East Fife head west to Lanarkshire tomorrow, where they face Airdrieonians at the Excelsior Stadium. The Diamonds are a point better off than the men from Methil, having hit a fine patch of form recently, despite the loss of striker Andy Ryan to Dunfermline Athletic, winning two games on the bounce before losing out to Stranraer at Stair Park last Saturday.

The Airdrie squad has been bolstered by several new signings, notably striker Willis Furtado, who caught the eye with Stenhousemuir last season, and former Fifer Luke Watt on loan from Motherwell.

Darren Young’s men can consider themselves unfortunate not to have taken any points from last week’s encounter against Queen’s Park at Bayview, but the gaffer will know that his side need to be more clinical in front of goal after passing up a number of opportunities before going down 1-0 against well-organised opponents. One of the positives from the game was the appearance from the bench of defender Jonathan Page after several months sidelined by injury. With Chris Kane also making a return to the squad there are now options available in every department, a far cry from the situation earlier in the campaign.

It would be fair to say that Airdrieonians have had the better of recent meetings with the Fifers, ending last season undefeated after two wins and two draws. The last time East Fife returned with all three points was December 2013 when goals from Lewis Barr, Ross Brown and Stephen Hughes earned a 3-1 win.