Grant Gallagher is raring to go against his old club Stranraer, and hopes the Diamonds can go on another winning run as we head into 2019.

 

The midfielder has been a regular starter for Airdrie this season, and wants to play his part in making it back-to-back wins after a hard-fought victory at Glebe Park last weekend.

 

“We ground out a result in the end, but that’s just the way the game was going. Brechin sat in and allowed us a lot of the ball - that’s quite unusual in this league.

 

“We were patient, and when we got the penalty Darryl took it well. It was a really good result to get away from home.”

 

The points were made even more important with results elsewhere leaving the League One table as congested as ever, but Gallagher believes that will change soon.

 

“I think now you’ll start to see things unravel a bit more. The good teams will rise to the top of the pile, so hopefully if we just keep winning games we can be there.

 

“It’s important to go on a run, and we’ll need some big results between now and the end of the season - but we’re capable of that, and it should get us into that top four.

 

Having spent five years at Stranraer before a spell at Dumbarton, Gallagher is very familiar with this weekend’s opponents.

 

The 27-year-old played an important part in both of this season’s meetings between the sides, a 2-0 home win in September, and last month’s 2-1 victory at Stair Park.

 

He believes his old coach could use Airdrie’s record in the fixture to motivate his side.

 

“Knowing Stevie Farrell really well, I know he’ll have his team drilled. He’ll be reminding them of the last two results and I’m sure that’ll get them going.

 

“On the other hand, we know we can beat them - so it’s something that can work for both teams, really.”

 

Grant opened the scoring in the last meeting with a powerful 20-yard strike - and subsequently faced some light-hearted social media jibes from former team-mates for celebrating against his old team.

 

“I don’t get to score many, so I enjoy it when I do it - it just happened to be against a former club.

 

“Goals change games, so if you score against any team you’re going to celebrate!”

 

Diamonds boss Ian Murray says his side need to be wary of complacency against the in-form Blues, who are unbeaten in their last five matches in all competitions.

 

“Although we’ve won both previous meetings, we can’t go out there thinking we just need to turn up - if that happens it’ll be a long day for us.

 

“Stranraer are more than capable of coming here, playing well and getting a good result, and it’s up to us as the home team to make sure we don’t allow that to happen.”

 

Goalkeepers Scott Gallacher (cruciate) and David Hutton (ankle) continue to miss out for Airdrie, alongside midfielder Ryan Conroy (hamstring).

 

David Lowe referees his third Airdrie match this season, having been in charge of the 2-1 win at Stenhousemuir in August and the recent 2-0 defeat at Raith Rovers.