Falkirk v Airdrieonians: Preview and team news

Midfielder Morgaro Gomis returns from suspension, while Denny Johnstone began training again on Thursday.

The Bairns are looking to preserve their standing at the top of League One, but are expecting a difficult encounter against the Diamonds who held them to a draw at the Penny Cars Stadium earlier in the season.

McKinnon told the Falkirk Herald: "I think the players are coping well with the expectations and pressure.

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"Unfortunately, we're not going to win every game four or five nil, teams will make it difficult for us. There will be games where we have to grind it out.

"Airdrieonians made it difficult for us away from home but we had good passages of play in that game.

"We never converted our chances and we need to be more clinical. If we can be ruthless and do what the defence has been doing and keeping cleansheets, then that's a good formula for success."

McKinnon is wary of making wholesale changes to a side that secured victory last week over Forfar.

He said: "On the back of a good victory, we won't make too many changes.

"We did that the week before and it never worked for us.

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"We've got Mo back and he's doing alright in games, Charlie [Telfer] has been doing well, Cammy Bell too. We've got lots of players that we could bring back into the team.

"Next week we'll maybe try to get a bounce game organised. The Gary Millers of this world are fit boys but they are just missing out on gametime.

"We'll try to do something next week if everybody is fit."

Meanwhile, attacker Louis Longridge expects Ian Murray's men to make life difficult for the Bairns.

He said: "They have a good couple of weeks so they will be flying.

"I think they will be confident and will be looking forward to the game.

"There's an expectation to win every game so that brings its own pressure. There have been games we've won and the fans haven't been 100 per cent happy because they are expecting three, four, five or six.

"I think it's difficult though when teams sit in and make it scrappy and interrupt our flow of play.

"We're all football players and want to get the ball down, sometimes you're going to have to play dirty and grind out results."