Queen of the South will be hoping to invoke the memories of 2008 when they welcome Aberdeen to Palmerston Park in Scottish League Cup Group A on Wednesday.
The Doonhamers claimed a famous 4-3 victory over their top-flight opponents in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup 18 years ago, before going on to be edged in another entertaining game against Rangers in the final.
Aberdeen have come through the three cup ties between the pair since then and they are also two wins from two in this season's League Cup to sit level on points with Queen's Park at the top of the group.
QOTS are two points further back in third and they need to pick up a positive result if they are to keep their hopes of topping the group or going through as one of the best second-placed sides alive.
Queen of the South v Aberdeen Tips Summary
Best Bet - Aberdeen to win and both teams to score @ 13/8
Alternative Bet - Correct score: Queen of the South 1-2 Aberdeen @ 15/2
Bet Builder - Over 2 goals, Aberdeen to win by one goal & Over 10 corners @ 4/1
Queen of the South v Aberdeen Prediction
Best Bet: Aberdeen to win and both teams to score @ 13/8
QOTS are preparing for their fifth straight season in Scottish League One and it has been all change at the club over the summer, with head coach Peter Murphy having moved on after missing out on promotion in the play-offs two seasons running.
Nicky Clark has succeeded the Irishman in the dugout, taking over as player-coach, and the 35-year-old has proven he still has plenty to offer on the pitch, scoring in the penalty shootout defeat to Kelty Hearts and in the 3-0 win over Brora Rangers in this competition.
Scoring goals has not been a problem for QOTS, as they have netted in 13 matches on the spin and in 19 of their last 20, so they will be confident of troubling the scoresheet when Aberdeen make the journey south to Dumfries.
The Dons have beaten Brora and Queen's Park in their two group matches, but they conceded against the latter and are yet to fully convince under Stephen Robinson, who has lost four of his 11 matches in charge.
There have been plenty of incomings and outgoings at Pittodrie over the off-season as Aberdeen bid to improve on last term's disappointing ninth-place finish in the Scottish Premiership, with two of the new arrivals, Dan Happe and Lewis Smith, scoring in Saturday's win over Queen's Park.
Aberdeen are still a work in progress and QOTS can keep this competitive, but the Dons' top-flight quality should eventually shine through.
Alternative Bet: Correct score: Queen of the South 1-2 Aberdeen @ 15/2
Aberdeen have netted exactly two goals in both their League Cup games this term, as well as in their pre-season win over Linfield and in three of their final four Premiership matches of the 2025/26 campaign.
That shows there is an attacking edge to the Dons but they don't often blow teams away, and with QOTS having a happy knack for finding the back of the net, the 2-1 away win correct score comes firmly into play.
To add further credence to that belief, it is also worth noting that Aberdeen won 2-1 on their last visit to Palmerston Park, although that was in a Scottish Cup tie over 14 years ago; Andrew Considine scored a late winner for the Dons that day.
Queen of the South v Aberdeen Bet Builder
- Over 2 goals
- Aberdeen to win by one goal
- Over 10 corners
Pays 4/1
Backing over two goals would have been a winning bet in four of QOTS's last six games and in two of Aberdeen's last three competitive fixtures and it appears a good way to start this bet builder.
Aberdeen don't tend to blow teams away, failing to score more than twice in each of their last 19 games, which increases the likelihood of an away win being by a narrow one-goal margin.
There should be plenty of attacking endeavour on show so do not be surprised if the corner count reaches double figures.
Aberdeen have earned 19 on their own across their opening two League Cup fixtures and the bulk of the set-piece opportunities are likely to come the way of Robinson's visitors.
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Key Match Stats
- Queen of the South's last win over Aberdeen was their famous 4-3 success in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup in 2008
- Aberdeen have won three cup ties against QOTS since then, most recently prevailing 3-0 in the League Cup group stage in July 2024
- Nicky Clark has scored in back-to-back games since being named Queen of the South's player-manager
- Aberdeen have won five of their 11 competitive matches since Stephen Robinson took charge in March
- The Dons have won the League Cup six times; only Rangers (28) and Celtic (22) have lifted the trophy more often
- QOTS are two-time League Cup semi-finalists although the most recent of those came in 1960
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
