 minutes later, this time he couldn’t keep his shot down after Donnachie had stretched to poke the ball past the goalkeeper and then cut the ball back to the winger.

Stephen McKay continued to pose a threat to the home defence, driving into the box before sending the ball hurtling towards the bottom corner, where it was touched behind for an Airdrie corner.

Cooper Reed was on hand to clean up after a poor pass from a fellow defender just before the hour mark.

A lucky bounce almost beat Liam Lindsay in the Airdrie goal on 58 minutes, but the Diamonds were fortunate to watch the ball roll the wrong side of the post.

An hour in, Craig made his first change, replacing defender Cooper Reed with versatile midfielder Marcus Wallace, who slotted into the left-hand side of Airdrie’s three defenders.

A few minutes later, Trialist 7’s game was over, Valentino Taouss his replacement.

Sam Gallagher almost produced a moment of magic in the 5th minute, gliding through Ayr’s midfield and towards the goal, but the goalkeeper was sharp enough to gather at the feet of Airdrie’s midfielder.

Stephen McKay almost scored a goal of the season contender on 67 minutes, when his free kick was blocked but bounced in front of the midfielder who sent a beautiful half-volley towards the top corner, denied by a fantastic save from the Ayr goalkeeper.

Kaleb Donnachie had the chance to more or less seal the three points for Airdrie a minute later, but his shot was wide of the target as he stormed through on goal after latching onto a good flick from Bainbridge.

Stephen McKay was denied a goal by a cynical defensive challenge as he spun through on goal, but the referee was lenient and only showed the home defender a yellow card for his trouble.

Donnachie and first goal scorer Connor Hay were replaced by Lyon and McMutrie for the Diamonds on 71 minutes.

On 75 minutes, Airdrie finally grabbed their fourth, as Guy Bainbridge followed in a Taouss strike in typical fashion to smash into the roof of the net with the goalkeeper grounded. A first hat-trick of the season for last year’s top scorer.

Substitute Val Taouss fired wide on the spin a minute later as Airdrie looked for more goals.

On 78 minutes, Sam Gallagher sent a free kick wide of the target after being hacked down on the edge of the box by a defender.

Bainbridge and Gallagher were then replaced for Airdrie by O’Brien and Suny, after two exquisite individual performances from last season’s award winners.

Darryl McMutrie was cautioned for a barge in the middle of the park with 9 minutes to go.

Forward McMutrie was denied a goal after a strong save from Ayr’s goalkeeper, as he looked to make an impact from the bench.

The hosts managed to pull one back with 4 minutes to go, Lindsay unfortunate after making a good save initially, but a home attacker followed the ball in and smashed into the net to reduce the deficit.

Airdrie almost responded with another goal, as Suny looked to pounce on a goalkeeping error, but a last-ditch challenge denied the substitute the chance to unleash a shot.

The Honest Men’s final attack of the game saw the ball trickle wide from a corner, and the referee blew the full-time whistle after 5 minutes of stoppage time, three crucial points on the board for the under 17s.

Scott Craig’s side don’t have a competitive game scheduled for this coming week, so the Diamonds will welcome the opportunity to analyse the opening two games and recover ahead of a home tie with Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic at the end of the month.