Craig Ross knows that Clyde will be no pushovers as the Diamonds attempt to kickstart their Premier Sports Cup campaign against the Bully Wee on Tuesday evening.

Sporting a black eye alongside the captain’s armband, defender Ross defied the odds to line-up against Dundee in Saturday’s season opener after sustaining a bad facial injury in a midweek training accident.

A strong captain’s performance from the 23-year-old was one of many encouraging signs from the Diamonds, but the home side showed their Premiership class to secure a 4-2 victory despite twice going behind.

Speaking after the match, Ross explained that Tuesday’s fixture at New Douglas Park is exactly what the doctor ordered.

“Obviously pre-season’s tough and you want to get into the competitive matches, so getting games back-to-back is good.

“It’s started now and you just want the games to keep coming at you. All the boys are looking forward to it.”

Having joined Airdrie from Stranraer last summer, Ross has plenty of experience against Darren Young’s side – and warns that the Diamonds will be in for another tough test.

“They’ll be strong. Obviously I’ve played against loads of Clyde teams before, and while their squad will have changed a bit, I still expect them to be good.

“They’ll be strong and physical, and they’ll get balls into our box and cause a challenge for us. We’ll have to stand up to that and be ready for it.”

And although Airdrie are going from Premiership opposition to a side plying their trade in League 2, Ross reiterates that nothing but the highest standards will be acceptable.

“We can’t just go into the game thinking it’s going to be easy because it’s a team from a lower level.

“We’ve got to treat it like we treated today. If we do that we’ve got a chance, but we still need to fine-tune a few things defensively as well as going forward. Hopefully that can start to come together.”

There were plenty of positive signs in the Dens defeat on Saturday, including a strong sense of togetherness as the new-look Diamonds squad battled for each other.

Craig calls for more of that as he and his team-mates look to pick up their first Group D points.

“It’s basically a whole new team, so we’re still getting used to partnerships and how everyone wants to play.

“Everyone needs to stay on the same page, as I say fine-tune those wee details, and I think we’ll be alright.”

Also speaking after the Dundee match, head coach John Rankin was looking forward to facing the club where he finished his playing career.

“They’ll have an element of freshness to them, and they’ll obviously have seen us playing today, but that’s fine.

“We’ll be in tomorrow for recovery, train again on Monday and be ready for the game on Tuesday. We’ll be ready to roll our sleeves up.”

While midfielder Cole McKinnon remains sidelined for the Diamonds, defenders Dylan MacDonald, Adam Devine and Mason Chisholm continue to be monitored.

Striker Liam McLeish will be hoping to shake off the illness which ruled him out of Saturday’s squad, while the club still await international clearance for midfielder AJ Bridge.

Referee Euan Birch takes charge of a match involving Airdrie for the first time.

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.