QUEEN of the South boss Peter Murphy knows this week is going to be a huge one for the Dumfries club.
The Doonhamers kick off a busy week at Palmerston in Scottish Cup duties, taking on Premiership side St Mirren on Saturday.
On Tuesday they welcome Inverness Caley Thistle, before they take on Dumbarton next Saturday.
Murphy said: “A cup run is very important to the club financially, especially when you’re asking about players in and players out.
“If we can get through to the next round it could transform our season financially. It’s really important.
“Everybody loves the cup. To give fans a day to remember would be excellent and for our players it would give them a lift going forward in the league.
“We’re under no illusions it’s going to be a very, very tough day but there’s always the hope in the cup.
“For a team in League One to play a Premiership side there’s no good time to play them but if we can start the game well and keep the game going for as long as possible or get an early goal – psychology is massive in football – it could change the whole perception of a day where even a Premiership side, we’re under no illusions they’ve got unbelievable quality.
“They’re a big, strong, powerful side. My players might get a bit of an eye opener in the first 10 minutes and we just need to make sure we’re ready for that, start well and see where that takes us.
“The last couple of performances we’ve had on the pitch – we got a win against Cove and a last minute draw last week, we were 1-0 up and should have won, the players are really buoyed by that and now we take it into the cup. Anything can happen on a cup day.
“The dream of getting through in the cup against a Premiership side is there but at the moment it’s only a dream.”
And Queens go into this massive week after a much improved away outing against Alloa last Saturday but couldn’t pick up their first league away victory of the season.
Benji Luissint gave the Dumfries men an early lead. They could’ve doubled their advantage on the hour mark but Reece Lyon had a penalty saved. Queens conceded at the death thanks to a Scott Taggart spot kick.
Murphy admits it was a hard one for the players to take as they thought it was never a Wasps’ spot-kick.
He said: “It was a dubious penalty in the last minute of the game. Brennan Dickenson was looking to stop the player getting in, he went down and the ref had a decision to make. It’s the wrong decision.
“We are upset as it feels like a loss because of a decision that was made by someone not within our team and that’s really difficult to take when you work so hard and give everything on the pitch.
“We saw that game out, somebody else took it away from us.
“It was an absolutely outstanding performance from our players, both defensively and attacking wise.
“I thought we carved Alloa open every time we got the ball forward, it’s just that we didn’t finish off some chances we created.”
Meanwhile, Queens signed striker Jordan Allan on loan from Falkirk.
The forward has been impressive during his two loan spells with Clyde.
Allan was subbed on for his debut at the weekend but won’t be able to feature for the Doonhamers against St Mirren due to being cup tied.
Murphy added: “We tried to get Jordan in August but he had played under Ian McCall last season and enjoyed his time so went there but the opportunity came up to bring him in.
We managed to get him and he’s ready to go. He’s played a number of games already and scored a number of goals for Clyde. He’s a great option to have.”
Meanwhile, Pharrell Willis has had his loan spell cut short due to injuries.
