Queen’s Park 4 Elgin City 0

With Danny Wilson having departed the club and Lewis Reid picking up a slight knock there were two changes to the Spiders line-up from last Tuesday’s meeting with Hibernian.

Louis Longridge and Sean Welsh both came in from the start with Michael Collie handed a place on the substitute’s bench for the first time.

Elgin, who were creating history as the first visiting team to play twice at The city Stadium, kicked off with The Spiders deploying Jack Thomson, Will Tizzard and Cammy Kerr in a three-man defence.

It was the visitors that had the first attempt on goal however Dylan Gavin’s header from a Michael Dangana cross on four minutes failed to trouble Calum Ferrie.

The hosts forced a corner on 11 minutes when a Scott cross was deflected wide and, when the Geordie sent over a cross at the second attempt, Sean Welsh met it with a powerful diving header that Thomas McHale did well to push away with Zak Rudden unable to turn in the rebound.

Six minutes later a strong run from Lewis Hyde gave Girvan a shooting chance from the edge of the Queen’s Park box however Ferrie was well-positioned to save.

Queen’s run of misfortune in terms of injuries continued on 20 minutes when Will Tizzard limped off after treatment with Zach Mauchin brought on as his replacement.

That disappointment was shrugged off as Thomson sent a fine cross-field pass to Louis Longridge who picked out MacGregor with a swinging cross with his net-bound volley hitting a defender and flying over.

On 25 minutes another Longridge cross created a chance as Scott was picked out at the back post and his header looped over McHale however Ross Draper popped up on the line to clear.

Longridge played another fine ball shortly afterwards that looked to have released MacGregor with McHale racing to gather and end the danger.

As Queen’s continued to probe Jack Turner sent over an inviting cross from the right and Scott did likewise from the left however there were no takers.

There were loud appeals for a penalty on 35 minutes when Turner tumbled in the box however referee Wilson was unmoved.

A goal arrived five minutes from the break when Thomas squeezed a pass down the right to Turner who cut the ball back to the in-rushing MacGREGOR who side-footed home from eight yards.

A second arrived on 44 minutes when Thomas swung over a corner from the right and MacGREGOR rose high to nod home at the back post.

Girvan looked to have pulled a goal back in injury time with a fierce low drive from 20 yards however Ferrie dived to his right and stretched out a hand to save.

Half time – Queen’s Park 2 Elgin City 0

Rudden sent a shot fizzing wide in the early stages of the second half however THOMAS had much better luck on 50 minutes.

Goalkeeper McHale was slack with a kick-out and the Spiders skipper picked the ball and shimmied his way into the box before cracking a shot high into the net.

Thomas came close to a second five minutes later when he pounced on a Rudden knockdown and tried his luck from 25 yards with his shot just clearing the bar.

On the hour mark Elgin substitute Brian Cameron picked up on a loose pass 25 yards from Ferrie’s goal and tried to send a curling shot into the goal however he was just wide.

QP raced to the other end, and it looked like Turner had added a fourth as he skipped past McHale and rolled the ball goalward however Draper was on hand to clear from the line again.

Incredibly just two minutes later Turner shot past McHale at the second attempt and Draper was there to complete a hat-trick of close-range clearances.

As the home pressure continued McHale redeemed himself with a fine touch around the post from a Rudden shot.

A fourth goal arrived with 20 minutes left when a Longridge cross was headed into the path of SCOTT who found the net with a left-foot shot via the crossbar from 14 yards.

Ferrie had to watch a Dajon Golding effort closely as it curled past his left-hand post with substitute Liam McLeish cracking a shot against an Elgin post with McHale beaten with five minutes left.

Queen’s Park – Calum Ferrie, Jack Thomson, Will Tizzard (Zach Mauchin 20), Cammy Kerr, Louis Longridge (Tyrece McDonnell 73), Sean Welsh (Michael Collie 86), Jack Turner, Roddy MacGregor, Josh Scott, Dom Thomas (Josh Hinds 73), Zak Rudden (Liam McLeish 73).
Unused substitutes – Jack Wills (G/k), Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia, Magnus Mackenzie, Darryl Carrick.

Elgin City – Thomas McHale, Lyall Booth, Jake Dolzanski, Russell Dingwall, Michael Dangana (Brian Cameron 46), Kyle Girvan, Findlay Allen (Ryan Sargent 46), Dylan Gavin (Oliver McDonald 66), Lewis Hyde (Jack Murray 70), Ryan Macleman (Dajon Golding 46), Ross Draper.
Unused substitutes – Owen Cairns, Cole Taylor, Liam Macdonald

Referee – Lloyd Wilson