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QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 2 : 0 DUNDEE 8th March 2008
MacDonald
Rating: 7.84
1
McCann
Rating: 8.52
Thomson
Rating: 8.14
Aitken
Rating: 8.14
Harris
Rating: 7.97
Burns
Rating: 7.93
Macfarlane
Rating: 7.97
Tosh
Rating: 7.89
McQuilken
Rating: 8.09
O'Connor
Rating: 8.37
1 S1
Dobbie
Rating: 8.59
SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 78
Stewart
Rating: 6.79
O'Neill
Paton
Gilmour
Grindlay
SUBMIT YOUR mom RATINGS
Members of the Internet Fan Club can award players marks out of ten for their performance today. The player with the most points awarded in the two days following a match will be the IFC Man of the Match. All of the points will then be added to a running total for each player and the results published in the mom League Table.

Name or IFC No.
MATCH SUMMARY
With a strong wind and torrential rain showers this game was never going to please the football purists. In the end a gritty determined performance from a full strength Queens side defeated the makeshift Dens parkers by a two goal margin but with a remarkable strike from 70 yards for the clincher in the 90th minute.

Gordon Chisholm fielded what was undoubtedly the strongest 11 he could whilst Alex Rae had to resort to naming himself on the bench due to injuries and suspensions affecting his team selection. That meant a return to the side for Jim Thomson for the cup-tied Craig Reid, John O'Neill dropped to the bench and Bob Harris came back in allowing Jamie McQuilken to move into the left midfield slot and to go on and win the sponsors man of the match award. Jim Lauchlan didn't make the bench today as Brian Gilmour was favoured with that spot.

In truth the first half was a dire affair with torrential rain showers and a strong wind into the faces of the Queens forwards. A couple of chances were made and passed up on in the 4th and 14th minutes as first Paul Burns had a shot following some good set up play from Stevie Tosh and Stephen Dobbie. Then Burns tried to be provider as he squared the ball across the six yard box but there wasn't to be any takers. Just after the quarter hour mark Neil Macfarlane had to make a great saving tackle to deny a Dundee forward in the goal mouth but looked to have injured himself in the process although it didn't slow the big man down too much.

The best chance of the half fell to Stephen Dobbie just before the half hour mark as he made himself some space and then unleashed an effort that beat Samson but also beat the far post.

The second half saw the wind with Queens and a more determined home side enter the field of play. Within four minutes of the restart Jim Thomson gave Craig Samson something to do as his header from outside the box forced former Queens loan 'keeper Samson into a routine save. From Thomson's effort the ball was cleared upfield and a slip by Thomson allowed Bob Davidson a shot on goal that MacDonald had no trouble in saving. There then followed a goalmouth scramble that saw the ball eventually collected by MacDonald.

Queens took the lead in the 51st minute as a long ball from Jamie MacDonald found Stephen Dobbie who controlled the ball expertly before firing it past Samson and into the back of the net to give the home side the advantage. Four minutes later and Paul Burns had a great opportunity to increase the lead as he was set up by good work from Harris and O'Connor, however burns this week could only blast past the post.

Dobbs strike beats Samson - Photo from Sandy Robertson

Dobbs celebrates his goal
Queens were on top at this point and Steve Tosh could have done better as he sprinted free following a Dundee corner and with Ryan McCann on his left Tosh opted to shoot and was foiled by Samson.

Dundee started to press forward and a misunderstanding between Bob Harris and Jamie MacDonald almost let in Freddie Daquin but MacDonald recovered the situation and grabbed the ball just as Daquins foot looked to take it away from him.

Goals and chances - from David Gow on the teracing
Gordon Chisholm decided to run the Dundee defence around a bit more so introduced John Stewart to replace Stephen Dobbie with ten minutes left. It took only three minutes for Stewart to get a real goal chance as he was put through one on one with the 'keeper but this time Samson produced a good stop to prevent Stewart increasing his Scottish Cup goal tally.

Then with just seconds left to play Dundee were awarded a free kick to the left hand side of box, Samson asked Rae if he could go up to and the manager signaled him to go forward, so with everyone in the box the free kick came in, initially it fell to Paul Burns but his clearance was blocked and the ball fell to Ryan McCann. McCann stepped into some clear space and looked up, he saw that the Dundee goal was unguarded and that 2000 Queens fans on the Portland Road terracing were willing him to kick it there way - he did so and as soon as it left his boot their arms were raised - it was plumb on target and headed for the net. That's where it ended up with everyone on the terrace jumping for joy.

McCann celebrates with Tosh as the semi-final spot is booked

Tha ball hits the back of the net and the semi-final place is secured
2-0 for Queens and a semi-final to look forward to that only the most senior of Queens fans will have been able to say they have seen before.

Great credit must also go to the Dundee team and fans who played the game in the most sporting of manners. Indeed the good wishes for the next round received from the clearly disappointed Dundee fans as they left the stadium was greatly appreciated.

Chairman Rae celebrates with the rest of the fans - Photo from Sandy Robertson

Celebration time - from David Gow on the teracing


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