Queen’s Park 3 Montrose 2

Queen’s Park achieved the primary objective of any cup tie – to be in the hat for the next round – with a hard fought win after extra time over Montrose to advance to the Men’s Scottish Gas Scottish Cup 5th round.

The Spiders’ starting line up showed 3 changes from the creditable draw away at Falkirk last week – Zack Mauchin returned after suspension, Liam McLeish and Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia started, with Zak Rudden on the bench and no place in the squad this week for Jack Thomson and Dom Thomas.

Before the match kicked off, there was a minute’s applause to mark the sad passing yesterday of “The Lawman”, Denis Law, who passed away at the age of 84.

After a cagey start by both teams, Queen’s were given a golden opportunity to get ahead when Jack Turner was adjudged to have been fouled inside the box and referee Dan McFarlane pointed to the spot after only 8 minutes. There was to be no dream start for the Spiders however, as visiting keeper Cameron Gill dived to his right to superbly touch Turner’s penalty around the post.

Queen’s kept the pressure on the League 1 side with a Liam McLeish header after a quarter of an hour which was saved comfortably by Gill in the Montrose goal. A shot from the edge of the box from Rocco was blocked for a corner, followed shortly after by a shot from Sean Welsh which was again blocked by the Montrose defence.

The wave of attacks from the home side was the dominant theme as the first half moved toward half time and Queen’s made the break through. A corner from Ryan Duncan on the right was whipped in towards the near post, Turner failed to connect, however the ball ended up in the net with Liam McLeish being credited with the final touch.

Half time: Queen’s Park 1 Montrose 0

The first half pattern continued as the second period got under way, with Queen’s shooting towards the Mount Florida end goal. It was the visitors however who equalised just before the hour mark when a clever run and shot from Blair Lyons found the corner of the Queen’s net.

Worse was to come for the home side just 4 minutes later when Machado ran across the Queen’s 18 yard line before laying off to that man Lyons, whose shot found the net again to give the visitors the lead.

Substitute Seb Drozd picked up a yellow card for what was deemed an over enthusiastic tackle, as Queen’s fought to get back in the game. Drozd was at the centre of things again after 64 minutes when his pass found the onrushing Josh Scott whose cross was just too high for McLeish.

With 15 minutes to go, Queen’s brought on Zak Rudden for Zack Mauchin which saw Louis Longridge move to right back and Jack Tuner taking up a midfield role as the clock ticked on.

It was beginning to look like one of those days when Queen’s came up with a stunning equaliser as the clock ticked over to 90 minutes. Welsh played a pass to Rudden who flicked onto Drozd who laid off a first time return pass to Zak Rudden whose fierce drive from 16 yards gave keeper Gill no chance.

Full Time: Queen’s Park 2 Montrose 2

8 minutes into the first period of extra time, Queen’s found a 3rd and what would prove to be a decisive goal. Longridge won a tackle 30 yards from goal, advanced forward before sliding a lovely pass through the Montrose defence and Josh Scott ran clear and chipped a right foot shot over the advancing keeper into the net.

The game opened up as the clocked ticked down, with the visitors pushing more men forward seeking an equaliser. There were half chances for both sides, however there was no further scoring and Queen’s advanced to the 5th round of the Scottish Cup, the draw for which is on Monday evening.

Queen’s Park: Calum Ferrie, Zach Mauchin (Zak Rudden 67), Joshua Scott, Sean Welsh, Nikola Ujdur, Louis Longridge, Will Tizzard, Liam McLeish (Josh Hinds 77), Jack Turner, Ryan Duncan (Max Thomson 77), Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia (Seb Drozd 57)
Unused Substitutes: Jack Wills, Timan Scott, Magnus MacKenzie, Aiden McGinlay

Montrose: Cameron Gill, Aiden Quinn, Terry Mason (Craig Brown 72), Graham Webster, Kane Hester (Owen Stirton 72), Blair Lyons (Ben Mciver-Redwood 86), Sean Dillon, Callum Sandilands (Paul Watson 86), Blaire McKenzie, Keir Bertie (Kerr Waddell 103), Matheus Machado (Alasdair Shrive 80)
Unused Substitutes: Ross Matthews, Alex Balfour.

Referee: Dan McFarlane