Airdrie welcome Cowdenbeath to New Broomfield this weekend, and Scott Smith is in positive mood.

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Manager Gary Bollan moved to secure Smith on a loan deal from Dundee United following injuries to experienced midfielders Marc Fitzpatrick and Kevin McBride.

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The highly rated 20-year-old explained his role, and his whirlwind start at New Broomfield, facing Rangers hours after signing.

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"I'm mainly a defensive midfielder but I also like to go forward when the opportunity arises.

"To be honest I wasn't sure if I was going to be starting the League Cup match, so I was delighted that I was. 

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"And for it to be against Rangers - I couldn't have asked for a bigger and tougher game."

Of course the result didn't exactly go in Airdrie's favour that night, but the Diamonds were back to league duty last Saturday and Smith played his part in an important win.

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Jamie Bain popped up with the only goal of the game, but Scott feels that possession was key to the victory.

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"Against Peterhead we had more of the ball, which meant we we were able to influence the game.

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"If we play like we know we can then I'm positive we can get a result against Cowdenbeath."

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The Blue Brazil will be looking for a repeat of their last visit to Monklands - their only win of the season came at Cliftonhill - and their manager Colin Nish has also been busy in the transfer market.

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Aldin El-Zubaidi, who featured as a pre-season trialist for Airdrie, has signed for Cowden following his release from Hamilton and made an immediate impact, scoring on his debut against Stenhousemuir last Saturday.

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Nish also snapped up midfielder Andy Murdoch, and the on-loan Rangers star may be in line for his debut tomorrow.

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Airdrie still miss the experience of McBride and Jim Lister, although Marc Fitzpatrick returned to training this week and his progress is being closely monitored.

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Caolan McAleer returns from suspension for the Diamonds, and another loanee - St. Johnstone striker George Hunter - joins the squad.

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Colin Steven is the referee.