September 16, 2022
Airdrieonians vs Clyde
Calum Gallagher says Airdrie need to show their desire against Clyde on Saturday - and prove that the disastrous last result was a one-off.
The Diamonds welcome Danny Lennon’s side to the Excelsior after last weekend’s matches were postponed, and the squad are aiming to right a few wrongs after their 6-0 loss to FC Edinburgh a week earlier.
Striker Gallagher shared the pain of that defeat with the rest of the squad, but the frontman has had some personal reasons to celebrate recently, turning 28 this week after picking up the cinch Player of the Month award for August.
“It’s nice to know I can still win awards at my old age! I was very pleased to win the August Player of the Month award, but again with any of these personal awards it just represents how good the team has been over the month.
“We’ve had a good month - a wee hiccup obviously a couple of weeks ago, that we’ll look to put right in the coming weeks.”
Airdrie had hoped for an early chance to make up for the defeat with a trip to Montrose last weekend - but with all professional football put on hold, it was back to some hard hours on the training pitch for the Diamonds.
“It was difficult, we were all still hurting last week, but we came in and we actually had a great week’s training.
“We built on things that had gone wrong the week before. In terms of it being out of sight, out of mind, we’re maybe not quite there - but I think that we’ve worked on the right things to rectify it.”
With four goals and a league award to his name already, it’s been a strong start to the season for Gallagher, but the vice-captain has found himself coming off the bench in recent weeks.
With manager Rhys McCabe having a number of options in the forward positions, Gallagher is unfazed by the rotation in the striking department - but hopes to push for a start when the Bully Wee visit.
“The manager and Dycey have got it so right this year in terms of quality over quantity. Every single member of the squad is more than capable of a starting place.
“The competition for places just now is really fierce, so I’m hopeful that I can go in this week and train well and be in with a good shout of starting on Saturday.”
Clyde have also started the season relatively well, opening their campaign with a stunning 4-1 win away to Queen of the South.
Former Diamonds striker Jordan Allan is among a number of players catching the eye early in the season, and with the New Douglas Park tenants proving problematic for Airdrie at crucial times last year, Calum says they must be respected.
“They’re a very well-drilled and well-organised side, and they’ve started ever so well this year.
“We’re very aware of the quality that they can bring and how difficult the task will be, but we need to approach every game with a real hunger to go and grab three points.”
Manager Rhys McCabe also praised the doggedness installed by Airdrie’s former interim boss Danny Lennon, and says the Diamonds will have to be at their best.
“We know what kind of performance we’re going to get from Danny’s team, it’s evident they’re hard to break down and they seem to grind out results sometimes when they’re not at their free-flowing best.
“We’ve got to make sure that we concentrate on ourselves, bring our A-game and look to rectify the FC Edinburgh result.
“We’ve got the home advantage, so it’s a game where we’ll be looking to be on the front foot.”
The Diamonds boss is still without Josh Rae, confirming that the goalkeeper faces an operation on his shoulder. Cammy Ballantyne remains suspended after last week’s postponement, while new signing Charlie Telfer joins the squad.
Referee Gavin Duncan is in charge of the Excelsior clash. Match ticket information is available using the link below, and our DTVLive stream will be available to subscribers outside the UK and Ireland.
VS
Saturday September 17, 2022
3:00pm
Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie
Referee
Gavin Duncan
Assistants
Scott Anderson, Chris Hobbs