Queens progressed to the third round of the Scottish Cup with a comfortable win over Montrose this afternoon at Links Park.
The Queens team showed two enforced changes over that which was victorious versus Stranraer only six days ago as the suspended Andy Aitken was swapped for Kevin Robison and on loan midfielder Stuart Davidson was replaced by Alan Kerr. Club Captain Steven Leslie making it onto the bench along with Mark Weir and Charlie Adams.
Queens started brightly and immediately pressurised the Montrose goal with a George Rowe header being cleared of the line in the fourth minute, a Stevie Mallan shot being collected easily by the keeper shortly after and then another George Rowe header from a corner being spectacularly saved by the home keeper.
Queens continued to dictate the match but it wasn't until the fortieth minute that the deadlock was eventually broken as John Dickson cut the ball back to the predatory Ken Eadie who scored his second goal in his three appearances this season with ease from eight yards.
The second half started with Queens continuing their dominance and indeed Stevie Mallan had a good effort well saved. The "fifty minute" zone again saw Queens napping as they allowed Montrose to score against the run of play, the tenth goal scored between fifty and fifty nine minutes against the Doonhamers this season.
This gave Montrose fresh hope and they almost made it count as they claimed for a penalty but the referee was close to the action.
Queens freshened things up in the seventieth minute by bringing on Charlie Adams and it was he who made all the difference in the ensuing six minutes, as firstly in the seventy fifth minute he crossed for Warren Hawke to score with an unstoppable header and then in the seventy sixth turned goal getter when Hawke returned the compliment and sent Charlie through to comfortably beat the keeper with a stunning drive.
The contest was finished, although Queens last sub Mark Weir did have the opportunity to make it 4-1 as he was clean through on the keeper but failed to provide the calm finish necessary.
Queens now go into the draw tomorrow for the third round of the Cup.
Joining the Palmerston men in the hat will be both Dalbeattie Star and Annan Athletic, both local teams performed superbly well today away against league opposition. Albion manager Mark Shanks is quoted as saying that he was thankful to still be in the cup after Star gave his team a real run for their money and by all accounts could well have taken the honours today. Annan on the other hand like to do things the hard way, 2-0 down to Brechin in the first half the Galabank men rallied in the second and drew level with almost the last kick of the ball to take the tie back to Annan next Saturday where a good sized crowd and local knowledge of the run of the pitch may well be enough to see off Brechin who will include former Queens man Lee Bailey.
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