Josh Kerr made his Airdrie comeback at Broadwood in midweek, and the defender is firmly focused on a successful future as the Diamonds gear up to face Queen’s Park.

After a lengthy spell out with a calf injury, 23-year-old Kerr has made brief substitute appearances in recent weeks, but put in an impressive performance in Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Clyde, his first 90 minutes since October.

As the squad prepared for a second successive Saturday at Firhill, the former Celtic and Brighton man explained the nature of his absence.

“It’s been a long time. Looking back it’s just touching three months, maybe just a wee bit over.

“With a tendonitis injury, a lot of it is rest. You’re obviously trying to get your calf going a bit more, but generally it’s resting, icing, going over with the physios.”

Airdrie were left disappointed on Tuesday evening, leaving Cumbernauld with just a point after controlling the majority of the game.

Kerr was pleased to play the whole match, but frustrated with the result.

“I think everyone’s spoken about it and said the same thing, we totally dominated the game and I think on another day you’d probably score five or six.

“If we’re battering teams like that we’ve got to come out with the three points. It’s frustrating, but I think the gaffer said in his interview that sometimes it’s good to reset, and I’d probably agree with that.”

The Diamonds have the chance to pick themselves up with three successive fixtures against the other sides in the top four, Queen’s Park, Cove Rangers and Montrose.

In a run of fixtures that could have huge implications in the title race, Kerr has his eye on maximum points.

“If we’ve got any aspirations, these are the type of games you want to be coming out with three wins out of three.

“We need to put a good run together, it’s come to that crunch time. If we can put a good ten or eleven games together, you never know. We can be right up there.”

That run kicks off at Firhill on Saturday as the Diamonds face Queen’s Park. The Spiders were the early pace-setters in cinch League 1, but a difficult spell has seen them drop to fourth in the table.

The sides have already met twice on league duty and twice in the early-season cup competitions. All but one of the meetings has ended in a draw after 90 minutes, with Airdrie taking the spoils in last month’s League 1 clash.

Josh says the Diamonds have to concentrate on their own performance as they take on the ambitious Glasgow side.

“They’ve had a lot of expectation, although they probably didn’t want that expectation, with the amount of money they spend and they’re trying to become the big club.

“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves. We can only really control our controllables, so we’ll just look after ourselves.

“We went toe-to-toe with a good Championship team last week, so we go into it full of confidence.”

Manager Ian Murray expects another tight encounter.

“Every game this season between the two sides has been fiercely contested, very very close.

“We go there in decent confidence - a little bump in the road on Tuesday night, but performance-wise it was very good.”

The Diamonds boss is pleased that his selection troubles are easing with the addition of new signings Kyle MacDonald and Brody Paterson, and Gabby McGill back in light training. Fellow striker Salim Kouider-Aïssa and defender Luke Lyons remain sidelined.

Referee Dan McFarlane is in charge of the Firhill fixture, his first Airdrie match of the season.

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