Airdrieonians made it an incredible 25 games unbeaten in League One on Saturday – but striker Callum Smith says the impressive feat is no surprise to him.
The Diamonds fought back to draw 1-1 at Dunfermline and it means they have not lost in the third tier since December 7 last year, when they were beaten 2-1 away to Montrose.
They did lose to Queen’s Park in their final game of last season, but that came in extra-time of the Championship play-off final.
Their League One run is even more remarkable considering it spans both Ian Murray and now Rhys McCabe’s stewardship of the club.
But Smith says the Diamonds have put such high demands on themselves under both bosses that continuing to stay undefeated in League One is what they expect.
He told Lanarkshire Live Sport : “It’s a great run but it comes from all the hard work that we put in.
“We are constantly working on the training pitch to get better and I think it is showing.
“Every game we play, we are moving the ball about very well and it’s a good group of boys who all work hard for each other.
“So I don’t think it’s a surprise to us that we’ve gone that many games unbeaten. I think we just expect to go and win games now – that’s the standard that we’ve put on ourselves.
“I remember the Montrose game, getting beat up there, but it is always a tough place to go.
“To not have lost a league game since then is a great achievement.
“Rhys has done brilliantly since he came in. All the players have taken to him and hopefully this run continues.
“At the weekend there, it was a hard game and to come away from Dunfermline with a result was good for us.”
The next challenge for Airdrie is to see off FC Edinburgh, who defeated the Diamonds on penalties in the League Cup group stages after a 1-1 draw in July.
And ahead of tomorrow’s clash at New Broomfield, Smith reckons they will really put the league leaders’ record to the test.
He added: “We played Edinburgh in the cup and they were a good, organised team.
“We did create a lot of chances and we probably should have won it with the amount we did create. But they are well organised and we know we’ll need to work hard to break them down.
“We’re still top of the table and we want to stay there now.”
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