Raith Rovers v Airdrie preview
14th September 2012
Airdrie will be looking to get back to winning ways at Starks Park after back-to-back league defeats followed by the international break.
Home defeats to Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath took the sheen off the Diamonds' sparkling start to the campaign, which saw them take maximum points from Dumbarton and Livingston.
Manager Jimmy Boyle hopes to have a full squad to choose from following the break, minus Australian defender Marc Warren who is suspended after his red card against Cowdenbeath.
“Marc has apologised to everyone for his actions but we’re without him for the next two games", said the gaffer.
"We’ve been concentrating on getting injured players back to fitness and we’re nearly there. Training has been sharp and the attitude has been good."
An added bonus for helping several first-teamers regain match fitness has been the launch of the SFL reserve league, which saw an Airdrie side host Raith Rovers reserves on Monday evening.
The Diamonds won 5-1, and the star of the show was Willie McLaren, who bagged a hat trick. Paul Di Giacomo and youngster Christian McKenna were Airdrie's other goalscorers, and the first-team players who featured will undoubtedly take confidence from the result.
Raith have also had mixed fortunes in their opening league fixtures, and currently sit a point above Airdrie in fourth place.
Unbeaten in their two home fixtures so far, Grant Murray's men will be looking to continue that against a Diamonds side who knocked them out of last season's league cup, but with the league table yet to settle down, a tight match is on the cards.
Referee Crawford Allan will take charge of the Kirkcaldy showdown.