JIM Duffy believes this weekend’s opponents Ayr United will be on a high after their midweek cup success — and he reckons they’ll be even more difficult to topple after their cup victory against Queen’s Park.

Ayr dispatched the Spiders on penalties at Hampden on Tuesday night, and Duffy insists any cup win boosts morale in any dressing room.

He is insistent that Ian McCall’s outfit will be buzzing after their win, making Ton’s job that little bit harder when they head to Somerset Park tomorrow evening.

He told the Tele: “Ayr United have had a lot of draws, but there’s been no team who have gone there and turned them over and I think that’s all credit to them. 

“They’re a very efficient team who do their jobs well, like most teams in this division.

“They’re very well organised and, like many sides in the division, are notoriously difficult to beat. 

“I always give credit, not to be patronising, but because they deserve it. 

“If you’re a team in this division who make it hard for teams week in, week out, then you deserve credit — and I think Ayr United do that.

“They have terrific players sprinkled right through their side and a very experienced manager in Ian McCall, so there’s a lot going for them there. 

“They’re at home and are coming off the back of the midweek cup victory I’ve mentioned.

“A cup win gives you a lift, and they’ll be buzzing because of that. There will be a real bit of positivity about them, but from our point of view we had a terrific result and performance last week ourselves against Falkirk.

“We want to try and keep it as close to those outstanding performances week in, week out, and if we can do that we’ve got the capabilities of coming back with the points.”

Duffy believes another fixture against United — the third between the teams already this campaign — won’t bring too many unknowns for either team.

And he says both clubs know each other’s squads very well — so it might take something extra special from a player to separate the two this weekend.

He said: “They know our players and the way we play, and we know them very well too. 

“There’s very little I can say to the players that they won’t already know because we’ve played each other several times already this season.

“Occasionally there might be a set-piece or something like that, but generally you get those matches that are stifled and there’s only a fraction between them. 

“It will be a fiery game that will be frantic at times, but there’s not a huge gulf in quality.”