PROUD Scot (@chrisgraham79) pinpoints his best bet from the weekend Scottish Cup action.
Aberdeen v Queen Of The South| Sunday 10th February 2019, 15:30
April 12th 2008. I was there. The day Queen Of The South beat Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-finals at Hampden. There were tears, there was laughter and there was cheap fizz (bought from a dodgy off-licence outside the national stadium) as us Doonhamers celebrated Queens getting to a Scottish Cup Final for the first time.
Fast forward 11 years and the sides meet again in Scotland's primary Cup competition. For Queens, another chance to make headlines. For Aberdeen, a chance to close in on another visit to Hampden and continue to build on what's been a hitherto good season.
While Aberdeen have had an excellent couple of months (seven Premiership wins in their last 10 league games), it must also be said that Queens have had a 2018/19 to be proud of. Gary Naysmith's side lie 5th in the Championship and still harbour ambitions to reach the end of season play-offs.
Big time Queens
The Dumfries side have stepped up to the plate in big games this season. Leaders Ross Country were smashed up 4-0 by South last month, second place Ayr were crushed 5-0 back in September, fourth place Inverness were beaten 2-1 just after New Year in the Highlands and best of all, Premiership Dundee were blown away 3-0 in the last round of the Cup. Fear has not been on the mind of the South West side.
While Aberdeen is a big step up from lowly Dundee, I am surprised to see Queens as big as 14/1 to win on Sunday. As well as their big match mentality this season, they also have the prolific Stephen Dobbie within their arsenal.
Dobbie has been championed by all and sundry this season after hammering home 37 goals in just 31 games. The veteran will go down in Queens folklore and he'll surely spy a chance to generate more headlines in this game on Sunday.
Aberdeen come into the tie on the back of an exhausting high-octane fixture against rivals Rangers on Wednesday night. The Dons came up short 4-2 but there was no disguising the effort they put into that match. Defensive lead Scott McKenna will miss the match on Sunday and that will be a concern for Derek McInnes.
At the prices I think it's worth getting with Queens on Sunday. 14/1 might be worth a small investment but my main bet will be to back them receiving 1.5 goals from the Dons at 39/40 with 188BET. I'm hoping I'll be partying like it's 2008 again on Sunday night.
Best Bets
Aberdeen v Queen Of The South – Queen Of The South +1.5 (39/40 188BET)
