Queen’s Park 4 Queen of the South 0

The Spiders showed their attacking intentions early with left sided defender Zach Mauchin having a shot charged down at the end of the Queen of the South box with less than two minutes played.

On five minutes Ricky Waugh took the ball for a walk across the 18-yard box before picking out Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia on the right with his low drive was well scooped up by Mark Thomson who was to go on and have a fine game for the Doonhamers.

Two minutes later McLeish looked to have pierced the visiting defence however a strong sliding tackle ended his progress with Alex Bannon firing the resultant corner over.

After 14 minutes Mauchin passed to Fairlie who picked out McLeish who looked to have found the net with a flicked effort only for Thomson to stick out a hand to make an excellent stop.

Within 60 seconds Reid picked out Bannon with a delicate cross however his fellow defender volleyed over.

Five minutes later Thomson did well to push away a wicked Hickey-Fugaccia cross and then leap back to his feet to deny McCormick when he fired the loose ball goalward.

Thomson saved again on 21 minutes after McLeish had got in behind his marker with the shot-stopper impressing again shortly afterwards as he blocked Fairlie’s close range effort.

A goal for the hosts did arrive five minutes later when FAIRLIE controlled a whipped-in Lennon Connolly cross from the right on his chest and then slipped the ball into the far corner from eight yards out.

Ten minutes later it was two as McLEISH accepted a pass from Mauchin on the left and side-stepped his marker before drilling home.

Thomson then prevented Queen’s increasing their lead further before the half-time break as he pushed away a McLeish volley from a McCormick cross and then saved a low Connolly drive.

Two minutes into the restart McCormick made a darting run to the by-line before crossing to the back post however there were no takers.

A speedy Hickey-Fugaccia was fouled on 50 minutes on the right-hand side of the pitch and when Waugh’s free-kick came back off the far post BANNON was on hand to shoot through a ruck of bodies and make it 3-0.

On 55 minutes Waugh pulled a corner back to the 18-yard line where Connolly side-stepped his marker before sending a hot about an inch over.

Just after the hour mark Queen’s Park came close again when McCormack played a one-two with McLeish before firing for goal with Thomson producing another smart stop.

Jacques Heraghty showed that he was determined to keep a clean sheet on 65 minutes when he leap high to not only save but hold Finlay Kennedy’s header at the back post after a lighting break from the Dumfries side.

Hickey-Fugaccia was denied a goal before Queen of the South’s Ross Irving volleyed over however McCORMICK did find the net with 17 minutes left as he ran onto a through ball from Waugh and slipped a shot past the advancing Thomson.

In the closing stages substitute Kane Thomson saw a dangerous cross deflected just past before a header from Archie Graham flashed over.

Queen’s Park – Jacques Heraghty, Joseph Smith, Zach Mauchin, Alex Bannon (Archie Graham 80), Lewis Reid (Benjamin Ferguson 80), Ricky Waugh, Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia, Lennon Connolly, Liam McLeish, Alex Fairlie (Andrew Lind 72), Lucas McCormick (Kane Thomson 75).
Unused substitutes – Tyrece McDonnell, Liam Russell.

Queen of the South – Mark Thomson, Jay Burns, Finlay Kennedy, Matt Hall (Lewis Downie 60), Lewis Currie, Niall Rogerson, Andrew Oram, Ben Johnstone, Ross Irving, Shay Meagher (Charlie Watson 60), Ryan Findlay (Harry McLinden 75)
Unused substitutes – Cammy Bryson.