Johnstone Burgh manager Stevie Farrell praised his players' character after they came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw with Celtic B before holding out with 10 men in Airdrie.

Farrell said the performance had shown him another side of his squad as they continued their unbeaten start to life in the Scottish Lowland League West.

"I'm delighted with it," he said.

"We've only been together for six weeks and I said that to the players at half-time and again at full-time.

"When you come into a new club with new players and a new group, you're always finding out about them as individuals and as a collective.

"Today I found out something different about them. It was their reaction to losing a goal so early."

Burgh conceded after just two minutes but recovered to equalise through Stuart Faulds before half-time.

Farrell admitted his side had to ride out a difficult spell before taking control of the game.

"We had a spell after that, probably 10 or 15 minutes, where we just couldn't get our press right," he said.

"We had to dig in and get through that period, and there are going to be games this season where you'll have to do that.

"Once we came through it, I thought we finished the first half strongly. We scored a really, really good goal and I liked the way we ended the half."

The Burgh manager reserved special praise for his players' defensive display after Aaron Mason was sent off in the closing stages.

"Once Aaron was sent off, you've got to do another part of the game," he said.

"You're down to 10 men and you've got to defend your box. You've got to defend that central area of the pitch, invite them wide and then try to stop crosses coming into the box.

"I thought we did that magnificently well, so I'm really, really proud of them. It's a really valuable point, whoever you're playing."

Attention now turns to next Saturday's home meeting with Albion Rovers at Keanie Park.

"That's a different game," Farrell said.

"I said to them the other night after we beat Troon that no two games of football are ever the same.

"Now we've got to prepare properly this week. We've no midweek game, so we can get back into training. We'll do our reports, watch Albion Rovers over the weekend and then start working towards them in training this week."

Farrell also thanked the large travelling support who made the journey to Airdrie.

"It was good to experience an away fixture today with them right behind us," he said.

"Particularly when the lads went down to 10 men, I thought they gave them everything. You could hear them encouraging and supporting the players throughout.

"I'm sure they'll go home having seen their team fight the way they did in the second half after going down to 10 men. I'm sure they'll be really proud of them as well."

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