Raith Rovers' Barry Robson on late lapse that cost his team at Airdrieonians

With a game of limited chances still goalless on 78 minutes, the hosts’ Lewis McGrattan struck home from outside the box to condemn Raith to a defeat which leaves them fifth on 33 points from 25 matches.

And manager Robson told Raith TV post match: “There was nothing in the game. I think it was clear for everyone to see.

"We should have come away from here with a point.

"I said to the players: ‘If you can’t win it just don’t lose it. You’ve come to a tough place with all their players back fit and get a point if you can’t get over the line to win it’.

"We got a bit emotional for two or three minutes and they score a goal out of that.

"And it’s not been like us because we’ve been keeping clean sheets.

"I think the biggest thing for me where we could have been better was controlling the game without the ball, controlling the opponents without the ball.

"We never got to the levels where we have been.

"We got a bit emotional in the press at times and we could have been a bit more structured.

"That was probably the most frustrating thing. They’re a heavy possession-based team. They didn’t do that to us tonight.

"They’re a team that are on a good run like ourselves. They will be a tough team for other teams to play against as the season goes on.”

Robson said he felt Raith had controlled large parts of the game, with the possession stats pretty even (51% to 49% in Airdrie’s favour).

He added: “We just lacked that wee bit of magic, that bit of cutting edge that we’ve had over the last few weeks.

"We still have an opportunity. Listen, we’ve lost a game, we lost a lot of games this season even before I got here.

"But that doesn’t mean we can’t challenge up the league. That ain’t happening.

"We’ve got a game on Saturday (a home league encounter against Queen’s Park which kicks off at 3pm) that we need to go and try and win.

"We are playing a really good side again.

"We’ve got to run, fight, try and do all the things we work on in training to try and win the game, that is the message to the players.”