Diamond preparing for battle

Zander Diamond today branded Aberdeen's Clydesdale Bank Premier League game against Falkirk tomorrow as probably the biggest of his career. Defender Diamond, 24, has spent his entire seven-year professional career at Pittodrie and cannot recall a more important fixture.The Dons have been sucked into a relegation battle and defeat tomorrow would see rock-bottom Falkirk close to within three points.Asked if it was the most important game of his career, Diamond said: "Probably."(There is) more at stake in this game and hopefully we can come through the other side."He added: "We're in the bottom six. We've not got enough points to merit being away from the relegation battle."The whole dressing room has got to realise that we are in a relegation tussle and we're the only ones who can get ourselves out."There's no point feeling sorry for ourselves."Diamond has told his team-mates to forget about trying to play pretty football tomorrow, warning them to expect "a battle"."From one to 11 we need to be prepared for it, mentally, physically," he said."We need to do the dirty side of the game and hopefully pull away from it."Aberdeen have spent all week trying to rally their supporters in a bid to ensure a bumper turnout at Pittodrie tomorrow.Asked what his message would be to the fans, Diamond said: "Apologise for the season we've had already."But hopefully we can get the three points and build for next season."We just need to get ourselves out of the rut we're in now."Manager Mark McGhee reckons Sunday's defeat by St Johnstone finally convinced his players they were in real danger of going down."Some of the players until after the St Johnstone game hadn't really believed that we were in this position," he said."I think that has dawned on them."Like Diamond, McGhee believes tomorrow's match is among the most important of his career."It's not just this game; it's the next five games and what we need out of those five games," he said."Obviously, we all hope that we get what we need tomorrow."It's as important as any situation I've ever been in."I'll have to find some sort of message for them before they go out on to the pitch."Clearly, whatever message I've been getting through to them hasn't lasted."There's more to it than just a fancy message from me we've all got to dig deep inside, but I will be putting a message to them which will hopefully see them go on to win the game."The way I've prepared them is not to expect it to be easy."Don't expect to win tomorrow and for it to be all over."That's the dream ticket and it might happen of course but just imagine we're going to have to dig in for five games and stay focused until it's over."

Source: Team_Talk