The Diamonds fought valiantly to bring a point home against Hamilton Accies from 2-0 down, as Aaron Reid and Murray Aiken completed a superb late comeback.

Hampered by injuries, Rhys McCabe named the same side which had been beaten by Queen’s Park in the hope that his players would be able to turn their fortunes around.

Looking for their first win in four matches, Airdrie came up against a Hamilton side which was similar to that which beat Dunfermline, other than one change in attack which saw Ben Williamson swapped for Euan Henderson.

While the match itself was an affair with few real goalscoring opportunities, the away side made a quick start, as Lewis McGrattan fired a dangerous ball across goal, which was just missed by Ben Wilson.

The Airdrie pressure continued, with Adam Frizzell dragging a shot wide as Hamilton struggled to get the ball out of their own half.

However, the tenth minute saw the best chance so far fall to the home side as they raced up the other end, with Murray Johnson being forced into a superb reaction save as Oli Shaw picked up the ball inside the penalty area following a corner.

The goalmouth action dried up after this, and both teams struggled to put together any moves which troubled the opposition.

This lasted until just before half-time, when Wilson managed to release a strike from in amongst a crowd of defending bodies, but it was palmed away by Charlie Albinson and followed by the half-time whistle.

The second 45 began in a far more eventful fashion than the first had ended, as the first goal of the afternoon came only two minutes after the restart.

Hamilton struck first through a neat Shaw finish into the bottom right of Johnson’s goal after a loose ball in the midfield was picked up by captain Scott Martin.

With his side 1-0 down, Rhys McCabe replaced Rhys Armstrong with Chris Mochrie as he sought inspiration to bring the Diamonds back into the game.

This appeared to work well as Airdrie soon grew back into the game, with Frizzell and Mochrie both coming close after numerous sweeping passing moves, but ultimately to no avail.

The match soon slowed down once again, with the next real chance being Accies’ and Shaw’s second goal of the afternoon.

The in-form striker expertly slotted under the outrushing Johnson as he raced onto a long ball through the middle.

With the Diamonds now two down, ex-Aberdeen striker Reid was introduced in place of McGrattan, and his presence was felt immediately.

Not even a minute after his substitution, he met an inch-perfect Dylan MacDonald cross with an even better header, directing the ball beyond the helpless goalkeeper into the back of the net with his first touch of the game.

This made for an exhilarating final ten minutes as Airdrie searched for an equaliser, which came only three minutes prior to the end of normal time.

Substitute Murray Aiken – who had been brought on to replace the injured Gavin Gallagher – cleverly squeezed away from a chasing pack of defenders and fired his initial effort at Albinson, but tucked the rebound away to send the away fans into raptures.

The full-time whistle signalled the end of a game which could have been won by either side, and both will now look to kick on and secure victory in the third round of the SPFL Trust Trophy in a week’s time.