Falkirk pay their first visit of the season to Palmerston on Saturday. Both sides will be looking to improve on last years corresponding fixtures which both ended 2-2.
In fact, three of the four games against the two sides ended in draws with Falkirk recording the only win with a 3-1 victory at the Falkirk stadium in February.
The Opposition
After defeat in the play-offs last season, Falkirk havent had the best of starts this term, going out of the Betfred Cup at the group stage and picking up just one point from their opening two league games. Peter Houston and his side will be looking to get their season going soon.
The absences of Blair Alston and Will Vaulks, who left to go to St Johnstone and Rotherham respectively, could be hugely significant for the Bairns who will be hoping their summer recruits Craigen and Rankin can fill the holes left by two of the standout players in last seasons Championship.
Houston has also moved to strengthen his defence with the signing of Luca Gasparotto from Rangers, who impressed on loan at Morton last season, and of course Lewis Kidd who left Palmerston to join Mark Kerr, Bob McHugh and John Baird as former Queens players at the club. While their options up front have been improved with the addition of Nathan Austion, who signed for Falkrik last season but was loaned back to East Fife, where he notched an impressive 24 goals in 40 games.
The Game
This Ladbrokes Championship match kicks off at 3pm on Saturday 20th August at Palmerston. Live updates will be available on the website and on twitter and Facebook. We will also publish pictures through the day on our new Instagram Channel
The Fans
There are no advance ticket sales and the normal ticket procedure applies for tomorrows game. Full details and pricing can be found here
Away fans will be in the Rosefield Salvage Stand. Directions on how to get to Palmerston, including parking information, can be found here
Never been to Palmerston before? Read our First Time Fan Guide
The Dressing Room
The manager, Gavin Skelton, had this to say ahead of the game "We are back at Palmerston this weekend for the second of our home games in this season’s Championship.
Our opening match against Ayr United last weekend was a good start for us, scoring four goals at home and working as hard as we did as a unit was very pleasing for me as a manager, but there are still things that we can improve on so we won’t get carried away.
The minimum I ask of any of my team is that they work hard and they did that but I expect them to keep working hard if not harder, as in this very competitive league we can’t afford to let our standards drop.
I felt that we got the goals at the right time against Ayr, which helped us get the win. Winning is everything, so I want the players to enjoy it and get into that winning habit.
In a hard week, we scored eight goals in three tough games, so that’s pleasing, but it’s been a real team effort.
While the strikers have played their part the midfield and defenders have also been outstanding. The players were annoyed with themselves for conceding against Ayr, which shows me they share my own desire to win and keep clean-sheets.
With the options available to me the players know they have to be at their best every game to keep their place in the team.
This weekend we face a side that will have real ambitions the same as ourselves to finish in the top four. And as we saw from the games last season there isn’t much between the sides. Peter Houston will have his players organised and ready so we need to match that, it’s another home game for us so we will be going all out to get a positive result."
The Team
Jim Atkinson will be missing for the game as he is unavailable due to an knee injury. Chris Higgins who tweaked a hamstring at Tannadice and Dale Hilson who picked up a foot injury in the win at Easter Road have been sidelined for the last couple of games but they aren't too far away from playing.
The Officials
Referee : Steven Kirkland
Assistant 1 : Stephen Mitchell
Assistant 2 : Scott Love
The Stats
This will be the 47th meeting of the two sides at Palmerston, with Queens slightly ahead on 18 wins to Falkirks 14. The last home win in the Championship was on the 12/4/2015 when the home side came out on top 1-0. Queens won both the fixtures at Palmerston that season with a 3-0 victory in October.
While the home fans will be looking for a win, all eyes will be on Derek Lyle. The Hall of Fame striker sits on 99 goals for the club, so need just one more to reach an amazing milestone of 100.