The Spiders make the short journey across Glasgow for our first competitive match in almost seven months, with Ian McCall’s Partick Thistle providing the opposition in Group G of the Betfred Cup.
Ahead of the game the club media team caught up with Ray McKinnon to get his thoughts on the tie, and to reflect on a busy summer period, and he said: “We’ve had a good pre-season although having had a couple of games cancelled at short notice it has been a little stop start. Ultimately the players have worked very hard, applied themselves well and are ready to go.
“It’s been a busy summer period and I’m pleased with the players we have been able to bring in, who are all good quality. We had to be very patient in order to get the balance to the squad that we wanted and to be honest we are still looking to add to the squad over the coming weeks and I would expect that if we can do that, we will have real competition in every area of the park. It is vital we have that competition so that players know that they always need to be at their best and also to ensure we have cover for injuries and suspension.
“It goes without saying that we go into Saturday’s game looking to win it although we know it will be a very difficult game. Partick Thistle have a very strong squad and will be looking to bounce back from the defeat on Tuesday night as well as make a positive start ahead of their league campaign.
“We do have a number of injury concerns which have come from pre-season, mainly muscle injuries, so we’ll be careful in how we manage those players but all in all we are just looking forward to the return of competitive action and we want to start the season as best as we can on Saturday.”
The opposition: The Jags go into the game on the back of a 4-1 defeat away to St Mirren in their opening Group G match on Tuesday night. Despite going a goal down to the Saints on the stroke of half time, Thistle got themselves back into the game courtesy of ex-Spider Blair Spittal, however they went on to ship three goals in the final 16 minutes at The Simple Digital Arena.
Head to head (overall): Played 143; Queen’s Park 48; Draw 28; Partick Thistle 67. Scored – Queen’s Park 235; Partick Thistle 285
Head to head (League Cup): Played 6; Queen’s Park 1; Drawn 1; Partick Thistle 4. Scored – Queen’s Park 8; Partick Thistle 14.
Last meeting of the teams: 16/07/2019 Queen’s Park 1-2 Partick Thistle, Betfred Cup Group H.
Match officials: Referee – Kevin Graham. Assistant Referees – Andrew McWilliam and Frazer Bushell.
Live stream details: Partick Thistle will be providing a live stream of this match at a cost of £10. Details on how to purchase your stream are available on the Partick Thistle website https://ptfc.co.uk/ptfc-news/queens-park-live-stream-buy-now/
Facebook: Get the team news at 2.15pm followed by goal, half time and full-time score updates via our Facebook page.
Twitter: Get the team news at 2.15pm followed by regular live match updates via our Twitter account @QueensParkFC.
Instagram: Get the team news at 2.15pm followed by goal, half time and full-time score updates via our Instagram.
QPTV: Post-match reaction from Ray McKinnon and a player immediately after the final whistle with match highlights to follow on Sunday morning.
Other Betfred Cup Group G match: Queen of the South v St Mirren.
Next match: versus Greenock Morton at Cappielow on Tuesday 13th October 2020.
Previewing the season with the gaffer