New Broomfield will be packed to the rafters on Friday night as Airdrieonians prepare to face Rangers. 

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A sell-out crowd and a live TV audience, on the new BT Sport channel, will watch the Diamonds take on the Light Blues for the first time in almost 13 years.

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All four stands at the stadium will be utilised with the Airdrie faithful hoping Jimmy Boyle and his players can pull off a shock result and ambush the SPFL League One leaders.

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Weeks of planning have gone into organising tonight's match – with supporters advised to arrive early and be patient as the area around New Broomfield is expected to be exceptionally busy.

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On the pitch, the focus for Boyle and his players is strictly football with a large number of changes anticipated following the 2-0 defeat to Queen of the South in the second round of the Ramsdens Challenge Cup.

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The Diamonds chief will evaluate the fitness of midfielders Nathan Blockley (thigh) and Martin Hardie (calf) before naming the team he will send into battle. He is missing long-term absentee John Boyle.

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It's been a busy week for the Airdrie players – but motivation is not likely to be a problem this evening when Ally McCoist's men come calling.

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"The players will have been in four nights this week once it's all over," the manager said.

 

"Training was on Monday and Thursday with games on Tuesday and Friday.

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"It's a tough ask for a lot of them as they have families or are working but they know how important this week is for the club.

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"We won't have done much on Thursday night. We'll have worked on some shape, set-pieces and let them get a sweat up. We will speak to them about how we want to play.

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"This group of players are a professional bunch and I'm sure they will be fine."

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Airdrie fielded a largely reserve side against the Doonhamers but Boyle saw signs of encouragement and says those who didn't feature grafted in training the night before the tie.

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He added: "There were a lot of positives from the Queens game even though we lost 2-0. We gave them a few scares and created a few chances.

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"The first-team players who weren't involved on Tuesday night came in on Monday and were given a hard session."

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One aspect of having the Ramsdens Cup tie earlier this week is the fact that the build-up to the Rangers match will be fairly low key – something which suits Boyle down to the ground.

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He said: "I'm really happy there is not going to be much of all that as it means we can just get into it and concentrate on the game."