Preview Airdrie United

In all their guises Airdrie hold the advantage with 33 wins to Dunfermline`s 31. In charge for the match will be Willie Collum, a referee with a phenomenal card record.

Dunfermline travel west on Tuesday for the re-arranged away game against Airdrie United.  Its the first visit there on league business since they were formed in 2002. The only two previous meetings have been the 4-3 defeat at East End Park in the 2005-2006 Scottish Cup in and the 2-0 Challenge Cup win in Lanarkshire last season.

In all their guises Airdrie hold the advantage with 33 wins to Dunfermline`s 31. The Pars away form in this fixture is not particularly good with Airdrie registering two wins to every one by Athletic. In the first meeting this season the Pars were all over Kenny Black`s men despite Nick Phinn behing sent off and should have done better than a 0-0 draw.

Airdrie are five points behind the Pars but they are typical of what can happen in this league with every team capable of beating their opponents. 

Airdrie drew at Dens Park on Saturday but have recently defeated top of the table Queen of the South and have also defeated Livingston at Almondvale.  Their erratic form after hammering Morton 5-0 led them to lose Ross County and Clyde. The Pars have lost only once on the road in this season`s league campaign.

Simon Wiles made his Dunfermline debut v Airdrie United 23/08/08

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE: Paul Gallacher; Calum Woods, Greg Shields, Scott Wilson (c), Austin McCann (Scott Thomson 82); Kevin Harper, Nick Phinn, Stephen Glass, Alex Burke (Iain Williamson 70); Andy Kirk (Simon Wiles 74), Graham Bayne.
SUBS: Steven Bell, Callum Reidford (GK)

AIRDRIE UNITED: Stephen Robertson; Darren Smith (McDougall 76), Paul Lovering (c), Kevin McDonald (Brown 76), Liam Smith, Stephen McKenna, David Nixon, Scott McLaughlin, Paul Di Giacomo (Stuart Noble 83), Simon Lynch, Joe Cardle
SUBS NOT USED: Matthew Hazely, Lee Hollis

Referee for the match will be Willie Collum. This is a referee with a phenomenal card record.  Pars fans will recall his nine cards on the Saturday before Christmas in 2006 when he booked five of the team and then sent Stevie Crawford off in a the 0-0 draw with Inverness Caley Thistle. He managed to reach double figures last season in a Hibs Dundee United game and he was in the news last week when he dismissed our old favourite, Lee Bullen. So far this season in seven league games his record is 27 yellow and one red.

Anthony Haggerty described Willie Collum`s last match in a week past Monday`s Daily Record:-

"Falkirk`s Lee Bullen was the victim of rough refereeing justice as the Bairns were reduced to 10 men in injury time. Bullen`s crime? A shoulder barge on fellow defender Scott Severin - who went down all too easily - and ref Willie Collum deemed his punishment worthy of a straight red because his opponent had denied the Aberdeen man a goalscoring opportunity.

"Harsh? You bet your life it was but that put the seal on a dismal display by Collum who also booked six players in a contest that highlighted the inconsistencies of another of Scotland`s Grade One whistlers."

Let`s hope on Tuesday night it is just racism that`s given the Red Card!