Gus tells his men to enjoy big occasion
Partick tie is a great chance to show off hard work
Partick Thistle v Queen’s Park. July 30, 3pm
Gus MacPherson has encouraged his Queen’s Park team to enjoy themselves when they come up against their toughest test so far.
The Hampden Park boss will take his men across the city to visit Premiership side Partick Thistle in the final group E game of the Betfred Cup this Saturday.
The Spiders picked up their first win in the competition last week away to Stenhousemuir and were looking to add to the tally at home to Airdrieonians, before the Reformer went to print, last night.
Skipper Sean Burns’ 30-yard screamer and a tap-in from Conor McVey earned Queen’s Park three vital points at Ochilview last week, but picking up victories is not what matters the most to MacPherson.
Commenting ahead of the tie at Firhill, he said: “The points are a bonus and results are a bonus at this stage but I think we were competitive against Stenhousemuir, we played well and worked extremely hard.
“Partick Thistle, as you can imagine, will be the toughest test for them.
“Queen of the South was tough and they’re in the Championship so it’s a game they’ll look forward to. They will be putting their wits about a Premiership team and a group of players who have done very well in the past couple of years.
“They’ve got to enjoy it. From where we recruit players, whether it be from our youth ranks or coming from juniors, these are the guys they see playing week-inweek-out and getting all the publicity.
“The most important thing is to work hard. It doesn’t matter who you play against, you’ve got to work hard.”
A 90th minute winner from Steven Lawless helped Partick to a 2-1 victory over the Doonhamers and had six points before they travelled to Stenhousemuir on Tuesday evening.
But as many may label Queen’s to be the dark horses of the group, MacPherson isn’t ruling out any surprises.
He added: “You automatically look at it and think Queen of the South and Partick Thistle, being Championship and Premiership teams, would be favourites.
“But you never know, you just take care of your own games.”
Despite not having a competitive fixture last weekend, MacPherson gave his players a run- out in the 0- 0 draw with Stirling Albion in Saturday’s pre-season friendly.