By Paul Thomson
Copyright dailyrecord
Airdrie’s winless run stretched to six games after a battling stalemate with Raith Rovers, but the goalless draw was enough to lift them off the bottom of the Championship table. New Diamonds boss Danny Lennon picked up his first point in the hot-seat on his maiden game in front of the New Broomfield faithful, but the performance gave them little to cheer about on a day both sides lacked a cutting edge in the final third. The best chance of the game fell to the visitors in 78 minutes when Lewis Vaughan went one-on-one with Airdrie keeper Matty Connelly, who did well to force him wide and put the ball out of play. Airdrie did defend resolutely once again and that’s now three draws and three defeats from their first six outings. A precious point took Airdrie above rock-bottom Ross County on goal difference, but the Diamonds will need to be better when unbeaten Championship pacesetters St Johnstone visit on Tuesday night. The Diamonds named the same side which lost to Partick in their previous Championship outing, while there were a host of familiar faces in the visitors’ squad. Ex-Airdrie men Josh Rae, Callum Fordyce and Dylan Easton all started for Raith. In the fifth minute Lewis McGrattan made a vital block in the Airdrie penalty area to deny Paul McMullan, who had caught a volley flush 10 yards out. The ball came back into the box and Jack Hamilton’s header was comfortably saved by Matty Connelly in the home goal. A clash of heads between Lewis Strapp and Hamilton led to a short delay, as Strapp required treatment for a bloody head wound. He was strapped up and able to continue. Chris Mochrie did well in 14 minutes to get down the right hand side, cut inside and fire towards goal but his curling effort deflected off target. Raith were looking the livelier and Hamilton stung the hands of Connelly in 19 minutes with a strike he couldn’t keep under control, and Sean McGinty had to hook the ball to safety. Up the other end, Craig Ross saw a header flash over the top from a Charlie Telfer corner while a tame effort from Euan Henderson was comfortably collected by Rae in the Raith goal as the sides went in level at the break. Eight minutes into the second half, Airdrie breathed a huge sigh of relief. A long throw caused chaos in the hosts’ penalty area and a vital clearance off the line prevented from giving Raith the lead On the hour mark, Airdrie broke forward on a promising attack with Euan Henderson, but the Diamonds man was taken down by a lunge from Scott Brown. The home support wanted red, but referee Ryan Lee opted to show yellow for the cynical foul. Strapp was left battered and eventually had to be replaced by Dylan MacDonald in 62 minutes and, with little in the way of an attacking threat being offered, Lennon turned to his bench again 10 minutes later to bring on striker Aaron Reid and midfielder Rhys Armstrong to try and provide a spark. Jamie Barjonas and Mochrie made way. Seconds after coming on, a corner broke out to Armstrong at the edge of the box for a strike, but he slammed his effort into the ground and that allowed Rae to make an easy stop. Raith had the best chance of the game in 79 minutes when Richard Chin set up fellow substitute Lewis Vaughan with a defence splitting through ball. Vaughan latched onto it but took a very heavy touch when one-on-one with Connelly that allowed the Diamonds keeper the chance to do just enough to send him off course and the ball ran out of play. In stoppage time Dylan Easton curled wide agonisingly wide before a Charle Telfer cross was turned onto the crossbar for Airdrie, as the sides had to settle for a point. AIRDRIE: Connelly, Strapp (MacDonald 62), McGinty, Ross, Wilson, Barjonas (Armstrong 72), Telfer, McGrattan (Xavier-Jones 84), McKinnon, Henderson (Gallagher 84), Mochrie (Reid 72). Scorers: Bookings: Strapp, Ross Subs not used: Hutton, McMaster, McStravick, Cooper. RAITH: Rae, Hanlon, Doherty, Fordyce, Rowe, Matthews, Brown, Wilson, McMullan (Chin 45), Easton, Hamilton (Vaughan 69). Scorers: Bookings: Brown Subs not used: Glavin, O’Connor, Gentles, Byrne, Montagu, Stevenson, Nsio. HT: 0-0 Ref: Ryan Lee