MATCH PREVIEW: Forfar Athletic v Airdrieonians

The ‘Loons’ open their league campaign with a home fixture this Saturday against Airdrieonians. Both teams having recorded victories over the past two weeks to progress in the the Ramsdens and League Cup tournaments.

All connected with the Station Park club are still on ‘cloud nine’ following last week’s win over Rangers, but manager Dick Campbell has been quick at every opportunity to emphasise that cup runs are the ‘icing on the cake,’ league fixtures the real ‘bread and butter’ of the season on which any team will eventually be judged.

The Station Park boss sadly enters this league opener with real selection headaches. The red cards in the play off second leg at Dunfermline really bite with skipper Mark McCulloch, Iain Campbell and Michael Dunlop all sitting this fixture out. There are also a handful of injury doubts with Stuart Malcolm certainly a non starter following his early departure in the battle with the Ibrox club. On the brighter side Darren Dods and Gary Fusco both ‘guested’ for the Under 19’s in a midweek friendly to get vital match practice.

The re branded Lanarkshire outfit who will play their first league game in eleven years under their historic Airdrieonians banner are also hit by a suspension after defender Chris O’Neill saw red in their thrilling 4-3 win over Stenhousemuir last week. This victory followed an excellent 2-1 win success over near neighbours Hamilton Accies from the Championship the previous Saturday.

Manager Jimmy Boyle has made a few astute summer singings and is pinning great hopes up front on Jim Lister who rejected a further contract offer from Dumbarton to move to Broomfield.

The Forfar Chairman has urged ‘Loons’ supporters to turn out in reasonable numbers for what is our last home fixture for three weeks and with over 300 season tickets sold, one would hope for slight increases at least in crowd figures as the season moves on.

The fixture is sponsored by Lawrie & Symington and the referee is David Somers, one of the longest serving Grade One officials in the Scottish game.