Montrose boss Stewart Petrie is aiming to secure his side’s position in third this weekend, allowing him to rest key players ahead of the play offs.
The Gable Endies welcome fourth placed Queens Park to Links Park on Saturday.
Any kind of result for Montrose will guarantee their position but, with the Spiders six points behind with two games left, Petrie is taking nothing for granted.
The sides have played out three tight games with the Angus club coming out on top last time around.
Cagey affair expected
“I wouldn’t expect Saturday to be any different to the games we’ve seen,” Petrie told Courier Sport.
“We’ve been getting minutes into more players again and we’ll see how it goes.
“If we get the result on Saturday, we’ll have a look and see if we can rest some of the boys the following week because we will have guaranteed third spot.
“In a couple of weeks’ time, the two teams could meet again in the play-off final.”
As well as guaranteeing third place, Petrie is also keen to get a win for the Links Park faithful.
The Montrose boss admits it hasn’t been the best of viewing at home this season, but they are looking to put that right in the final game on their patch before the play-offs.
“It’s always important to do well in your home games,” he said.
“We’ve been a bit stop-start this season at home. We’ve had some frustrating games where we’ve not had the results we wanted.
“That’s maybe due to the way teams are now setting up against us at home. It’s up to us to find a way to break that down.
“We have been better away from home this season, so it would be nice to finish on a high with a victory and put a smile on everybody’s face.”
Team news
Petrie admits he may shuffle his pack a little this week following their 2-1 defeat to Clyde last weekend.
But it looks like the season could be over for four of his men.
“There will be changes,” Petrie said. “We’ll have Liam and Eli back in the squad hopefully after their illnesses.
“We’re minus Martin (Rennie), Kerr (Waddell), Matty (Allan) and Aido (Aidan Quinn). Three centre halves missing which isn’t ideal.
“It’s a tweak that Aidan’s got, he just can’t get rid of it. We’ll have to monitor him but it has been a while since he’s played a lot of football.
“Going into the play offs and, hopefully playing four games in 12 days, it’s a big ask for him to make that. Times running out for him a bit at the moment.
“Martin has reacted well since getting an injection so we’re hoping he’ll start doing a bit of ball work.
“He’s not played since the start of the season but we’ll just have to see he is.
“Kerr is back running but the season will come too soon for him as well and Matty won’t be running again this season.”
