Delighted Airdrie boss Ian Murray says his side's 4-1 win over Montrose was a statement of intent in League One, but says there are a lot more twists to come.
Calum Gallagher had Airdrie seemingly 2-0 up and cruising before half-time but Graham Webster's penalty halved the deficit after Adam Frizzell had tripped Blair Lyons.
Montrose showed their promise and went close in the second half through Lyons and Webster, but Airdrie turned the screw and sub Craig Watson and Frizzell struck to put the game beyond doubt.
That opened up a four-point gap over third-placed Montrose and reduced Cove's lead at the top to five, after they drew 0-0 with 10-man Queen's Park.
Murray said: "It was vital to increase the gap over Montrose, that’s all that we could influence there.
"I said to the players all week that the most important thing was creating a gap on third place.
“What else happens elsewhere, happens.
“But to score another four goals at home, to be in the third quarter and have amassed 17 points with two games to go is a really high total so far.
“If we can get another six on top of that [against Peterhead and Clyde] then it’s a fantastic third quarter for us.
“There will be loads going on in the next 11 games; the league is now beginning to be affected because everybody’s catching up on games.
"It's starting to sort itself out and the top two and Montrose have hung in there really well. We've had to because Cove have been on such a great run.
"There's a long way to go, we all have to play each other again, and there are some very hard matches towards the end of the season, so strange things happen."
Having lost 3-0 to Montrose on the opening day of the season and then fell 2-1 away in December, Murray was keen to get one over on his rivals, but says the difference in their performances has been a pleasing aspect.
He said: "One of the most pleasing things for me today was the difference in our performance from the first game of the season until now.
“It’s a completely different team and I think people forget that we’ve got 16 players out of 22 who are new to this football club.
“That’s a huge turnaround in the summer, it took us time to find our feet.
“But the players are enjoying it, the fans are enjoying it and we’ll just keep going.”
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