Last updated 11:42, Wednesday, 21 May 2008

SINCE when was Victor Meldrew put in charge of running football?

Just the ticket: Fans queue at Palmerston Park to buy tickets for the cup final. All 15,000 seats have been sold

That can be the only explanation for the curmudgeonly reaction to Queen of the South’s magnificent achievement in reaching Saturday’s Scottish Cup Final.

Those who say they’ll be out of their depth and that a Scottish First Division team won’t bring anything to the final clearly don’t have a romantic bone in their body.

Queens are a lovely, homely club and they thoroughly deserve their big day, and having knocked Aberdeen out of the competition, you can’t say they haven’t earned the right to walk tall.

Rangers against Queen of the South doesn't exactly rival an Old Firm game in terms of box office appeal, but the match is a sell-out.

A sceptical Scottish FA awarded the Dumfries side – average attendance around 2,000 – just 15,000 seats. With three days to go, there are none left which sums up precisely how much this final means to the town.

Flags are starting to appear in house and car windows – and an explosion of blue and white is expected in the run-up to Saturday.

Queens have always been considered an unfashionable club from a sleepy backwater, but they’ve added a real touch of magic to the Scottish Cup this season, and, you know what, I reckon they might just produce a shock.

Rangers are making hard work of just about everything at the moment as they’re jaded from their UEFA Cup exploits and a congested fixture list of four games in eight days.

Gordon Chisholm is one of the rising stars of Scottish football management and a highly-respected coach, who deserves real credit for the way he has made some shrewd captures and also helped to revive the flagging careers of players like former Gretna stars Steve Tosh, Neil MacFarlane and Andy Aitken.

The club took a gamble this season by going full-time and that bold boardroom decision by chairman David Rae and his directors is really paying off, both financially and in terms of their progress on the pitch.

Queens will not disgrace themselves on Saturday, and they will do Dumfries proud – regardless of what the grumpy old men might say.