First Team

MATCH PREVIEW | AIRDRIEONIANS (H)

31st August 2023

We welcome Championship new boys Airdrieonians to Tayside this Saturday, looking to extend our unbeaten run to six matches in all competitions.

Promotion Ecstasy 

After finishing third in League One last term, Airdrie navigated their way through the minefield of the promotion play-offs to reach the second tier of Scottish football for the first time in a decade.

The Diamonds ran riot in the Semi-Final against Falkirk, recording a remarkable 7-2 aggregate victory, then consigned Hamilton Academical to their second relegation in three years.

In the Final, the drama continued with English forward Gabby McGill popping up in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw at New Douglas Park and, after a tense period of extra-time, it would take a breathless shootout to decide who would claim the last remaining spot in this year's cinch Championship.

Airdrie held their nerve to convert all six spot-kicks - with former United kid Cammy Ballantyne tucking home the decisive penalty.

The ecstasy of promotion will no doubt heal the wounds opened by three successive play-off attempts without success.

Watch the highlights from the cinch Championship Promotion Play-Off Final below!

Transfer Window Breakdown

Airdrie moved quickly to bolster their frontline in the summer by securing the services of Nikolai Todorov following the expiry of his contract with Dunfermline Athletic.

The Bulgarian target man has turned out for an array of Scottish clubs across the pyramid, including Livingston, Cowdenbeath, Falkirk Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Queen of the South.

Todorov, off the back of an 11-goal, title-winning season with the Pars, has already found the back of the net twice in white and red during the Viaplay Cup Group Stage but missed the Diamonds' opening two league matches with a groin strain.

Airdrie also made a double loan swoop for two of Hibernian's budding youngsters. Highly-rated forward Josh O'Connor, son of Hibees cult hero Garry, arrives at the Excelsior Stadium having shown flashes of his ability with the first team last year, whilst Scotland U19 international Murray Aitken heads out on his first loan spell in senior football just two months after extending his contract in the capital.

Futhermore, midfielder Dean McMaster enjoyed a successful temporary stint with Aidrie's 2022/23 promotion-winning heroes and has returned to Lanarkshire on a permanent basis from St Mirren.

The headline departure saw wonderkid Justin Devenny join English Premier League outfit Crystal Palace for an undisclosed fee after being allowed to flourish in an attacking-minded Diamonds side.

Scintillating Start

Rhys McCabe's men were the only team in the entire competition to maintain a 100% record in the Viaplay Cup Group Stage, sweeping Dumbarton, Dundee, Inverness CT and Bonyrigg Rose aside in quick succession and finishing top of the pile with 12 points.

In the Last 16, Airdrie staged a sensational late fightback against Ross County to take the tie to extra-time but eventually succumbed to an Eamonn Brophy goal on 101 minutes - 4-3 the final score.

On league business, they were defeated on the opening day of the season by Dunfermline Athletic despite taking the lead, however, this is the only blot on their cinch Championship copybook so far this season.

Goals from McGill and Calum Gallagher downed Premiership hopefuls Partick Thistle at the Excelsior, whilst Airdrie defeated Inverness CT for the second time in five weeks on Matchday Three - Gallagher once again netting the winner.

Memorable Matchup 

The Fourth Round of the 2011/12 Scottish Cup pitted United against Airdrie, with the visitors running out 6-2 victors on a bitterly cold January afternoon in Lanarkshire.

Watch the highlights below! 

The industrious John Rankin opened the scoring with a neat finish from inside the area before his midfield partner Scott Robertson doubled the lead just three minutes before the interval.

After the restart, Johnny Russell would take centre-stage as the Academy graduate grabbed a 22-minute hat-trick, punctuated only by former Airdrie man Gary Mackay-Steven's emphatic angled finish.

Hosts' top scorer Ryan Donnelly had the last say of the 90, with two neat finishes twice in the dying embers but the result was beyond a foregone conclusion - United safely into the hat for the Round of 16.

Talking Tactics 

Under the youngest manager in the SPFL pyramid, Rhys McCabe, Airdrie are renowned for their entertaining and attacking-minded style of play, which encourages playing out from the back even if the press has been set. This risk-taking is justified given they possess the highest passing accuracy in the division.

They are adept at sustaining attacks by pushing their full-backs high and wide to pin their opposite numbers, whilst wingers O'Connor and Lewis McGregor invert into the half-spaces and create central overloads. 

'Number eights' Adam Frizell and McMaster are vital for ball progression in the 4-3-3 system, always looking to pick up positive pockets of space across the park to receive on the half-turn, leaving their opponents chasing shadows.

They are aided in the centre of the park by the metronomic Aiken, who keeps play ticking over from a deeper role.

Airdrie are just as dangerous out of possession as they are with the ball, with their mercurial wide men sprinting forward on the transition to support lone striker Gallagher.

Happy to commit bodies forward and go man-for-man at the back, this inevitably leaves them slightly susceptible to counter-attacks themselves, and their center-halves appear keen to lunge into tackles in and around their 18-yard box.

Glenn Middleton and Mathew Cudjoe could therefore be instrumental for United this Saturday, with their pace and dribbling ability key to exploiting space in behind on the turnover and drawing fouls when United have elongated possession in around a congested penalty area.  

In short, we can expect an open and expansive 90 minutes at Tannadice this Saturday, as both teams go blow for blow in search of maximum points.

One To Watch

As he enters his fifth season with the club, Calum Gallagher's goalscoring prowess has shown no signs of slowing down.

Gallagher spent a brief period of his youth career at Tannadice, before progressing through the ranks with Rangers. A somewhat nomadic few years followed - various loan spells with Alloa Athletic, East Stirlingshire and Cowdenbeath proving unsuccessful before Rangers cut ties in 2015.

After further two-season stints with St Mirren and Dumbarton respectively, Gallagher would finally find a home with Airdrie, scoring 14 goals in all competitions during his debut campaign with the Diamonds

He was a major driving force in the promotion push last term, bagging a sensational 22 goals in the league alone. This return was enough to see him gain individual recognition from his fellow pros as the best player in the third tier, scooping League One's Players' Player of the Year award.

So far, the 28-year-old has notched the winner against both Partick Thistle and Inverness CT, whilst also hitting a brace against Ross County in the Viaplay Cup Last 16.

Gallagher, who averages 3.6 shots per 90 minutes, can use his pace to stretch teams in a free-flowing Airdrie side by spinning in behind and or make himself an aerial threat in the area to attack crosses.

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