Josh Rae says Airdrie are up for the fight ahead of Tuesday’s rearranged fixture at Dunfermline Athletic.

The Diamonds travel to East End Park seeking their first positive result over the Pars this season after the original tie was postponed in January following an undersoil heating fault, and will be looking to make it three matches unbeaten after a brilliant win over Dundee United last Tuesday, and Saturday’s 1-1 tie with Queen’s Park.

Goalkeeper Josh says a draw was probably the fair result after an even match at the weekend.

“I think we had a good few chances, but I’d say they had quite a few on the break as well.

“I thought we controlled most of the game, we just lost a slack goal at the start - but when you’re going in 1-0 down at half-time you need to aim not to get beat, and every point matters.”

The Diamonds now face another quick turnaround as they face Dunfermline Athletic for the third time this season.

James McPake’s side have the upper hand so far, winning both previous ties by a 2-1 scoreline.

Craig Watson gave Airdrie the lead on the opening day of the league season, but Airdrie were left rueing the denial of a stonewall penalty as Ewan Otoo and Paul Allan turned things around for the Pars.

In December’s return fixture at the Excelsior, ex-Diamond Josh Edwards opened the scoring before Matty Todd added a second, with Calum Gallagher’s stoppage-time spot-kick proving to be just a consolation.

January’s tie was subject to a late call-off after a heating issue left the East End Park pitch flooded, and now the sides go again - with Dunfermline’s previously depleted squad nearing full-health and having added a number of fresh faces in January.

That has seen a turnaround in the Pars’ form, with recent wins over Ayr United and Partick Thistle coming as part of a four-match unbeaten run, but Rae says Airdrie have shown they’re capable of a positive result against anyone in the division.

“Dunfermline were struggling for a bit, but they’ve won the last two so they’ll be full of confidence - but so are we.

“We know what we’re up against, and we know what we can do. We just need to play our own game and we’ll be fine.”

A win would see sixth-placed Airdrie go above fifth-placed Dunfermline in the table with the sides currently tied on 32 points, with the Diamonds having played one game fewer.

As the middle of the cinch Championship table becomes more congested than ever, Josh wants Airdrie to make their extra matches count.

“We’ve got two games in hand on a lot of teams, but we need to go and get points out of them. The boys will be putting in 100% to come out the end of the week in a positive position.

“We don’t focus on anyone else, if we take care of our business it doesn’t really matter what anyone else does.

“If we keep picking up wins and points, we’ll be fine come the end of the season.”

Speaking after Saturday’s draw with Queen’s Park, player-manager Rhys McCabe said: “We’ve notoriously had really, really tough battles against Dunfermline.

“We’ll be under no illusion that we go there and regardless of prior results, it’s going to be a tough game.

“We’ve got to make sure that we recover well - that’s my focus, making sure that the boys get back to the training pitch and do all their recovery, giving themselves the best possible chance to perform come Tuesday.”

Midfielders Murray Aiken and Lewis McGregor continue to miss out with ankle injuries, and McCabe himself will be hoping to be fit after dropping out of Saturday’s line-up with a hamstring knock.

Referee Duncan Williams is in charge of his first Airdrie match this season.

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