Gus MacPherson has hailed his Queen’s Park squad as they have somehow hit second place in the table despite a horrendous injury list.

MacPherson is enduring the worst injury crisis of his managerial career, particularly in defence, but his side are level on points with League Two leaders East Fife.

He said: “We’ve been very, very disrupted with injuries and suspensions to key players, so that’s testament to everyone that has played their part so far in the first eight games of the season.

“In the East Stirling game we only had one available defender, it was real patchwork stuff.

“I don’t think anyone could have guessed what our defence was going to be that day, and certainly up until the final hours of preparation we were unsure how to tackle it. But we got there.

“We had a left-back at right-back, a left-midfielder at left-back, a midfielder at centre-half, but we ended up winning the game 5-1.

“It gives everybody in the squad a boost when that happens. You say to a squad at the beginning of the season that everybody will play their part, but sometimes the players don’t believe you.

“They think it’s just words to keep everybody happy, but we’ve relied on everybody so far and we’re not even in October yet.

“It’s pleasing that these guys have all come in and did a job for the team and put the club in the position that it’s in at the moment.

“It has been a great start. It shows you how competitive this league is that three wins on the spin can put you in this position.

“It’s just on the day how you play and if you take your chances you can win the game. Everybody can beat everybody, it’s so competitive that anybody on their day can win or lose, and the league table shows that.

“At the moment I don’t think that the league table comes into play, it’s just about trying to get a bit of consistency and momentum in terms of results.”