Adam Frizzell is glad to be back after a long spell on the sidelines - and wants the Diamonds to continue their momentum against first-footers FC Edinburgh.

Influential midfielder Frizzell missed nine games with an ankle injury before making a welcome comeback from the bench against Falkirk recently.

The 24-year-old followed that up by playing the full match against Montrose last Friday night, and helping Airdrie to a fantastic 4-2 win at Links Park.

Returning to training after a well-earned Christmas break, Frizzell was delighted to be back in the thick of the action.

“That’s what I needed, 90 minutes - and I thought we were brilliant, to be fair.

“It’s a really hard place to go, so we were delighted we went up and dominated. It’s a brilliant three points.”

The result rounded off 2022 nicely for the Diamonds, who have recaptured their promising early-season form after a sticky spell across September and October.

With the postponed match against Dunfermline Athletic yet to be rescheduled, Airdrie are starting the second half of the season - and the new year - in a top-half position.

Unbeaten in six, Diamonds fans will look to a strong second half of last season which saw the side narrowly miss out on promotion - but Frizzell doesn’t expect that astounding run to be matched by anyone.

“I think personally the league is harder this year, so I don’t think you’ll see a team putting that run together.

“Consistency is definitely key. I think every game this year we’ve showed glimpses of what we can do.

“We just had a wee rough spell, but as I say we’re six unbeaten now so we’ll look to build on it.”

That begins with a tricky tie against FC Edinburgh, who sit second in the table with Airdrie having failed to beat them in five previous meetings.

Alan Maybury’s men put an end to the Diamonds’ unbeaten start back in September with a 6-0 win at the Excelsior.

The capital side compounded Airdrie’s misery in October, winning 3-1 at Meadowbank Stadium.

Frizzell missed that one, but says the 6-0 scoreline in the first meeting didn’t reflect the play.

“The 6-0 you probably could say it was a freak one, but they’ve kicked on and they’re flying.

“We’ve not beaten them yet, but I thought barring Cammy’s red card we were playing well against them - so we’ll look to do that again.”

With a successful season so far putting the Citizens in a strong position, Adam expects an interesting match-up when they take on an Airdrie side who are performing well.

“They’ve got plenty of experience through the side, so we know what to expect from them.

“We’re six unbeaten now, so we’re building up a wee bit of steam and we’ll look to continue that.”

Player-manager Rhys McCabe also believes that momentum could be the key to success for his side.

“We know what Edinburgh are. They’re well organised, they have quality that if you’re not on it on the day, they can hurt you.

“A lot of people will be surprised with them coming up to be where they are in the league, but you can’t really fault them. They’ve put on good performances and they’ve got good individuals all over the pitch.

“We’re now on a little bit of a good run in terms of momentum, we’re hopefully going to keep building on that. If we can get the right additions in in January, there’s no reason why we can’t go and have a real push in the second half of the season.”

The Diamonds boss has added defender Jay Riley to his squad, and reports no injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s match.

Referee Calum Scott takes charge of his first Airdrie game this season.

Match tickets and live streaming details are available via the link below.