Naysmith hails Saints as champions in waiting

Queen of the South manager Gary Naysmith reckons that his side are travelling to the home of the Champions in waiting when they face St Mirren this afternoon.

Naysmith said: “I think St Mirren will win the league. They were not my initial choice as last summer I thought Dundee United would top the table come May. I also thought it would be Dundee United when they got a lift after Csaba Laszlo came in, but I think St Mirren will win it now.

“They deserve a lot of credit as they have been really consistent over the last couple of months. They have been helped by having six good attacking players who have stayed injury-free and in form over recent months.

“Despite that, it is time we showed them what we can do. We have not given ourselves the best chance against them this season as we have only played in one half in each of the two games. Four of the six goals we have lost in the two games came from our mistakes.”

St Mirren’s new striker Myles Hippolyte will miss out as he is suffering from a knee injury picked up on his last appearance for Falkirk at the end of December.

Assistant manager james Fowler said: “There is no point in rushing Myles. He will join us for full training next week and we will take things from there.”

Another striker has been in the thoughts of Fowler and manager Jack Ross this week. The Paisley No 2 said: “Stephen Dobbie was very impressive last week when he grabbed a hattrick as Queen of the South defeated Brechin City. That highlighted his quality and when you consider it was his third hat-trick of the season you have to recognise that he is a huge danger.”

In the other Championship games, secondplaced Dundee United visit Inverness, Livingston travel to Falkirk, Morton and Dunfermline meet at Cappielow with Dumbarton hosting bottom side Brechin City.