Kieran MacDonald feels that Airdrie have the ability to hold their own against any side in League One - and wants that to show against Raith Rovers.

​

The Diamonds travel to Kirkcaldy to face the league leaders on Saturday, after back-to-back defeats which have seen the side slip to eighth in the League One table.

​

MacDonald knows that Airdrie will need to be better than they were against East Fife last weekend.

​

"I felt we played in to their hands a bit. They wanted us to play the ball long, and we did - and we can't play like that, we're the kind of team that needs to get the ball down and play.

​

"Hopefully we can iron out the inconsistency, the boys want to do well this year so we need to avoid going into a bad run of form. All we can do is work hard to make sure that doesn't happen."

​

Barry Smith's free-scoring Raith have registered two 5-0 wins in their last three matches, but MacDonald doesn't feel that his attacking duties should be neglected in order to adopt a defensive stance.

​

"Scott (Stewart) and I both like to get forward to make passes and get the ball into the box, and I don't think we should stop doing what we're good at.

​

"We need to be well organised, and that's the main thing we've been working on this week.

 

"We've been looking at set-pieces, and I feel we need to start being more vocal too. We're still a young team and a lot of us are still learning, so we need to help each other out."
 

 

With a relatively inexperienced squad around him, Kieran is aware that confidence can play a huge part in the Diamonds' mentality.

​

"Confidence is a big factor - this league is so tight that usually whoever scores first goes on to win the game.

​

"We know Raith are a good team and they're scoring a lot of goals, so our aim is to get in at the break ahead or on level terms and take it from there.

​

"We're a good team, so we should be confident going into every game. We showed against Alloa and Albion Rovers how well we can play - we need to show that every week, starting on Saturday."

​

Marc Fitzpatrick remains sidelined for the Diamonds, while the fitness of Adam Brown and Ryan Conroy is being assessed.

​

Mat Northcroft referees Airdrie's first meeting with Rovers since 2013.