MATCHES between Athletic and Airdrieonians in recent times have been exciting, end-to-end affairs, but Joe Chalmers admits he'd be just as happy with a less dramatic three points this afternoon.

The midfielder and his team-mates travel west to take on the Diamonds seeking to build on their last outing, a 3-0 win over Arbroath, and consolidate fourth place in the Championship.

Just one point, and one place, separates the sides, who were both promoted from League One last term, in the standings, and a second win over the Lanarkshire side would put the Pars to within four points of third-top Partick Thistle, with a game in hand.

Dunfermline are unbeaten in their last five meetings with Airdrie, and were winners on the opening day of the season at KDM Group East End Park, coming from behind to earn a 2-1 victory, despite going down to 10 men.

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Their two trips to the Excelsior Stadium last season were even more dramatic, with the first seeing them roar back from three goals down, with half an hour to go, to win 4-3 against the hosts' 10 players, and the second ending in a 1-1 draw, despite the Pars having two men sent off.

"Over the the last season as a neutral coming to watch Dunfermline v Airdrie you would have had your money’s worth," Chalmers said this week.

"There’s been goals, penalties, red cards in about every single game, good football with end to end stuff and the games have been really exciting with a lot happening in them. They are good games.

"The style of football that Airdrie like to play, they like to get the ball down and we are the same if we can.

"It makes for exciting end-to-end games with a lot of attacking football. There have been plenty of chances and goals so they have been good games to play in and probably to watch as well.

"It's nice when you are winning 4-3, but we would take the win any way we can. When you play in one of those exciting games, and you come off on the right side of it, it is brilliant. The emotion of it all when you come off is really good, but I would also take the 1-0 no bother!"

Chalmers and his team-mates were inactive last weekend, with the snowfall putting paid to their home game with Queen's Park, shunting the chance to immediately carry on the momentum from beating Arbroath last midweek.

"It was a disappointing result before that (against Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup) but, when we got the win, we wanted to build on that. I think at anytime in this league, if you can win a couple of games in a row it makes a big difference to the table.

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"It is not easy in this league and it is difficult to win two or three games in a row because it is so competitive. That would have got us up the league. Now we have had to wait, but there was only one other game on, so it did not make that much difference to the table, but we are excited for Saturday now.

"You just never know with this league; it is so close. You win a couple of games and you think you are starting to pull away and then the next thing is you lose one and the table just tightens back up. Every point is important.

"In all the years that I’ve played in this league, it has always been the same. There is the odd time when a team has run away with it but, when you look outside of that, the league has always been really close. There's not too much between the teams and, if you are not quite at your best, it doesn’t matter whether you are playing a team that is bottom of the league, you will find it difficult to win.

"I always find in a lot of these games that the first goal is always makes a big difference. I don’t know if the stats would back that up but it always feels like the team that scores the first goal in a lot of the Championship games seem to go on and at least get something from the game."