The Dumfries club have just four players remaining from last year’s Scottish Cup final, in which an experienced ensemble suffered a cruel 3-2 defeat after recovering from two goals down to frighten a side that had participated in the UEFA Cup final just three days previously.

Since then, manager Gordon Chisholm has radically recast his Palmerston pool, to the extent that few of his players will view tonight’s Co-operative Insurance Cup encounter as an opportunity to avenge that Hampden defeat.

“Don’t get me wrong, I think the supporters will still be saying, ‘lets get revenge’ after being beaten in the cup final but I look at it as a completely different game,” Chisholm insisted. “We’ve still got Bob Harris, Paul Burns, Steven Tosh and Jamie McQuilken that played in the cup final. People talk about getting on from the final, I think there has been a lot of changes at both clubs and I don’t think the cup final game will have any bearing on the result or the performance.

“It’s great for us to get one of the Old Firm, getting Rangers down at Palmerston. I just think it’s going to be an amazing night for the club and the supporters. It’s going to be difficult but I don’t think the cup final will have any bearing on it, 18 months is a long time in football.”

After starting their first division campaign with draws in their opening two matches, Chisholm’s side have hit a reasonable streak of form, culminating in an impressive victory over Dundee, the title favourites, on Saturday. As a consequence, Queen of the South enter this evening’s tie with a degree of confidence, the manager believing that the atmosphere in Dumfries can help their cause.

“They will naturally start as favourites but we ran them close in the cup final at Hampden and I’d love to think we could go one better this time around,” he admitted. “If they under perform and we can up our game, who knows what might happen. We’ve got nothing to lose but all to gain, so the pressure will be on Rangers. It’s going out live on television and under the Palmerston floodlights. There will be a full house which will make it a tremendous atmosphere.”

Regardless of the outcome, the Dumfries outfit will be winners this evening. As well as landing a significant cash windfall for the third-round tie being televised, the game is a 6500 sell-out.

David Rae, the chairman, insists he would prefer to win instead of count the cash, but he admitted: “We will benefit financially although Rangers will have to get a share of the gate too. It’s good for the club and the town itself. There will be a lot of spin-offs for the local pubs too. It costs a lot of money to run a football club and this is a good thing.”