ZAK Rudden has expressed confidence Queen’s Park can use the invaluable lessons they have learned from their Scottish Gas Scottish Cup run this season to help them land a Premiership play-off place and lift the SPFL Trust Trophy.
The striker and his team mates, who recorded a historic victory over Rangers at Ibrox in the last round of the competition last month, were unable to pull off another giant-killing act against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday.
Manager Callum Davidson was missing a raft of important players – including his left-back Adam Montgomery, who was ruled out on the morning of the quarter-final by a calf injury – and his charges slumped to a 4-1 defeat.
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However, Rudden, who netted a consolation goal late on to give the travelling supporters something to cheer, is still hopeful the 2024/25 campaign can be a successful one for Queen’s Park.
They are five points behind fourth-placed Partick Thistle in the William Hill Premiership with nine games to play and take on second tier rivals Livingston in the SPFL Trust Trophy final at Falkirk Stadium at the end of this month.
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“We thought that we had a chance of maybe taking something from the game, but obviously it wasn't to be. We are normally well organised, but it seems like at the moment we're just consecutively losing goals. There's just a roll of goals that keep coming. That's something we need to work on, throughout the team.
“I think the league is what we've got to focus on now and try and get to the play-offs. I think that is achievable. If you get a run of games and wins then anything is possible. We've got a game on Tuesday against Thistle and that's what we'll look towards.
“We'll think about the Challenge Cup when that comes around. But we're looking forward to that in the future. That's a bit of silverware that it's possible we can win. We’re looking forward to that.”
