Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
MY DIAMONDS DESERVE SPOT
Fordyce: Play-offs would be‘unbelievable’
Airdrie player- assistant boss Callum Fordyce says wrapping up a play- off spot this weekend would prove the Diamonds doubters wrong and mark an “unbelievable achievement” for the club.
Saturday’s 2- 1 win over Dunfermline has put the Monklands men on the cusp of the Premiership play-offs in fourth spot and they know a point at Partick Thistle this weekend will make certain of their place in the end-of-season showdown, as they push for incredible back-toback promotions.
Airdrie are nine points clear of the Pars, their nearest rivals, and sit joint-third with Partick, so only a major collapse and big goal difference swing over the final three games can deny them.
And having won the Championship play- offs last season with a penalty shootout win over Hamilton Accies, Fordyce said: “If we can get that play-off spot secured it would be something that nobody – other than people within the club – really saw us doing. It would be an unbelievable achievement.
“Everybody wrote us off this season because we were the promoted side.
“We’ve come up into the
Championship and played a brand of football that some teams in Scotland don’t really play.
“We play open, expansive football and that is very rare to see sometimes up here.
“We’ve got this style that we want to play and implement in games. We’ve been doing that and reaping rewards for it, so we deserve to be where we are.”
Saturday’s victory over Pars – courtesy of first senior goals for Dean Mcmaster and Gavin Gallagher – made it four wins on the bounce and means Airdrie have lost once in the last 11 games.
Fordyce added: “It was a great win for the boys. We’ve been on a great run recently, that’s four on the bounce we’ve won now, and morale is high in the camp.
“We had a job to do at the start of the game to get the three points and we’ve done that, but we know the play-off is not secured yet.”
On the Partick clash, he said: “We know it will be a very tough game. They are a well-established side who were minutes away from getting into the Premiership last season.
“They have a great squad, good individuals and a good team spirit. We’ve had tough games against them this season so it will be a game where we make sure we are concentrating and put our gameplan into place.”