MORTON manager Jim Duffy insists Queen of the South will be no pushovers today despite being all but out of contention for the play-offs.

After a poor run of form, winning only once in their last six matches, the Doonhamers have slipped down to seventh in the table.

They now need to rely on results going their way while winning all their remaining games to even have a chance of making the play-offs.

But the Ton boss says Queens will be more than up to the task this afternoon, with a lot still at stake for the club financially.

There is a £95,000 difference between finishing in fourth and seventh in the Championship, after prize money figures were released by the SPFL earlier this month, giving every side plenty of incentive to finish as high up the table as they can.

He told the Tele: “They’re unlikely to be in the play-offs now, but they’re still a good side and this division is about trying to finish as high up as you can.

“There’s a lot of finance at stake for clubs like Queen of the South and ourselves, all these positions then become very important.

“If you can finish as high as you can, and they’ll definitely come with that intention as they know how important it is for the club, I’ve got no doubts about their commitment.

“Unfortunately a lot of people believe players aren’t as committed or think ‘they’ve not got that much to play for, they’ll not be at it’. That’s not the case, that’s not the way it works.

“Every player goes into every game with the intention of winning it, and the desire of winning it, and Queen of the South have some terrific players.

“It’s just in the last few weeks they’ve had a couple of results that have taken them away from that play-off area.”

Duffy will be hoping his side can keep up their scoring form on Saturday. Three goals against Dumbarton on Tuesday meant the Greenock side have netted eight times in their last four outings.

And while he praised his side’s never-say-die spirit to secure the victory against the Sons, he hopes his players are able to move quickly onto the next one today.

He said: “You have to put things behind you, you have to move forward. Football is about the next game and reflecting on the last game, you can’t over analyse it or get too uptight about it as you have another game coming quickly.

“On Tuesday there were good spells of the game when I thought we played some good football and I thought the first two goals were outstanding in terms of finishes.

“There were a lot of good things, and some things that weren’t so good.

“There were a few errors from both teams, there were five goals and it was a game full of drama and thankfully from our point of view we managed to nick it in the end.”

Queen of the South’s main threat will be in the form of striker Stephen Dobbie.

The 35-year-old has netted 24 times in 39 appearances for the Palmerston outfit this season in all competitions. Many regard him as one of the top performers in the Championship, and Duffy is no exception to that.

He added: “They’ve got one, if not the best player in the division in Stephen Dobbie. If he’s not the best player I don’t think there are many that are better.”