It is Friday night football under the Palmerston floodlights for us this week as we welcome Inverness Caledonian Thistle for our televised cinch Championship match.

The two sides have already played each other in the Highlands at the end of September with the Jags taking all three points, thanks to a late Michael Gardyne winner. Lee Connelly found the postage stamp with a superb finish in the 74th minute to cancel out Sean Welsh’s early opener, only for Gardyne to score with nine minutes remaining to make sure the points stayed in the North.

Looking ahead to the match, Manager Allan Johnston said “Our last two games against Raith and Arbroath have been much improved. I think performance wise we have been miles better. I think we are now carrying more of a goal threat and have more energy.

Both games have ended in draws after we have taken the lead, so we need to now turn the performances into results, but we are going in the right direction.

Last week was a good point away from home, I think we played well in spells and passed the ball well at times. What we probably didn’t do was be street wise and see out the game when we went ahead and that’s what we must improve on.

This week we face Inverness a team up their challenging but as we’ve seen so far there isn’t much between a lot of the teams in the division and if we continue to the play the way we have been then we know we can compete. It’s under the floodlights which is always special and hopefully we can pick up three points to start moving up the table”.

Supporters Information

With the Championship clubs all reaching an agreement to maintain red zones both clubs will continue to operate 2m social distancing within the playing squads due to the requirements for isolations should a player test positive, especially in the light of the fact that not all players are fully vaccinated. Therefore, there will still be sections of the ground inaccessible to supporters.

With the new dugouts now in place a section of the Alpha Solway stand is again open to home supporters, along with the West section of the BDS and the Terracing. While away fans will be located in section 7 in the East side of the BDS. To gain entry to the BDS stand - Home supporters should use turnstiles 1 & 2 while away fans should use turnstile 4. Entry to the Oakbank Terrace will be via turnstiles 16 & 17 only. Please note that due to red zone restrictions etc there will be no movement between the stand and terrace so please take care to use the correct turnstiles.

Turnstiles will be open for spectator entry at 1830 to ease congestion at the turnstiles.

Entry is by ticket only. The Arena ticket office is open from 1745 and the BDS Stand ticket office open from 1815. Please note that the BDS Stand ticket office is CASH ONLY. Spectators are requested to bring the correct ticket money with them. This will ease pressure on the ticket office. Should you wish to pay by card you should purchase your ticket from the ticket office within the Arena.

Pricing for this game will be as follows:

Adults - £18

OAP/Concessions/Students & 16-21-year olds: £10

Under 16 walk-up tickets: £5

Accessible Adults: £8

Accessible OAP/Concessions/Students & 16-21-year olds: £5

Accessible Under 16 walk-up tickets: £3

Junior Blue season tickets & Pre-School Kids: FREE

All spectators are requested to remain in position as much as possible to minimize the potential for Covid transmission. It is still compulsory for people to wear facing coverings in enclosed spaces in Scotland, therefore all fans must wear face coverings in enclosed areas such as concourse areas and toilets. If you don’t have a mask, then you will be denied entry to these areas. If you are exempt from wearing a mask you must provide proof of exemption.

Car parking will be available to all spectators within the Queen of the South Arena car park. It is suggested that buses/minibuses drop off their passengers in Terregles St/King Street and thereafter park on College Mains road just off the roundabout with the A76 on the town bypass (adjacent to Curry’s/PC World, as the other side at Aldi is the access road to the ambulance depot and is extremely busy). Pick up should be the same location as drop off. Supporters buses including minibuses will not be allowed to park in the Arena car park.

As far as we are aware there are no ongoing roadworks currently around Dumfries that may affect travel times to Palmerston Park. Fans should check the Traffic Scotland website at http://trafficscotland.org/index.aspx for confirmation of any delays.

The catering outlets within the supporter’s areas of the ground will also be open for use. And the bar under the main stand has now reopened and will be open to both sets of supporters’ pre-match.

QOS have adopted a robust and thorough search policy for spectators entering the ground to ensure that ground rules and regulations are strictly adhered to, especially in relation to pyrotechnic devices and controlled containers. All bags will be searched and spectators presenting themselves for entry may also be subject to search. Spectators who refuse to be searched by stewards will be denied entry to the ground.

Palmerston Park is a non-smoking venue, this includes e cigarettes and other such devices. Stewards are empowered to eject spectators who disobey these rules. No persons will be admitted to the ground who are deemed to be under the influence of alcohol.

With the match live on the BBC Scotland channel there will be no streaming of the match.

The club shop located in the Arena will be open from 6pm until kick off where you can purchase our club merchandise.

Tomorrow’s match kicks off at 7.45 pm.