Airdrieonians and Hamilton Academical meet in the first leg of the Scottish Championship playoff final on Wednesday evening.

The home side are bidding to secure promotion to the second tier, while Hamilton are looking to retain their spot at that level of football.

Match preview

In recent years, it is fair to say that Airdrieonians have been one of the most consistent teams in the third tier, now posting top-five finishes for five years running.

That now includes four top-three finishes in succession, but expectations and pressure have risen with each near-miss, leaving Rhys McCabe aware that he needs to find a way to manage the situation.

On the pitch, McCabe can have no complaints, the Diamonds registering a 7-2 aggregate success over Falkirk in their two-legged semi-final tie.

Playing on home territory in the opening fixture, Airdrieonians stormed to a 6-2 victory, remarkably opening up a five-goal lead at half time, and a 1-0 triumph in the reverse fixture was enough to cruise over the line.

In total, McCabe's side are on a three-match winning streak, bouncing back from failure to prevail in the preceding matches over the same length of period.

From Hamilton's perspective, they are attempting to avoid relegation to League One for the first time in nearly two decades, and just two years on from losing their top-flight status.

John Rankin's side ended the regular campaign with a six-match winless run, two draws being required to ensure that they did not finish bottom of the table.

Everyone associated with Hamilton would have been concerned after going down 1-0 to Alloa Athletic, who finished fourth in League One, in the first leg of their last-four showdown.

The Accies then went 3-0 behind on aggregate, yet Alloa were down to 10 men by the 24th minute in the second leg and it led to an astonishing 15-minute period either side of half time where Hamilton scored five times, winning 5-3 on aggregate by the full-time whistle.

With that representing their first win since April 4, it is perhaps too early to say whether the manner of that success is enough to permanently boost confidence levels in this squad.

Team News

Goalkeeper Josh Rae is in line to return between the sticks for Airdrieonians after serving a one-match ban for the second leg versus Falkirk.

Either emergency goalkeeper Darren Jamieson or David Hutton will feature among the replacements, while Aaron Taylor-Sinclair may come back into the team.

Calum Gallagher will start in the Airdrieonians attack after being named as the League One PFA Player of the Year.

Rankin praised the resilience of his Hamilton side after they overturned a 3-0 deficit in the semis, but he will naturally give consideration to changes in defensive areas.

Matthew Shiels may feature at left-back, while a return for Fergus Owens at right-back or centre-back cannot be ruled out.

Airdrieonians possible starting lineup:
Rae; Ballantyne, Watson, Fordyce, Taylor-Sinclair; Frizzell, McCabe, Devenny; McGill, Gallagher, Smith

Hamilton Academical possible starting lineup:
J. Smith; Owens, McGowan, O'Reilly, Shiels; C. Smith, De Bolle, Martin, Tumilty; Winter, Zanatta

We say: Airdrieonians 1-1 Hamilton Academical

Given the manner of their respective semi-final victories, both teams will feel confident of establishing a first-leg advantage. That said, we can only sit on the fence with this one, with Hamilton's extra quality potentially being enough to secure at least a share of the spoils on away territory.

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