Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
FORWARD THINKING
Airdrie boss delighted with his new-found firepower
Stephen Findlay has backed Airdrie’s frontmen to fire his team to success this season and believes they are “as good as anyone in the league, if not better”.
The Diamonds have added some much-needed strength in depth to their attacking arsenal in the close season, with Leighton McIntosh, Darryl Duffy, Dale Carrick and Joao Victoria now competing for a starting spot at the Penny Cars Stadium as well as youngster Cammy Russell.
Airdrie have scored more than 20 goals in pre-season and boss Findlay believes the club now have enough firepower at the top end of the park which he admits they “didn’t have last season”.
He told the Advertiser: “We have really good options going forward.
“It’s healthy competition because if you’re not looking over your shoulder or playing for your place in the team then complacency can kick in.
“We’ve got different attributes in the striking positions – pace, power, presence and finishing.
“We didn’t really have that for the most part last season.
“Leighton is a natural finisher and his goals-per-minute on the park ratio was one of the best in the league last term.
“Darryl is another natural goalscorer who has proved what he can do over his whole career.
“Joao has great quality but is maybe better in a wider area going forward rather than centrally.
“His trickery is superb and he loves to go beyond defenders and also score goals.
“Dale is an instinctive player who makes great runs in good areas.
“He’s a very fit lad who is looking for some continuity and he can get that here.
“All of this gives Cammy Russell the chance to develop further and move to his natural wide position where his directness will hurt players.
“Competitive edge at the front of the park is huge and these lads are as good as anyone in the league, if not better.”
The first competitive opportunity Airdrie’s forward line have to get off the mark this season is against Livingston in the Betfred Cup this Saturday.
The new Scottish Premiership side travel to the Penny Cars Stadium in what Findlay says will be a chance for his side to “raise their standards”.
He continued: “Livingston will give us a very tough match but we’re looking forward to it.
“We want to challenge ourselves against better teams and that helps us raise our own standards.
“We need to be ambitious but realistic and that’s the message I’ve been giving the players.
“Saturday gives us another milestone to see where those ambitions are and we need to keep making progress.
“We’ve been playing around with shapes and the team’s strengths in pre-season and I believe we are stood in very good stead ahead of the campaign.”