Airdrie skipper Adam Frizzell hopes their 'talisman' Ben Wilson can shake off the flu to help fire them to some vital points against Partick Thistle today.

The Diamonds striker ended an 18-game barren spell last weekend when he bagged a brace in a 2-2 draw with Morton, but was sorely missed in midweek when Livingston ran out 3-0 winners in Monklands.

Frizzell feels that Wilson would have lapped up the chances Airdrie created and spurned in an impressive but fruitless first half.

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And he says the Northern Irishman could be key to rock-bottom Diamonds ending a 16-game wait for a league win.

"Ben finding his shooting boots again was a big thing but then he was out with the flu on Tuesday night," said Frizzell.

"Watching the game from the house, he would have been pulling his hair out because there were a lot of chances in that first half that he would have put away in that first half.

"Hopefully he has turned a corner now and he will be back for the Partick game.

"We need him scoring goals. He is our talisman.

"Strikers go through spells without scoring, but he's shown at the start of the season [when netted six goals in his first four games] that he can finish and he showed that again last week.

"Hopefully that is a sign of things to come from him."

The Diamonds have closed the gap on nearest rivals Dunfermline to nine points and Frizzell insists they are starting to find some form and having run the Jags close in a 2-1 defeat with 10 men at Firhill in October, he says the belief is there.

He added: "We played well against them last time and that was down to 10 men for large parts, so we can only take positives from that.

"We've definitely found a bit of our groove again. We just need to dig in.

"Once you get a few wins in this league, you can skyrocket right up it, so that is our intention.

"We've got 20 games left so there is loads of football still to be played.

"We need to dig our heels in, get boys back from injury and get a full squad again, then see what happens."