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COVID BLOW FOR AIRDRIE
Virus strikes Diamonds squad once again
Ian Murray says his Airdrie squad are coping okay with a Covid outbreak at the club - and a late call on the situation forced them to postpone Saturday’s League One match with Queen’s Park.
Members of the Diamonds team tested positive for the virus, leading to the entire squad getting PCR tested.
Isolation rules on the tests meant that there was too narrow a window to get the game on safely.
When this game will be rescheduled is unknown but Murray says there aren’t many players who have caught the virus.
But they had to err on the side of caution amid a rise in cases from the Omicron variant.
Murray, whose side were also hit by Covid postponements in August when they reported five positive tests, said: “We are alright. We had to get our PCR tests and the issue for the game was the time span, more than anything.
“We need to get those tests done with the new guidelines. Getting them done and getting them back was our biggest concern. There’s nothing we can do. We have to follow guidelines. It hit us so late in the week.
“There wasn’t much we could have done. I can’t say too much about the players who tested positive because it was a lastminute kind of thing. There weren’t many who tested positive.
“We played that game at Montrose on the Tuesday and trained on the Wednesday and Thursday. Our plan was to train Friday but once we got that news on early Friday morning, we had to change our plans completely.
“We had to keep on the side of caution. We couldn’t get the boys back in after that and it was too tight a timescale to bring anyone back without putting people in potential danger.
“That’s not just for ourselves, but for Queen’s Park as well. We need to think about their officials and backroom staff too.
“This past week is a wake-up call for everyone to see where this virus is heading, not just in our squad, but across the nation.”
Airdrie are due to face Lanarkshire rivals Clyde this Saturday and Murray is hopeful the game will be on.
He added: “I would like to think we will be preparing as normal for this one.
“Certainly that’s what we are doing in our heads.
“We expect to play football this Saturday, but we expected to play football last Saturday too. Things can change so quickly right now.”