Boss Rhys McCabe admits injury-ravaged Airdrie have further selection headaches for the visit of Ayr after Lewis McGratten’s red card and a knock to midfielder Murray Aiken in Saturday’s defeat to Partick Thistle.
The Diamonds fell to their fourth defeat in their last five Championship outings at Firhill and now face a high-flying Ayr side who have already inflicted a 5-0 humbling on them in August.
Rock-bottom of the table with one win in their last 11 games in all competitions, luck certainly hasn’t been on their side so far this season.
And with a host of players already sidelined – including the likes of Aidan Wilson, Mason Hancock, Dean McMaster, Liam McStravick and Aaron Reid – Airdrie will now be without McGrattan on Saturday following his dismissal, and Aiken could be a doubt after hobbling off late on.
Airdrie are so depleted that Aiken was playing out of position at right-back, while centre-back Luke Badley-Morgan played left-back.
And McCabe said: “It is a headache, for sure. Muz was struggling at the end with a kick he had in the first-half, but he got through it and gave his all for the team before coming off.
“Lewis getting red carded [is a blow] and from where we were standing, and from the players’ reaction, we knew it was a foul and he might get a yellow card, but there was no intent to dangerously harm their player.
“But I am always trying to look at the positives. Terrell Agyemang was available again and it was great to get him back on the pitch.
“For Murray and Luke, two individuals not playing in their natural positions and coming up against two very good wingers in this league in Aidan Fitzpatrick and Logan Chalmers, I thought they were excellent. They handled the game really well and did a job for the team, no questions asked.”
Meanwhile, defender Sam Graham says the Diamonds should take plenty of encouragement after a well-worked goal from Adam Frizzell gave them a way back into the clash before the dismissal.
He said: “There’s plenty to take into the next game. Our goal and the build-up to it was good.
“There’s so many positives to take and start building something, start moving forward.
“It’s only us in the building that can change how things are going. We shouldn’t be downbeat, we should be positive.”
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