Queen of the South boss faces selection headache ahead of East Fife clash

Marvin Bartley has a selection headache ahead of tonight’s Viaplay Cup tie against East Fife at Palmerston.

Queens won their away game at Elgin 2-0 thanks to goals from Kieran McKechnie and Paul McKay to put them third in Group G but it came at a price.

Harry Cochrane picked up a second booking and will miss tonight’s match along with defender Kyle McLelland, who was sent off.

Bartley said: “With the two suspended we are short of senior players.

“I’ve already been making calls, we will be working to bring someone in if we can, just to help over the next week or two, but if we don’t manage to get someone in then we’ve got enough young players, so we’ll go forward with what we’ve got.”

The visit of the Fifers will be Queens’ third game in the space of seven days, but Bartley says that shouldn’t have an impact and won’t hear anything about tiredness.

He said: “We are professional footballers, so three games in the space of a week is no surprise.

“There are a lot of people who work harder than us, so three 90 minute games in a week is a luxury.

“In fairness, the format is difficult and puts a massive strain on us, being one of the smaller squads so there is a massive strain on the players, there is a player welfare issue with it as well.

“There were a few tired players, but we managed to freshen it up with players coming off the bench, being down to 10 men doesn’t help but we know the schedule and we just have to deal with it.”

Goals from Kieran McKechnie and Paul McKay earned the Doonhamers a two goal victory in the Highlands and following the draw with Motherwell in the opening game the Palmerston chief said getting the three points was the priority.

He said: “The win was the important thing, we