Burns missing for Queens

Second Division leaders Queen of the South will again be without midfielder Paul Burns due to a knee injury as they look to re-establish a nine-point lead over at the expense of south-west neighbours Stranraer.

Doonhamers boss Allan Johnston is telling his men to be wary of the Stair Park side.

He said: "They had two fine wins in their last two games, including one over an Alloa side that had just beaten us, so we are well warned.

"Stranraer will look to continue the improvement in their season by beating us so we need to be thoroughly professional.

"Against Brechin in our last game we had a mixed performance but we got the win which was really important after losing for the first time."

Stranraer manager Stephen Aitken has a full squad to choose from as his side look to build on wins over Alloa and East Fife.

Should they make it three straight wins they will also become the first team to defeat Queen of the South at home in the league this season.

Aitken said: "This will be a really tough challenge but we are going into it with two wins that were achieved through hard work.

"We had to defend really well against East Fife after going ahead just before half-time and the boys did that.

"I would imagine that we will need to defend to the same standard against a Queen of the South side that have been terrific for most of the season. We have moved off the bottom and have no intention of stopping now."