Saints were far from convincing but did enough to secure the three points. After a few close calls, Saints opened the scoring in eight minutes when Simon Lappin's free kick was headed home by John Sutton. Stand in Airdrie keeper Lee Hollis, who got the nod after an injury to Stephen Robertson in the warm up, stood no chance with the fine header.
Airdrie continued to push and came close with a few long range Stephen McKeown efforts before comically being reduced to ten men against Saints for the fourth time this season. Today it was the turn of Brian McPhee, who'd only been on the park for twenty minutes after an injury to Stephen McDougall. A studs up challenge on Kirk Broadfoot earned him a red card. By this point Mark Corcoran had already gone off, to be replaced by Hugh Murray.
Saints had a few chances to increase their lead, with Iain Anderson, Billy Mehmet and Sutton going close, before the inevitible happened just on half time. Kevin Barkey was totally unmarked down the right and his cross was easily nodded past Tony Bullock by Bryan Prunty. That's former Saints trialist Bryan Prunty. It's Paul sodding Ritchie all over again!
Fortunately parity didn't last long. Two minutes after the break, Lappin played a short corner to Murray whilst the Airdrie defence slept. His cross was headed back across goal by Kevin McGowne, and was eventually scrambled in by Sutton. Phew!
Saints pushed for a killer third, with Mehmet and Sutton going close, whilst David van Zanten produced a fantastic run only to be thwarted by Hollis at the last.
Stewart Kean came on for Mehmet and caused a few problems, linking up well with Sutton, whilst van Zanten forced a good save from Hollis in the final few minutes. Airdrie did threaten a little bit, but it was mainly their crosses that caused the problem. In the end, Saints held on for the win, although it was never really nail biting stuff.
There were some great Saints performances today, Sutton obviously being one, whilst David van Zanten, Kevin McGowne and John Potter also did well. Special mention must go to Airdrie keeper Lee Hollis who did well, although he messed up a bit at our winner!
Three points closer to the Holy Grail. Five points needed from five games. Surely now we can't throw it away, can we?