Cammy: Cup lift driving our play-off bid
Cammy Ballantyne and his airdrie team-mates ended last week as shock Saudi heroes – now they aim to finish this one by stunning Somerset.
Fourth-placed Diamonds head to ayr seeking to bolster their play-off bid with a first win over them this season, having lost all three head-to-heads.
This time, Rhys McCabe’s boys travel with the confidence boost of Challenge Cup success last Sunday after snapping the new Saints’ winning run at 26 games.
Cue some gloating from al-Hilal fans in their back and forth with the Welsh club over Guinness World Record status.
Defender Ballantyne said: “I didn’t even know that until the monday looking back at all the posts – it was more their fans than ours celebrating, I think!
“I was coaching at the stadium on tuesday, so the kids were buzzing. I managed to nick the trophy for them to get photos. there is a buzz about the place, we are going in the right direction. But now we have a right chance to try to sneak into the play-offs, so that is the next focus.
“ayr have had our number all season so we want to try to turn that around. We don’t want to be going four for four.”
United could miss a string of first-team stars but Scott Brown insists their injury crisis is no excuse for a drop in standards.
Boss Brown said: “this is when other lads have the opportunity to step in. It doesn’t matter who’s on the park – we need to be showing more composure as a team.
“Individual errors are killing us and we need to cut that out before we talk about anything else.
“We need to be picking up points at home. airdrie are a good side and will come here on a high, so we need to put our stamp on the game and take it to them.”