Airdrie striker Callum Smith will face his brother Connor in the Championship play-off final for the second year running this week, but sibling rivalry isn’t his focus as former side Hamilton Accies stand between the Diamonds and promotion.
Last season, the Smiths clashed when Connor got the better of Callum as Queen’s Park beat Airdrie to a place in the Championship.
And with Connor currently on loan at Accies from Hearts, the pair will be on opposing sides once again. As Airdrie prepare to host Accies in tonight’s first leg, Callum didn’t wish to make it all about them and said: “We [Airdrie] are in the final again and we’ve given ourselves a great chance to go and get promoted. “The full focus is on that and nothing else. “We’ve obviously been playing quite well recently and we’ll look to continue that against Hamilton. “We look very good going forward and very good at the back, so we are confident about it and really looking forward to it. “It is all about belief for us now. “We know, at the same time, that Hamilton have some very good players. “They are in the Championship for a reason, they are a very good team. “But we need to go and fully focus on them and take it to them. “We need to learn from our mistakes in last year’s final.
But it is coming together at the perfect time. “The last few months we have been brilliant. We’ve had a few blips along the way but every team does and we are confident going into the game.” The Diamonds go into the clash having thumped Falkirk 7-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals.