BY IAIN COLLIN – @CCP_sport
Derek Lyle has urged Queen of the South to avoid making it a weekend to forget by ensuring they get that Friday feeling tonight.
The Doonhamers played out a goalless draw with Falkirk on a Friday back in September and Lyle knows it could spark a long 48 hours if they under-perform against Raith Rovers this evening.
In contrast, the Palmerston Park marksman reckons victory, which would send Queens into fourth spot in the table, could be the perfect start to the weekend for the Dumfries outfit.
He said: “We’ve played once before on a Friday night and I don’t mind these games.
“If you can get a win then everybody’s buzzing and it’s great – but if you don’t it’s a long weekend.
“It can work in two ways. If you go out and put in a good performance and get a result then great.
“But the last thing we want to do is get beat and get a bad result and put us on a downer for the rest of the weekend.”
After a run of just one win in 10 matches, Queens have only lost one of their last four, but have not played in nearly three weeks because of the Scottish Cup and last weekend’s call-off against St Mirren.
But Lyle is hopeful the lay-off will not affect the Doonhamers as they bid to get themselves into a promotion play-off spot.
He added: “It’s not been ideal recently with the weather but I think it was probably the right decision last week with the game being off because the wind and the rain would have spoiled the game.
“It’s not the best when we’ve not played for so long, so the boys are itching to get playing again.
“It’ll be a very tough game. Raith Rovers had a great start to the season and maybe surprised a few people.
“They’ve not been doing as well lately, but they’ve still got good players and a team, and I think they’ll be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.
“We want to be there as well.”
