Airdrie can secure automatic survival with a win over Greenock Morton on Friday night, and Jamie Barjonas says the Diamonds must play their game and not get caught up in the occasion.

Only three points separate the bottom three heading into the final round of fixtures, and while Ross County travel to Kirkcaldy to take on Raith Rovers, Airdrie will be looking for a Cappielow win to render the Staggies’ result irrelevant.

Midfielder Barjonas has only featured in all but two matches across all competitions for the Diamonds this season, and the midfielder insists that he and his team-mates are ready for the challenge.

“It’s a big game, an exciting game. It’s almost like a do-or-die game, to be honest.

“Obviously the other game is out of our hands, so we just need to go and focus on getting three points and winning this game – because we know what that does for us.

“We’re in the right mindset, we’re ready to tackle whatever comes our way. We’re looking forward to it as a team.”

Morton, managed by ex-Diamonds boss Ian Murray following Dougie Imrie’s departure to Stark’s Park in November, have seen a poor run of form land them in the relegation dogfight, and it’s a winner-takes-all occasion on Friday with the victors guaranteed to avoid the bottom two positions.

Such circumstances will no doubt lead to a tense affair, but Barjonas calls for his side to concentrate on playing the football which has put them in with a fighting chance.

“There’s a lot of different factors in a game like this. There’s a lot of pressure on both sides. I think a lot of it is down to who handles the occasion best.

“It’s a game where we still need to go out and do what we’re good at, and do what we work on with the manager day in day out. It is a massive game and there is a lot of pressure on it, but it is just another game at the end of the day – we need to go out, perform well, battle, we need to tackle, we need to fight.

“We’re looking forward to it and hopefully we can get the win we need.”

While it may have largely been a campaign to forget for the Diamonds faithful, many of the season’s highlights have come on the road, in the shape of impressive wins at the likes of Ross County, Raith Rovers and Dunfermline Athletic.

Airdrie were also victorious in the season’s other meeting at Cappielow, Sean McGinty’s header separating the sides on a dreich December afternoon.

It was a win apiece at the Albert Bartlett, Tomi Adeloye and Euan Henderson trading goals in October before Jackson Longridge grabbed a late winner. Charlie McArthur added to Dom Thomas’s double to hand the Diamonds a 3-1 win in February, with Michael Garrity scoring for the visitors before Cammy Ballantyne and Curtis Main were sent off.

Barjonas says the Ton will be hurting after spending the majority of the season in a secure mid-table position.

“It’s a tough situation for them as well, they have slipped into this – they probably didn’t have being here in their mind four or five weeks ago.

“It’ll be a tough occasion for them just as it is for us, but at the end of the day it’s two sides going for one game, and there’s so much on the line for both clubs. It’s 90 minutes where two teams will be going at it knowing that a win secures them safety.”

And as Jamie looks forward to what will be a family affair for him with his Airdrie-supporting relatives among the visiting support, he calls for the fans to roar the team to what would be an incredible end to the season.

“Come in your numbers and try to stick with us as long as possible. If you look at Saturday we went 1-0 down and went in at half-time in a bit of a bad spell, but we came out second half and you see that we’re fighting for each other. We end up winning that game, and a lot of that is down to the fans cheering us on.

“My mum’s obviously an Airdrie fan, and my uncle. My mum has come to every single game, and having her there on Friday with my fiancee – if we were able to get the result it would obviously mean a lot to me and everyone there.

“We’ll definitely be trying as hard as we can to do that.”

Head coach Aaron Taylor-Sinclair could hardly ask for a more thrilling end to his first season in management, and the Diamonds gaffer can’t wait to lead his side to Greenock.

“It’s exciting times. We know what we need to do – there’s no ‘if this happens, this happens’, we need to go and win the game. I thought on Saturday there was a lot of character shown to come back after half-time and win the game to put this down to the last one.

“It’s always been tough going down there, regardless of what their form is. You always get a tough game. They’ll obviously be disappointed with how the last few weeks have gone for them, but they’re still a team of solid Championship players and loads of threats in the wide areas.

“It’s a shoot-out now, us versus them, and we’re all excited. We’re all ready to take the game to them, and hopefully we’ll come out on top.”

After beating Ayr United with a heavily-depleted squad last weekend, the Airdrie boss was pleased to see Aidan Wilson, Dylan MacDonald and Euan Henderson return to high-intensity training ahead of Friday’s match.

Adam Devine, Dean McMaster, Alex King, Jake Hastie and Aaron Reid are still unlikely to feature.

Nick Walsh is the man in the middle for the crunch Cappielow clash. The referee’s only other match involving Airdrie this season was last month’s 1-0 away defeat to Queen’s Park.

Match tickets are available using the link below, and our DiamondsTV video (subscribers outwith the UK and Ireland) and audio (pay-per-match worldwide) streams are available.

Please note all Airdrie supporters will use the facilities in Cappielow’s Wee Dublin End, there will be no access to the main stand facilities. The catering van at the away end operates on a cash-only basis.