Airdrie player/assistant boss Callum Fordyce says their strikers are flying going into the play-offs and hopes their form can help propel the club to the Championship at the third time of asking.
Young player of the year Gabby McGill bagged a brace and player of the year Calum Gallagher was also on target in between a strike for Diamonds debutant Corrie Fellowes in Saturday’s 4-1 win at FC Edinburgh.
And it was the perfect warm-up for them ahead of facing Falkirk in the Championship play-off semi-finals this week.
The Diamonds travelled to Scottish Cup semi-finalists Falkirk for the first leg last night as the Advertiser went to press, and they then welcome the Bairns to New Broomfield for the second leg on Saturday.
Gallagher has netted four times in his last four outings, while McGill has 11 goals in his last nine appearances so the pair go into the huge clashes on form.
Fordyce said: “It’s always good to get a win and score four goals before the play-offs.
“It is very important when your strikers are scoring goals.
“It is the hardest thing to do in football and that’s why strikers always get the plaudits.
“The two of them deserve all the credit.
“I’m very close with Gal and he has been excellent. Gabs last year had a couple of injuries that hampered him, so to get him a good run in the team this year and get some goals is great for him.
“The two of them are flying right now so hopefully that continues into the play-offs.
“It was good to see lots of boys who haven’t got as many minutes as they probably wanted this season out there playing against Edinburgh well.
“It gives the manager a headache now ahead of this week.”
The Diamonds are hoping to end their recent play-off hoodoo, having lost in the final in the last two seasons.
In 2020/21 it was Morton who ended their promotion dreams in the final and last term Queen’s Park, who finished 21 points behind Airdrie in the league, provided more misery with an extra-time defeat in the final.
Fordyce, though, says that pain can drive them on to do the job this time.
He said: “We’ve had a couple of sore ones after losing to Queen’s Park last season and Morton the season before.
“But that’s the fuel we can thrive on to try and get into the Championship.
“Last season hurt that wee bit more because of how far in front of Queen’s Park we were when the league finished.
“It was a sickening blow and it took a wee while to recover from it, to be honest.
“Did we deserve to go up last season? Probably. But in the play-offs I didn’t think we were that great and Queen’s Park probably did more over the two games than we did.
“It was a bitter blow but this year we’ve got a really good chance and that’s all we can ask for.”
Alloa Athletic, who finished fourth in League One, and Hamilton Accies, who were ninth in the Championship, make up the other two sides in the play-offs.
The winners of their clash will await Airdrie in the final next week, if the Diamonds can come through the test from Falkirk.
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
