Callum Fordyce believes Airdrie are hitting their stride at the right time ahead of the visit of league leaders Cove Rangers.

Airdrie welcome the newly-promoted Toonsers to the Penny Cars Stadium on Saturday hoping to make it three league victories on the trot after impressive victories over Clyde and Forfar Athletic.

Thomas Robert, Dale Carrick and Kyle Connell were the scorers at Station Park last weekend, and Fordyce was pleased with the Diamonds display.

“If you look at the first half in particular, it was definitely a deserved victory and we had chances to make it a bit more comfortable.

“It was a good team performance - the first goal was exceptional, and you might struggle to find a better one this season.

“It shows what we can actually do when we get the ball down and play. We’re taking the things that we work on in training into games, and everything’s clicked in the last two league matches.”

Defender Fordyce has been an ever-present for Airdrie since signing in May 2019, picking up last season’s Player of the Year and Players Player of the Year awards, and the 28-year-old is in no doubt when asked if he’s enjoying life at the club.

“I love it! If I’m honest, it’s probably the most I’ve enjoyed my football in my career. The togetherness of the players, the staff, the directors, the owners - it’s a right family club.

“We’ve got good young players here who have a big future in the game, and it’s up to the more experienced guys like myself to help them out. They’re at the right club to develop with the manager and the way we work.”

Fordyce’s composure on the ball may make him Mr Reliable at the back alongside captain Sean Crighton, but the former Dunfermline and Livingston stopper wants to add more goals to his game after grabbing his first Diamonds strike in the League One opener against Peterhead.

“If I look at my career as a whole, I’ve always had a wee knack for being decent in front of goal. We scored a lot of goals from set-pieces last year, from second balls and keeping it alive - hopefully this season we can improve on that and add more goals from first balls.

“I could have scored two or three against Clyde, and I should have done better - I’m very critical of myself because as a defender, if you can add goals to your game, it helps everyone and makes you look a wee bit better!”

A showdown with early pace-setters Cove Rangers would be the ideal setting for another Fordyce goal, and Callum can’t wait for the match-up with Paul Hartley’s side.

“It’s one that I’m really looking forward to, these are the games that you want to play in.

“Cove have come up with a winning mentality, but we’ve got that too so it’s going to be an exciting game.

“It’ll be a tough one because they’re playing expansive football and they have a lot of good players. It’s a good game for both teams on current form, and we’ll give each other due respect, but we’ll be focussing on ourselves and giving it everything for the win.”

Manager Ian Murray wants to see his side continue their good league form.

“Cove have done very well this season, so it’s going to be a tough game but we’re looking forward to it.

“We’ve seen the progress that we’ve made recently, so we aim to continue that with an important win, and if we can do that we’ll see where it takes us.”

The Diamonds boss has a few injury doubts ahead of the match with Ally Roy, Harlain Mbayo, Kyle Connell and Calum Gallagher facing late fitness checks.

The match is available on our DTVLive platform using the link below. Kick off is at 3:00pm.