Iain Russell believes Friday's performance against Partick Thistle can inspire the Diamonds to a win against his former club Queen of the South.

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Airdrie travel to Palmerston Park to take on Gavin Skelton's Championship side after a narrow defeat in the Betfred Cup Group E opener against Partick Thistle on Friday evening.

Russell was delighted to make his first Diamonds appearance.

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"Obviously the result wasn't ideal, but it was great to make my debut at home.

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"To finally play a competitive game for Airdrie felt absolutely brilliant."

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On the game itself, Russell felt the side acquitted themselves well.

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"I thought we did okay. Overall Partick maybe just edged it, but I thought we competed well - we still tried to pass the ball as we've been doing all pre-season but we just didn't get the result."

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Having spent three seasons at Queen of the South, it's a quick return to familiar territory for the striker.

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"I'm looking forward to it. It's another hard game for us, it's been a hard start to the season playing two teams in leagues above us.

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"Obviously it's nice to go back down to Queens, but that's taken out of the equation because I just want to go and win.

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"It'll be a tough game down at Palmerston but it's important for us to continue what we've been doing.

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"Everyone's looking forward to it, Friday night showed we can compete and on another day we might have taken our chances." 

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First Team Coach Kevin McBride is expecting a difficult challenge.

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"It's going to be a difficult game, we know how good a team Queen of the South are - but going by the game on Friday we've set our standards now and we don't want to drop below that.

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"Hopefully we can go down there and get the fans a result."

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McBride has a full squad at his disposal for the trip to Palmerston, with "a few niggles" being monitored but unlikely to keep anyone out of the game.

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Queens got their campaign off to a winning start, registering a 2-0 victory over Queen's Park in a match played at Airdrie's Excelsior Stadium.

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The Doonhamers finished seventh in last season's championship, but saw several departures over the close season - including Russell and Ryan Conroy to Airdrie.

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Manager Skelton has brought in five new players including goalkeeper Lee Robinson and Australian forward Lyndon Dykes.

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Referee Nick Walsh is the man in the middle for the 7:45pm kick off at Palmerston.