Gary Naysmith eyes the gap as Queens bid to topple Dundee

The entry of Premiership clubs into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup means this stage of the competition comes complete with its own parlour game. It involves scouring the match-ups and seeking to pinpoint the tie most likely to produce the toppling of a highest tier club by a team from a lower division.

Queen of the South manager Gary Naysmith says his side must play as well as they did in defeating Ross County or they will have no chance against Dundee. Picture: SNS.

On that front, all roads lead to Dens Park on Saturday for Dundee’s contest with Queen of the South. The Dumfries club, spearheaded by the remarkable 31-goal evergreen striker Stephen Dobbie, have lost only once in their last ten games. At the weekend, they provided a bells-and-whistles display of the corking nick they are in with a 4-0 thumping of Championship leaders Ross County.

Just as Gary Naysmith’s men appear firmly on the up – they have climbed into play-off territory – so the side hosting them in three days’ time appear firmly on the slide. Jim McIntyre’s side have won only once in 14 games, and conceded 13 goals in their last five games to take residency at the foot of the Premiership.

Naysmith, whose delight at the clubbing of County was topped off by the fact it was his 100th game in charge of Queens, doesn’t appear entirely at one with his team’s chances being talked up. The former Hearts and Everton defender considers that relevant parallels can’t be drawn between how a team performs in the Premiership and how another does in the Championship.

“I would never say we are the favourites or we can cause an upset, but I can understand why people think we could win on Saturday,” Naysmith said. “Dundee are bottom of the Premiership and we are on good form, and they also haven’t played for three weeks. But if we don’t play like the way we did against Ross County then we have no chance of winning . We are going into the game in good spirit and heart and looking forward to it.

“We have a shot to nothing here compared to the pressure we face every week in the league. We are going into every game in the Championship trying to get closer to the top or move away from the bottom.

“Don’t get me wrong, the chairman is putting on pressure and he wants us to win this game. He knows if we do, then we could get a big gun and it could be financially rewarding for the club and we are well aware of that.

“For us, as a group, our challenge is to see what gap there is, if anything, between ourselves and Dundee. We have played three Premiership teams since I came 
here. Partick beat us 2-1 in the 
Scottish Cup last year, We lost to Motherwell this season and then we took St Johnstone to extra time.

“We have done okay against the Premiership clubs and I understand why the fans and board are optimistic about Saturday. For me, it is my job to make sure we don’t get carried away with what we have done recently. We have got a bit of consistency in our results but are still only fourth in the league.

“Winning the Scottish Cup with Hearts was one of the highlights of my career, but I took it for granted. I was young and thought I would win more trophies than I did. Queens got to the final in 2008 and it is unlikely a Championship team will get there this season, but the club showed in the past it can be done.

“In the cup you have to take it one game at a time. We have to go up to Dundee and try to get a result. There is no pressure on us and most people will expect Dundee to win, so the pressure is all on them.”