Aidan Wilson hopes to bring the New Year cheer to the Albert Bartlett Stadium as Airdrie begin life under the official guidance of Aaron Taylor-Sinclair with a home tie against Raith Rovers.

Taylor-Sinclair was announced as the club’s new head coach on New Year’s Day following a nine-week spell as caretaker manager which was rounded off with a dramatic 1-1 draw at Arbroath last Saturday.

Wilson made his first start of the month at Gayfield after being sidelined by illness, putting in a typically impressive performance at the heart of the defence.

The club captain, who turns 27 today, was pleased to rescue a draw against the high-flying Red Lichties.

“They’ve not been beaten a lot up there, have they? So a decent point in the end. They have a chance to go 2-0 up and then we actually could win it in the end, so a point’s probably a fair result.

“It’s obviously not a defeat, it’s an extra point gained. You might look back on that in a few months time and say it’s probably a good point.”

And while he was performing his usual defensive heroics at one end, Wilson almost stole the show at the end with an overhead kick which would surely have sewn up the Goal of the Season award – but for a fingertip save from Aidan McAdams.

The resultant corner led to Airdrie’s equaliser, but Wilson was bemused by his own acrobatic attempt.

“That’s my big mate in goals as well, I played with him at Rangers. It’s a good save.

“I don’t what I was really thinking, but it was a decent effort and a good save!”

Following a month of good performances on the road, Airdrie kick off 2026 with a home tie against Raith Rovers, who have had a change of management since the last meeting of the clubs.

Barry Robson, who was in charge for both the 0-0 draw in Airdrie in September and November’s 3-0 home defeat at the hands of the dazzling Diamonds, was relieved of his duties shortly after the Stark’s Park drubbing.

Former Morton manager Dougie Imrie took over, and has improved the Rovers’ overall record after an inconsistent start to the season.

Wilson believes the new boss will mean the Kirkcaldy men are a different proposition.

“Managers have all got ways of playing the game and ways they want to coach, so I’m sure they’ll be different. Looking at Morton before Dougie left they tried to start playing and I think he’ll probably do something similar with Raith.

“Again it is all about us, but we’ve got to respect them – they’ve got a lot of good players and a good manager now, so we’ve got to give them the respect they deserve, but we’ve got to go and try to get the three points.”

And Airdrie, whose recent record against Raith is excellent, will be looking to continue that as they try to reflect December’s unbeaten away form at home.

Aidan is looking forward to getting started under the official leadership of the club’s new head coach.

“Sinky’s really detailed on what we do Monday to Friday, and I think it’s just trying to get what we work on onto the pitch as much as we can.

“It was really disappointing against Queen’s Park the last time we played at home – we’ll be looking to put that right on Saturday and go and try to start the new year off with a win.”

And Taylor-Sinclair, speaking before his appointment was finalised, is looking for his side to adapt in the face of another tricky encounter.

“Dougie’s gone in there and turned it around. They’re keeping a lot of clean sheets, and we know what his Morton teams were like so it’ll be another tough test for us.

“They’re tighter at the back and they’ve probably shown a lot more intensity in their play in the last few games. They’ll be disappointed with the result last week and looking to bounce back – but we’ll be trying to stop that.

“We need to just focus on ourselves. Slight tweaks for us – our away form has been brilliant, so we’re trying to take that and implement it when we play at home.”

The Diamonds boss confirmed that goalkeeper Cade Melrose could miss up to six weeks with a sprained ankle sustained at Gayfield.

Rhys Armstrong, who missed last weekend’s match after picking up a training ground muscle strain, remains sidelined – as do midfielder Alex King (groin) and striker Aaron Reid (knee).


Peter Stuart is in charge of his first match featuring the Diamonds this season. The referee oversaw three Airdrie matches last season, including February’s 1-0 home win over Raith.

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