There will certainly be no surprises in the Partick Thistle under-20 side for Queen’s Park manager Gus MacPherson in this evening’s Irn-Bru Cup clash.

The Spiders boss attends as many development matches as he can as he tirelessly looks to unearth talent for his side, meaning he is as familiar with tonight’s opponents as he is with any in their own division.

It was a factor that played into his favour as his men comfortably saw off Kilmarnock under-20s in the last round, and he hopes that it will give him the edge over the full-time youngsters again tonight.

“I go to the majority of the development games, that’s part of our remit in the scouting department to know what young players are out there playing at that development stage,” MacPherson said.

“I’ve seen a lot of Partick Thistle over the last couple of years at that level, and it’s obviously played a part in bringing some of their good young players through to the first-team.

“The expectation will probably be on us as the senior team to win the game, but we’ve got to also look at it as a chance to give players game-time that maybe haven’t had as much as they would have liked.

“There’s the fitness side of it where quite clearly they should have the fitter players as they are full-time, but the reason that these teams were allowed into the competition was to try and help further their development, and show them what is required in senior football.

“They are good players – there are undoubtedly some very talented young players in our country, and they will be looking to show that they can compete against senior teams.”

MacPherson has been delighted with the way his players have adapted to life in League One so far following promotion, and their form gives him confidence going into tonight’s encounter.

“The most important thing has been the performances,” he said. “From where we’ve came from in such a short space of time over the last couple of seasons to get to this level of football has been great.

“We’ve shown we can compete. We played pretty well against Airdrie and created some really good chances, and although we probably didn’t play as well on Saturday in the windy conditions, we managed to be positive and I was delighted to get three points.

“We certainly deserved something from the game, and from the second half performance, I think we merited the win.

“In terms of performances and the work ethic of the group, we’re delighted.”