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JAMIE Masson netted within 90 seconds of coming off the bench to send us on the road to what was a hard earned but well deserved League One victory over the Diamonds at Balmoral Stadium.

Fellow sub Rory McAllister then played his part in setting up a second for midfielder Masson to ensure we remain unbeaten since returning from the enforced lock-down.

The double change, just after the hour, proved decisive against a stubborn Airdrie side who had defended resolutely up to that point.

There was little doubt the better side win though and picking up the three points was the perfect way to prepare for Sunday’s glamour Scottish Cup tie against Rangers at Ibrox.

We made three changes to the starting line-up that drew with East Fife last weekend, with Connor Scully, Seb Ross and Kieran Ngwenya coming in.

The latter was making his first start, at left-back, since joining us on loan from Aberdeen.

Airdrie received a pre-match blow when Paul Paton suffered an injury during the warm-up and had to be replaced by Craig Thomson.

Our first chance of the match came in the eighth minute.

Ryan Strachan played the ball down the right to Mitch Megginson, who then fed it into Fraser Fyvie and his 20-yard shot was pushed wide for a corner by a diving save from Diamonds keeper Max Currie.

Connor Scully took the corner and found Ross Graham at the back post and his header was deflected wide for another corner.

Fyvie was at the heart of everything good for us and was unlucky to see his volley from a Scully pass go wide of the target.

Fyvie created our next chance with a well-flighted free-kick from the right that reached Leighton McIntosh at the back post and his effort at goal appeared to clip the outside of Currie’s right post as it went wide.

Airdrie broke forward in the 22nd minute but Kyle Connell was denied a shot at goal from inside the area by a perfectly timed tackle from Ross Graham.

Fyvie was the architect of our next chance too, in the 24th minute, when he played a fine pass through the Airdrie defence to Seb Ross.

He cleverly controlled the ball on his chest before skipping past a defender to hit a shot from just inside the Airdrie area that forced Currie to make an impressive diving save to keep the effort out.

Fyvie was desperately unlucky not to put us ahead in the 35th minute.

His 20-yard free-kick left Currie rooted to the spot and the keeper was fortunate to see the blistering effort rebound to safety off the crossbar.

Stuart McKenzie was called into action a minute later when he raced outside his area to twice head the ball away from incoming Airdrie attackers.

The half ended with Fyvie failing to take advantage of a glorious chance to put us ahead.

Megginson drove the ball low across the face of the Airdrie goal and it reached the midfielder at the edge of the six yard box.

Fyvie looked certain to score but failed to connect properly with his shot and that allowed Currie to dive and grab the ball right on the line. Fyvie appeared to claim his effort had actually sneaked in, but the referee waved play on.

It was more of the same after the break, with us having to work hard and keep the ball moving in the hope we could eventually make a breakthrough.

Currie denied Seb Ross again in 49th minute with another great save.

The midfielder got on to the end of a Megginson pass and his powerful 16-yard shot rebounded to safety off the legs of the Airdrie keeper.

Ryan Strachan did his bit at the other end in the 53rd minute with a fine duo of tackles to stop Paul McKay getting a shot in on our goal.

Scott Ross started our next attack with a pass down the right to Fyvie and McInstosh just failed to connect with his low driven cross at the edge of the six yard box.

Scully, who also impressed throughout, then picked out Megginson with a cross from the right to the back post but keeper Currie managed to gather his effort at goal near to the foot of his right post.

We appeared to have a decent shout for a penalty when Megginson was caught late by a defender in the 58th minute but referee Peter Stuart decided no offence had been committed and waved play on.

Keeper McKenzie made what proved to be a crucial save in the 61st minute.

Alastair Roy’s through pass left Connell with a clear shot from the edge of the area but McKenzie was perfectly positioned to beat the effort away to safety.

Masson and McAllister were brought on in the 63rd minute and it proved to be a match winning move.

They had only been on the field 90 seconds when Scott Ross fired a low cross on from the right and MASSON timed his run perfectly to get to the ball ahead of a defender and deftly clip it past the diving Currie at the front post.

Our second goal, in the 70th minute, was an outstanding team effort.

The move was started by a long kick from keeper McKenzie which McAllister nodded on perfectly to Megginson.

The skipper quickly fed the ball to Fyvie on the right wing and when he fired the ball across MASSON was there again to lash it into the net to make the game safe.

Masson tried for his hat-trick when he latched on to a pass from tireless Scully in the 73rd minute but his shot lacked power and was gathered by Currie.

Yule went close in the 77th minute with a powerful 22-yard shot after Megginson had rolled the ball into his path but we had already done what was needed to secure all three points.

COVE RANGERS: McKenzie, Scully, Scott Ross, Strachan, Yule (Smith 82), Megginson (Watson 82),  McIntosh (McAllister 63), Seb Ross (Masson 63), Graham, Fyvie, Ngwenya (Logan 68).

Subs: Higgins, Livingstone, Hanratty, Demus.

AIRDRIEONIANS: Currie, Jack McKay, McCann, Paul McKay, Fordyce, Thomson (Gallagher 69), Sabatini (Robert 69), Connell, Roy (Walker 77), Carrick (Ritchie 69), O’Reilly (Pyott 84).

Subs: McNeil, Mbayo, Burke.

Referee: Peter Stuart

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