Dean Lyness rushed off his line to block Juan Alegria’s shot to ensure Airdrie left Falkirk with a point – but says it’s just his job.
The 31-year-old from Birmingham didn’t do his chances of keeping hold of the number one jersey any harm with that and a couple of other good saves to stop the Bairns from taking all three points on Saturday.
But the former St Mirren shot-stopper says there was plenty of action up at the other end of the pitch where Airdrie could also have taken full points.
Callum Smith missed two one-on-ones before scoring to equalise but Falkirk’s Gary Oliver missed a gilt-edged chance in the second half.
Lyness said: “It’s nice to contribute, especially on the back of last weekend where we conceded six and didn’t really cover myself in glory [against Dundee in a 6-2 Scottish Cup defeat].
“It’s nice to get back to making saves this week.
“It was a massive save, and it was an important point in the game, but that’s my job at the end of the day, so it was just nice to make it and take something from the game, which I thought we thoroughly deserved, based on our second-half performance.
“I thought in the second half we were excellent, we were pushing to get back in the game and yes, we might get a bit of luck when the boy [Gary Oliver] misses the one on one, but on the basis of play we definitely deserved something from the game.”
Airdrie have a weekend off before hosting league-leaders Dunfermline on December 17 in what is a massive game for the Diamonds’ League One title aspirations.
Lyness said: “They’re all big games. We want to get as many points as we can and start pushing back up the league.
“I think that’s five unbeaten in the league, so we’ve got to take that form into the Dunfermline game and go into it full of confidence, be positive, and try to come away with the three points.
“That would put a marker down if we could win it, but every time we step on the pitch we want to come away with three points and hopefully we can take that second-half performance into the Dunfermline game for the 90 minutes.
“We’ve got to believe in ourselves and really try and kick on.”
Josh Rae is nearing a comeback for Airdrie, with Lyness signed in October following his injury, and the experienced keeper admits it’s up to him to keep hold of the jersey.
He said: “It’s great to see big Josh back training – nobody wants to see anyone injured and he’s put the work in to get himself back fit a little bit ahead of schedule.
“It’s great to have him back on the field and good for the goalkeeping department.”
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
