AndyDD

Airdrieonians 3-1 Partick Thistle Ayr 1-1 ICT Dundee Utd 3-1 Dunfermline Queens Park 2-0 Arbroath Raith Rovers 2-1 Greenock Morton

Friday - 7.45pm Arbroath 0-1 Dundee United Saturday 3.00pm Dunfermline 0-1 Airdrieonians Morton 1-1 Ayr United Inverness CT 2-2 Queens Park Partick Thistle 1-3 Raith Rovers

Yeah, could well be that's what he meant, hard to tell. Whatever it took to get Frizz back, I'm definitely delighted we did it. An outstanding bit of work to retain him.

I know it has hardly been the longest summer ever, (especially since I was out in Oslo last month ripping the backside out it) but I'm really looking forward to the league cup getting started and the competitive stuff kicking off. Massively excited for the season.

I'm assuming he's comparing the three teams who have joined the league with the three teams who left it, so he's arguing Dundee United are bigger than Dundee, Dunfermline bigger than Cove and us bigger than Hamilton. That those three clubs are bigger draws and tougher competition for players than Dundee, Accies and Cove were respectively. I think that's what he's trying to say, rather than saying Morton cannot hope to compete financially with Airdrie. I don't know enough about the relative comparable finances to know if he's right, mind you. I suppose we're central belt, so might be more tempting to central belt based players than Cove were? Who knows. Maybe he's just talking nonsense.

Flying out on Thursday, cannae wait. I'm only one of our group who got a ticket for the away end. Tough titties for them. If we were in the position Norway are in, we'd be looking at this as a must win. I don't think they have much of a realistic chance of making up the 5 points, should they fail to do so. They'd have to, what, win at Hampden and rely on us dropping a clanger somewhere between now and then? (I know, I know) Alternatively, they'd have to match our home win versus Spain, I guess? But I'm expecting Spain won't drop points to anyone else.

I'm still on the ceiling after that on Saturday. Outstanding. A monumental result and experience. I'm never going to get tired of watching that shoot-out. Never ever.

Be a shame to lose any of this squad on purely sentimental reasons, but given how good Gabby has been for us, given especially how much he has come on this year and how young he is, how much further development is likely ahead of him and how big a role he has played in getting us promoted, it's be especially sore. He's a cracking guy, and maybe he just wants to go back down the road, which you can't really grudge him. Be gutting, but if he does move on, it'll be as a firmly cemented hero.

All the more reason to get in early

I thought Hamilton did a pretty decent job on us first half, seemed to be right on our touch and closed down a lot of space in the midfield. No surprise that we looked a fair bit better in the second when that died off a bit and more space opened up. Shame we couldn't engineer a second. Smith's goal was a moment of quality in an otherwise fairly typical playoff final; tight, nervy, cagey stuff. Tends to be more open in the second leg. We'll miss Watson but having scored by my count 98 goals across league, cups and playoffs thus far, I do fancy us to score again tomorrow. Hamilton will need to be a lot more dangerous going forward you'd imagine, especially if we do score.

There's a big free car park a mere stones throw from the stadium.

Cammy B moving to right back will hopefully mean he does a job on Connor Smith, who looks their real danger. They certainly seemed much less dangerous down the other side, so Cammy going over ought not to be a disaster. I'd be for the least disruption possible, myself, so would just put Euan D to left back. There's no perfect solution, no option that doesn't have cons, because we now cant play our first choice back four, but hey ho. Minimal disruption to a defence that has been doing well, Cammy Ballantyne on the right up against their key danger man and Euan D is capable of good games, he's done a job there in many games this season. Not ideal as he hasn't played much of late, but like I said, there is no ideal solution. 2 wins out of 2 in Hamilton this season, so hopefully we keep that going. Get out and at them early. Get a goal and that could do it. By my count, we're now on 98 goals over the league, cups and playoffs. Sensational. Would be amazing to get to the hunner

Few teams do playoff heartbreak like Airdrie, if we're having a wee competition here. Lost the final six times and semi finals twice in 17 years, I believe was the tally wee totted up in our thread the other day. 9th time's the charm?

Hahaha aye definitely, and likewise, if they thought 'well we produced an insane comeback in the semi last time so we can give away any lead we like and be fine' or 'we dicked Alloa about twice at home so we will definitely skoosh them no bother if we play them' I'd be ragin anawl! You want them believing in their ability and their game-plan, you want them confident, but you don't want them complacent. And aye, so long as they have their minds right, we can sit in the stand feeling the entire smorgasbord of emotions as we go through the existential terror that is Airdrie in the playoffs.

Haha, we can all be prone to being incredibly fickle as football supporters, it's part and parcel to be fair. See it at all levels and I've been guilty of it myself. We all have. Sometimes online it's tongue in cheek and self-aware. Other times... Not so much.

Aye, that sounds like facebook. Can get a bit silly. Twitter too. Certainly haven't seen any of that kind of patter on here, though. Ultimately, suppose us supporters can be as cocksure or doom-mongering as we like; it won't matter. The mindset of the players and staff will be what matters. I don't think they'll walk into these games thinking they'll be a gimmie. I also don't think they'll walk into them thinking 'well Airdrie have a shite playoff record dating back to 1997 so we're definitely on to plums again here'.

I'm certainly not seeing anyone displaying any uber confidence in any of their posts here, though? If anyone has said we will definitely dispatch any potential opponent with considerable comfort, I must have missed those posts.

Cove will be in a totally different mental place than they were for the run-in last season, granted, but those players that having been toiling this year in the division above were more than solid enough to keep us and everyone else at bay last year, so I wouldn't count them out entirely. Fyvie the big loss as we've discussed before, he was the difference maker in the two visits to our place last season, plus the confidence levels and mentality will be entirely different, but the solidity that kept Dundee from scoring could well be enough to keep out any of ourselves, Alloa or Falkirk. Far from inconceivable that Cove could survive a playoff purely on the basis of reproducing the sort of robustness that has saw them concede only 3 in their last 4 games. Winning in Arbroath and getting a shut out at Dens in very high profile games is no bad going. Those last two games have even given you an arithmetic chance of avoiding the playoffs entirely, as you say. If I was betting on it, I'd have both Hamilton and Cove to lose on Friday, but your division is so bonkers this year that I've given up trying to make any presumptions about what will happen. The prospect of relegating Cove in a showdown would give me a strong Kevin Keegan feeling, I can't lie, but despite how close the playoffs now are, it's still too early to know their exact make-up.

Don't get me wrong, we're just as capable of losing to falkirk as we are of beating them, the league games show that. A win each and two draws. Alloa, we fared better against, and looked miles better than them at home, but it would not be some stunning upset for them to beat us either. All three sides will look at it as a very decent chance, at least, of going up. The team in the division above, harder to gauge. We'll need our best players to be available, we'll need the front three to click, but we've definitely got it in us. I don't buy into history and patterns when it comes to football at all, personally; we're pattern seeking animals and ignore cases when the pattern isn't replicated. This side failed to get through the playoffs last year, but all the previous playoff failures have nothing to do with them (okay, I'll grant you Gal and Dycey who were with us for the Morton defeat, too). I'm actually of the mind that last season will prove helpful, rather than harmful, but that's possibly the wish being the father of the thought. Either way, it's highly unlikely to be dull.

No injuries incurred, rest for some key players, and a chance to knock off some rust on players who we might end up needing to call upon in the playoff campaign. So long as we can say the same on Saturday evening, fine and dandy. Go into our first game a week today with a full squad, we've more than a fighting chance to pull it off. We know that, if we hit form, we can get the better of Alloa and Falkirk. I reckon we have it within us to overcome whomever finishes 2nd bottom in the division above, too. All three will likely feel similarly, and that's fair, which is why I'm really not fussed about finishing 3rd or 4th. Roll on next Tuesday.

Alloa Athletic 0-2 Dunfermline Athletic Clyde 0-2 Montrose FC Edinburgh 0-2 Airdrieonians Peterhead 0-3 Falkirk Queen of the South 2-0 Kelty Hearts

Is missing two games really enough for rustiness to set in? Maybe. I'm not convinced. Either way I suspect we will be pretty strong on Saturday as mentioned earlier, but I completely agree with your second point, I'm not at all averse to finishing 4th and having first go at Hamilton/Cove. Not actively wanting it, you instinctively want to finish as best you can, but I'd not be concerned at all. Dunfermline are a comfortably better side than anyone we can face in the playoffs, so with our best players fit and available, we shouldn't fear any of them regardless of the home/away permutations.

I think you're right and we will go mostly strong against Queens, aiming to finish at home with a win, but I personally would much rather we rested Frizz, Gal, Smithy, Ballantyne at the very least. No need to tip Sincy and Gabby in either, make sure they are fully recovered from the knocks that kept them out on Saturday.

Aye, Jerome Vareille was a hero to me when I was a younger supporter, too. Classy. Back when I had to force my Dad to take me, he'd spend the game complimenting Jerome. Great to see him on Saturday. Not sure they will, but I'd be for putting the feet up and resting as many key players as possible for the playoffs over these two games. Give them a chance to reset so we can go into the playoffs fresh. I imagine we might still go quite strong for next week, or at least stronger than the last day.

A very weird game. Could have been 2-2 or 3-3 at halftime, despite Dunfermline being much the better side. That Ritchie-Hosler was excellent, a very good prospect. Airdrie had then been the better side in the second half and crucially bounced back really quickly following an excellent finish from Wighton (after an uncharacteristic failed clearance from Fordyce). The diving header attempt from Stanway seemed to open space up somehow and Gallagher is too clever and reacts too quickly for his marker. Dunfermline seemed surprisingly vulnerable from corners all game, but that was the only time we capitalised. Think we missed Gabby McGill especially in the first half, and lost composure a wee bit with our attempts once it became a training exercise following the red cards, but we got the point we wanted as a minimum so, job done. Was impossible to see exactly what had gone on in the away stand, but it was still pretty funny watching folk completely ignore the game, and watching them argue amongst themselves and shout at each other. Also enjoyed the guy in a baseball cap who genuinely threw it to the ground in apoplexy at the second red, like in a skit. Chap nearly combusted and appeared to be offering fellow Dunfermline supporters out for a robust chat in the aftermath. Wonder if he managed to his hat back after his frothing had subsided.