Montrose boss looks for third time lucky in cup replay

REPLAY: Petrie believes his side can pull off Scottish Cup shock against Queen of the South

Montrose boss Stewart Petrie hopes it will be third time lucky for his side when they travel to face Queen of the South in Dumfries this evening in a William Hill Scottish Cup third round replay.

The Angus League 2 outfit gave as good as they got for the second time this season against the Championship fulltimers on Saturday, drawing 0-0 at Links Park to set up a replay.

At the start of last month Montrose gave Queens a huge scare in the League Cup before the Doonhamers prevailed in extra-time.

While Petrie is fully aware his side are underdogs tonight, he is looking for his players – who are on an eight-game unbeaten run – to cause a big cup shock.

“The lads fully deserve another chance after a great performance on Saturday. Their effort and application was first-class and I was delighted for everybody from the goalie to the two up front,” he said.

“Queens had a great chance late on but it would have been a travesty if they had taken it,” he added.

“However, we are under no illusions about how big a task we face going to Palmerston, and we know we are huge underdogs against the full-time side.”

Petrie added: “Paul Watson is struggling with a knock he picked up on Saturday but, thankfully, everybody else seems fine and we should have a really strong bench again.

“It is a quick turnaround for us and obviously we would have preferred to play the game a week on Tuesday but they already have a match that evening.

“It means I have had to reschedule my diary for Tuesday like most of the lads but, thankfully, they all seem to have managed to get time off work.

“Queens are a Championship side with some great players like James Mcfadden, John Rankin and Stephen Dobbie, but we are on a good run just now and will go down there with confidence.

“We will not change the way we go about things, but we are just looking to enjoy the occasion and hopefully pull off a big upset.”

nrobertson@thecourier.co.uk

Picture: SNS. Stewart Petrie admits his side are underdogs for the replay at Queen of the South but says they will head to Dumfries in confident mood.