Queen of the South boss insists club can pull off Great Escape after beating Inverness Caley Thistle

Queens caretaker player boss Wullie Gibson has insisted: The Great Escape is on.

He steered his side to a crucial 2-1 home win over Inverness Caley Thistle to keep the club’s flickering survival hopes alive.

Now Queens tackle bitter rivals Ayr tomorrow afternoon in another vital encounter in the bid to beat the drop.

Gibson said of tomorrow’s tussle with the Honest Men: “If there’s a team that I don’t want to relegate us it’s them.

“I’ll have the boys up and ready for that game.

“It has set it up nicely, hasn’t it?

“It’s going to be tasty. They’ll come down in their numbers, it’s a derby. They’ll want to relegate us, that’s for sure. So the boys need to be prepared for what’s coming because a storm is coming.”

Gibson said of the Inverness triumph: “Going into the match we knew we had to win all three matches.

“We said to the boys that the only one that mattered was tonight as if we didn’t then Saturday’s game would be irrelevant. We’ve ticked that one off and we’ll get ready for Saturday for another massive game.

“I used the word character in the dressing room after the match. After Saturday’s 5-1 defeat to Arbroath I was very critical of the team and myself. Individually and collectively, I felt the boys showed tremendous character tonight.

“I apologised to the guys at half time as I put us in the dung, so to speak, in terms of passing and giving the ball away.

“I like the way we play and I encourage us to play out from the back. That’s the way I want to play. It’s my fault that we gave away the goal but the reaction we got from the boys to get the winner and kick on from there was massive.

“Big Ruben Soares Junior has had one cleared off the line. Innes Cameron has come in and apologised but he can’t buy a goal right