Amy Canavan
BBC Scotland at Ochilview Park

Queen’s are cranking up the pressure, and their home fans are receptive of that.

Grant Savoury’s miss there, a colossal ‘ohhh’ rung out in the main stand.

The now-main man at Ochilview had his head in his hands, and rightly so.

The form Grant Savoury's been in, you'd have expect better there.

Connor Shields shows his attributes, bursting down the right with ferocious pace before teeing up the Queen's midfielder in the box, who can only skew his strike well wide of the Ayr goal.

Ouch!published at 20 mins

20 mins

Queen's Park 0-0 Ayr United

Josh McPake is receiving treatment after Nicholas McAllister blasted through him as he went up for a header.

It looked fairly innocuous on first viewing, but there was certainly some needle in there from the Ayr man.

Dom Thomas trying to conjure up some of that magic from his wand of a left-foot.

The winger whips in a trio of dangerous deliveries, but on every occasion, an Ayr body in claret and blue is there to thunder it away.

We'll be needing more from the game's flair players if this one is to burst into life any time soon.

D'awww, would you look at that?

Former teammates Owen Coyle and Lee Bullen were all smiles and hugs before the game, but now that we're approaching 15 minutes, I bet they're fully locked in on what has been a cagey affair so far.

Image source, SNS

Amy Canavan
BBC Scotland at Ochilview Park

A very timid start from both… in it for the long haul.

There is a healthy contingent of Ayr fans packing out the stand behind the goals.

They’ve had plenty to cheer of this week - and this season - so crack on lads and lassies and let your voice be heard.

First save of the night for Albinson in between the Ayr sticks as Jack Thompson drives into the box and gets his shot away.

A big deflection forces the visiting goalkeeper into a smart stop down to his left.

A half-hearted penalty shout as Reece McAlear tumbles to the ground in the box, but Steven McLean never looked interested.

First involvement for the on-loan Tranmere man.

And we're off!

The hosts get us underway at Ochilview.

Who will end the evening atop the Championship? Let's find out!

Right troops, it's time to stick your necks on the line. Who will emerge victorious and put themselves in control of the title race?

Thumbs up for Queen's Park.

Thumbs down for Ayr United.

Queen's Park manager Owen Coyle is expecting an exciting but tough encounter with Ayr tonight, after reflecting on a tough week for the club, having lost their top goalscorer and their place in the last-16 of the Scottish Cup

He tells BBC Scotland: "It's extremely disappointing. We won a game on sporting merit and had the chance to play a very good Premiership side in Livingston. It's taken away from us, we can't affect that now, so we just have to take the punch on the nose and move on from that.

"We love Simon [Murray] to bits, he was an outstanding player. He was terrific for Queen's Park, but Queen's Park were also terrific for him. He signed the pre-contract at Ross County and intimated he wanted to be there, and I wasn't going to stand in his way.

"I need players focused on what we're going to do. That being said, we've brought in young Euan Henderson, and obviously Connor Shields as well, who's a terrific player.

"I'm expecting a really tough game. They have outstanding players throughout their team. I'm expecting two sides who will go out and try and win the game, because that's the way both of us play. I think it'll be an exciting game for everybody watching."

Image source, SNS

Ayr United manager Lee Bullen is in a positive mood heading out of the January transfer window, and is glad to have kept a hold of his star players as The Honest Men head into the final third of their title challenge.

"It's fantastic. I think the biggest thing for us during the January window was keeping a hold of the group that we've got," he tells BBC Scotland. "We're delighted to get through the window with, basically, the full squad in tact.

"I think we've just got a really good culture within the group. They back each other up. It showed in the second game [in the Scottish Cup on Tuesday] against Cove. We made five or six changes and it didn't change anything, the boys went on and got a good result.

"There's really good strength in depth and we're hoping we can go and get the three points tonight. To be fair, if you took out the five goals [in their last encounter] their was nothing between the teams. We were ruthless in our box and we missed a few chances. The first game ups here was like a game of two halves.

"It looks like there's nothing between the two teams. Both teams want to attack, both teams want to get on the front foot and both teams want to score goals, so a 0-0 draw, probably," he laughs.

Image source, SNS

With Murray swapping The Spiders for The Staggies, can loan signing Connor Shields fill the goalscoring void for the league leaders?

For whatever reason, the 25-year-old hasn't managed to make an impact in the Premiership with Motherwell, but he now finds himself back in the division where he made a name as a hot prospect in Scottish football.

At Queen of the South in 2020/21, he scored 11 goals in 28 Championship appearances, including a brace at Tynecasle in their 3-2 victory over eventual champions Hearts.

Now at a different Queens, Owen Coyle will be hoping his new man finds the confidence to fire his side to the crown.

Image source, SNS

Amy Canavan
BBC Scotland at Ochilview Park

Putting my neck on the line, here, but I’m sure this is going to be a cracker.

Perhaps an obvious shout for a table-topping clash, but these are two really fun - and crucially, good - teams.

Both partial to quite a scalp, and you don’t have to look too far back to find one.

This is a really tight pitch, too. So there’s going to have to be a lot of neat play to in little pockets - thankfully, both have those exact kind of players. I’m looking at you, Dom Thomas and Josh Mullin…

And it’s not even that cold! No big jacket and a cuppa in hand. I’m ready, are you?

Has there been a better individual performance in the second tier this season than the Josh Mullin masterclass we witnessed last Friday at Balmoral?

His two goals and two assists in the 5-0 thrashing of Cove in front of the BBC cameras made Lee Bullen absolutely intent on tying him down permanently. He did so on deadline day, as Mullin left Livingston, allowing him to pen a deal to stay at Somerset until the end of the season.

He did score a stunning free-kick last week, but here's a reminder of his first of the evening - my personal favourite. The pass. The finish. The composure. Mwah.

For more on how Queen's Park will react to the loss of Simon Murray, as well as all the key talking points you need to be clued up on ahead of this enticing fixture, we've got you covered.

Have a gander of Amy Canavan's match preview ahead of kick-off.

It's the big question coming into this much-anticipated encounter.

Simon Murray had been enjoying a career renaissance with The Spiders this season, racking up 15 goals and 6 assists in the league, making him the Championship's joint-top scorer - alongside Ayr's Dipo Akinyemi.

Owen Coyle must now find a way to win without their talisman, after a fascinating deadline day tale found Murray heading up to Inverness to feature in Queen's Scottish Cup tie, before darting across the Kessock Bridge, not just to sign for Ross County, but also to come off the bench in their 1-1 Premiership draw with Hibs on the same day.

Scottish football, eh?

Image source, SNS

For all the positivity radiating from Queen's adopted home of Ochilview this season, an administrative error has taken the wind out their sails a tad.

Earlier today, The Spiders were kicked out of the Scottish Cup following the fielding of an ineligable player. Euan Henderson started their rearranged tie with Inverness on Tuesday, but had joined on loan from Hearts after the date of the original fixture, meaning he should have sat this one on the sidelines in accordance with SFA rules.

Queen's President David Hunter said: "It is a regrettable mistake. One we will learn from. Our team put on a tremendous display on Tuesday to win the tie and obviously today's result is a hugely disappointing outcome. As upsetting as this matter is, it's vital that we put this behind us quickly, move on and focus on our league campaign."

Or should I say, last time rout? (Sorry.)

The Honest Men pulled off one hell of an eye-catching result in the most recent meeting between the pair, running out 5-0 winners in front of a delighted Somerset Park back in October.

No prizes for guessing who fired them to victory, as goalscoring sensation Dipo Akinyemi picked up a hat-trick inside 53 minutes, before Bradley Young and Ben Dempsey rounded off a statement-making win.

Image source, SNS

Well, if you predicted at the start of the season that these two teams would be locking horns in a February top of the table clash, accept a sincere 'fair play' from me, and I'm sure many other Scottish football fans.

The Championship's surprise packages are well worth their place though, acting as the division's great entertainers, scoring the first [Ayr] & second [Queen's] most goals in the league.

Tonight may be a pivotal moment in the race for the title, but we can't yet forget Dundee, who lie just a point behind Ayr with a game in hand over both the teams above them.