Boss Paul Hartley thinks it is only sensible for Cove Rangers to tweak their approach this afternoon due to Queen’s Park’s fiery playing surface.
The League One leaders go to the Central Belt looking to restore a five-point cushion at the summit in their bid for the title and automatic promotion. Their lead was cut to two points by second-placed Airdrieonians’ win against East Fife yesterday.
They’ll meet a play-off-chasing Spiders side currently ground-sharing with Championship landlords Partick Thistle. The condition of the Firhill pitch under this double demand has been a talking point this term.
Hartley, who says Cove will adapt their default attractive footballing style, said: “The pitch is the same for both teams and we won’t make a big issue of it – that’s just the way it is.
“The gameplan changes slightly because of the surface, because we can’t play the way we always play – it won’t work. It’s a game to take few risks in.”
The pitch-sharing agreement between Partick and Queen’s Park also means the League One clash is taking place on Sunday, rather than Saturday. This is due to the Jags hosting Arbroath in the Championship this weekend.
Hartley – who on Friday completed a hat-trick of Glen’s League One Manager of the Month awards, when winning the March prize – tweaked Cove’s training schedule slightly as a result.
He revealed the Balmoral Stadium coaching staff were intent on using a rare Saturday off to scout other teams.
Expecting to have a full squad to choose from against Queen’s Park, Hartley said: “I changed the training to Tuesday and Friday night, a little bit closer to the game. It’s just a slight change, and the boys are fine.
“It gives us the chance to go to watch games.”
No win against Queen’s Park – yet
Queen’s Park are the only team in the division title-favourites Cove haven’t beaten this term, with an away loss in August followed by two draws in the Granite City.
Hartley has plenty of admiration for Sunday’s opponents, who recently appointed Owen Coyle as their new manager, saying: “It’s another tough game. We keep saying, we’ll take it a game at a time. We’ll go there and try to get the three points as we try to do every other game.
“But they’re a good team, Queen’s Park – a very technical team. They’ve obviously changed their manager and got a good lift last week (1-0 win over Clyde, despite being down to 10 men).
“We’re going to have to go there and fight hard for the win.
“I don’t think too much about it (stats), I just think we have to try to win every game, whatever team’s in front of us.
“The first game down there, we were ok the first half then went down to 10 men. In the other two games after that, I felt we were really good in certain aspects of the game.
“But this is the nitty gritty of the season now. We are where we are, (and) we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing all season and keep the mentality strong.”