Scott Robertson isn’t expecting an easy ride at Shielfield Park on Saturday, but the defender wants Airdrie to show their quality against Berwick Rangers.

 

‘Robbo’ joined the Diamonds this summer after a five-year spell at Stranraer, and the 30-year-old has hit the ground running at the Penny Cars Stadium.

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“To be honest, it’s been an easy group to settle in to. All the boys are a good laugh, but we’ve been working hard in pre-season.

 

“It’s been a tough pre-season to be fair, we’ve had loads of games to get us ready for the cup group.”

 

Robertson has been ever-present in the Airdrie backline throughout the pre-season schedule, and made his competitive debut against Livingston last week.

 

The big defender felt the Diamonds gave a good account of themselves.

 

“We started well against Livingston. When they scored we maybe struggled for a wee while, but once we adapted to their formation we were fine - and in the second half I thought we were the better team.

 

“I don’t think anybody could have complained if we had nicked a draw.”

 

Of course, the newly-promoted Premiership side took the three points on this occasion, but Robertson says he and his new team-mates took the result seriously.

 

“You want to win every game you play in, so of course we want to get through the group.

 

“With it being the start of the season nobody’s as sharp as they’d like to be, but none of us are treating it as a pre-season tournament.”

 

With the attention turning to the trip to Northumberland on Saturday, Scott expects the League Two side to be a different proposition.

 

“I would imagine Saturday’s game will be quite different from the one against Livingston. I think I’ve only played down there once - in a pre-season friendly about 13 years ago!

 

“We’ll certainly be going there looking to impose ourselves on the game, as opposed to Livi coming here and trying to impose themselves on us.

 

“We know Berwick will make it hard for us, but if we play like we did in the second half last week, I don’t think we should be fearing anybody.”

 

Airdrie manager Stephen Findlay is upbeat ahead of the Diamonds’ second Group F tie.

 

“There were lots of positives against Livingston, especially in the second half. There were obviously some basics that we had to work on, but we’ve been doing that this week.

 

“We have standards to set here at the club, so we’ll certainly be going there looking to get a result. If we play like we did in the second half last week, I’m sure we’ll do ourselves justice.”

 

Defender Jonathan Page returned to full training this week, and may be in contention for the journey south.