St Mirren striker Steven Thompson believes that the Paisley side are a completely different team now than the one that Queen of the South put out of the League Cup back in August.

The Saints are back in Dumfries this afternoon as they seek to atone for that shock exit earlier in the campaign and Thompson is well aware that previous events mean no-one needs to be told just how difficult a tie it may be.

"We are much better shape now than that team that was beaten in August," he said. "We have so much more about us -our shape is better, our belief has grown, our confidence has come on and as a team we look like we are playing as a unit rather than 11 individual players.

"But although we look like a much better team now, there is no way that we are taking anything for granted. We were gutted to go out of the League Cup at the first round and it was a real sore one for us to take.

"We know that Queens will be up for it and they'll have it in their minds that if they've done it once then they can do it again. It's up to us to go out and prove that we have come on significantly since that last game against them early in the season."

The game will be played on an artificial surface which is always a concern for teams who are unused to it but Thompson has batted away any suggestion that the pitch could give Danny Lennon's men a problem.

"I think nowadays most players are used to playing on that kind of pitch because we all use them at training," he said. "They have come on leaps and bounds in recent years and I would hate to think that we would be looking to use anything like that as an excuse.

"We've played on it before, you know you have to modify things accordingly and you really need to just get on with it. It's as simple as that."

Meanwhile, Thompson also believes that part of the reason for the revival in St Mirren's fortunes is the way the team have worked on getting a bit more support to the forward players.

Paul McGowan has moved further up the pitch in a move that the veteran credits as creating more opportunities for him.

"Paul is close to getting to the level he was playing at last season," said Thompson. "He is a clever player who can find a pocket of space that no-one else can and he can thread a perfect ball through to you.

"He has definitely helped me out by being a wee bit further up, but to be fair as a team I think we worked really hard on that.

"We are a side with a lot of hard-working midfielders who work their socks off and they are all good athletes - John McGinn, Conor Newton and Kenny McLean do a power of work in games.

"We tried hard to make sure that in matches I wasn't left quite so isolated and I do think that it has worked. We have turned a corner but it would be lovely for us now to try and get a wee bit of a cup run under our belts."

Manager Danny Lennon said: "It's important we bring the good qualities we have shown in the last six or seven weeks. We have got to be at our utmost best and be professional."