Ally Roy headed the second goal of his short season to hand Airdrie a vital win over Dumbarton, and the striker hopes he has played himself into contention for a starting place against Falkirk on Tuesday night.

Roy has missed the majority of the campaign after sustaining a horrific arm injury in Airdrie’s first competitive match of the season, but the 23-year-old is now fully fit and has shown his desire to pick up where he left off by finding the net twice in a week.

While the first of those proved to be merely a consolation strike against Partick Thistle, Roy’s 79th-minute winner against Dumbarton secured a huge three points as Airdrie grabbed their first win since the restart.

“It was a massive game for us and we had to make sure we won it at all costs.

“It didn’t matter if it was pretty - thankfully we were able to get the win and I’m glad I was able to contribute to the outcome with a goal.”

Having netted five times in pre-season, Roy’s injury in the Betfred Cup match against Alloa Athletic couldn’t have come at a worse time for the player or the club.

A spell on the sidelines clearly hasn’t robbed the former Hearts man of his finishing touch - will more goals follow for the striker in the Diamonds remaining fixtures?

“That’s the plan for me personally now that I’m back fit after being out for a while.

“I just want to be in the team and contributing as much as I can towards scoring goals and getting the results we need.”

Roy’s return has been a gradual one, starting one match at Cove Rangers, but featuring from the substitutes bench in the other five matches.

Ally is hopeful that his goals will put him in the frame for a starting spot when league leaders Falkirk visit the Penny Cars Stadium on Tuesday evening.

“Every footballer wants to start games and play every minute possible, and I’m no different. Probably even more so because I was out for so long - I just want to get into the team, work hard and hopefully keep my place.”

“I think it will be a tight game as it always is when we play Falkirk, but we must treat it the same as every game from here until the end season - with the mindset of getting maximum points.

“Hopefully we can get what we’re looking for.”

Speaking after Thursday’s win at Dumbarton, manager Ian Murray said “Falkirk are a good side, they’re top of the league and have a massive squad but we’ve beaten them once already this season.

“If we show the same character, performance, workrate and attitude that we did tonight, we’ve got a chance of winning the game.”

Colin Steven is the referee for Tuesday’s crunch tie.

Fans can watch the match live on our DiamondsTV streaming service using the link below. Kick-off on Tuesday is at the earlier-than-usual time of 7:00pm.