Airdrie striker Calum Gallagher says now is the time for his side to go on a winning run and force their way right into the League One promotion pack.
A 3-2 defeat at Queen of the South on Saturday left the Diamonds in fifth spot, but only two points behind Alloa, as they welcome eighth-placed Kelty Hearts to New Broomfield this weekend.
The sides each have a 1-1 home win this season – with Gallagher netting the winner at Airdrie – and a 1-1 draw at New Central Park in January.
Gallagher said: “It’s a good chance to get back into the top four.
“We have found it difficult playing Kelty this year, especially at their place.
“When we played them last time at home, in spells we looked really good and dangerous.
“They’re obviously very well organised, they’ve got a lot of experience in that team, but we really need to see a reaction this week.
“We’ll hopefully see a much diferent performance this Saturday.
“It’s very important that we can go on a run.
“That third to seventh or eighth place is very tight this season [45 points to 33], and it’s very competitive.”
Gal added: “It’s vitally important that we put a run together and take maximum points off of those around us.
“It’s a point in the season when we really need to start putting those results together.
“Every team in this league, on their day, can drop or pick up points off anyone else.
“You need to appreciate that you will need to be bang at it to take these points.
“It will take as much as we can give to go on a run and beat the teams around us, regardless of where they are in the table.”
Gallagher was disappointed with the result at Palmerston Park and said the Dumfries team deserved the points.
Euan East put Queens ahead in 35 minutes, and Lewis Gibson doubled that before the interval.
Gabby McGill pulled a goal back in 51 minutes, but Kieran McKechnie restored the hosts’ two-goal lead just five minutes later.
Gallagher bagged his 15th goal of the season to reduce the deficit in 72 minutes, but the Diamonds couldn’t find another leveller.
He said: “It was a difficult one. We got off to quite a good start and threatened early on, but not taking advantage of that spell allowed Queens to come back into it.
“I thought they were on top for the middle 45 minutes of the game and probably deserving of the three points.
“It was a difficult one to take, and the boys were very disappointed with the performance, more so than the result.”
On his goal, Gallagher said: “Personally it has been quite a good year for me. I’ve been on good form and I do keep an eye on the league scoring charts – it’s an aim every year to be right up there, come the end of the season.
“It’s good to get another goal, but it’s frustrating when it’s not contributing to any points.
“But I’ve scored against Kelty already this season, so I’ll hopefully look to do that again on Saturday.”
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