On the face of it, Queen of the South to beat Edinburgh City at 1.4 looks an unremarkable price, but dig a little deeper and there is some strong value to be had on the Doonhamers taking an easy victory in this match.

Edinburgh City is a club in crisis. It emerged late last week that their players had not been paid for November and, according to reports, there was little prospect of them being so before Christmas. Administration has been suggested and the expectation is that the vast majority of their senior players will be released from their contracts in January.

The team that Michael McIndoe was able to field against Stirling Albion on Saturday was comprised of loan players, under-20s plus senior pros Liam Fontaine and Scott Mercer. In total, nine players made their league debuts and another played just his second match as they were defeated 3-1 at home against opponents who had previously lost seven straight matches.

The prospect of anything improving before the weekend appears scant from what the manager has said – and if anything, things may get worse.

Queen of the South, meanwhile, are showing signs of spluttering belatedly into action this season, having beaten a very decent Montrose team 4-1 away from home last weekend. It is the type of result that could kick start their season and they really should back it up against an opponent they have beaten in all eight previous meetings. In six of these games, they have won by two or more.

At 1.4, Queens look excellent value to overcome what is likely to be the epitome of a patchwork team, and if the hosts show anything like the cutting edge they did against Montrose, the price of 2.4 on them to win with a handicap of -1 also looks incredible.