Queen’s Park 6 East Kilbride 2 (aet)

It may have taken extra time, however Queen’s Park ran out 6-2 winners against Lowland League leaders East Kilbride to reach our first national cup final in 125 years.

Queen’s gave starting opportunities to Jack Wills in goals, new signing Ben Jackson and Rocco Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia, with Cal Ferrie and Nikola Ujdur moving to the bench. Zach Mauchin failed to recover from an injury sustained at the weekend against Morton, which saw Louis Longridge slotting in at right back.

Fans present at a chilly evening at The city Stadium had hardly settled to their seats when Queen’s went ahead after 45 seconds. A neat pass forward found Zak Rudden in space and the Queen’s forward ran on and lashed an unsavable shot into the net to give the Spiders a dream start.

Lowland League leaders East Kilbride shrugged off that early set back, forcing 2 corners in quick succession around the quarter hour mark, however both were dealt with by the Queen’s defence.

Queen’s grabbed a second goal after 22 minutes following a run down the right wing by Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia whose cross was driven home by the on rushing Ryan Duncan. A third wasn’t far away as a meandering run by Jack Turner saw him float past 3 defenders, however his cross into the box just eluded the Queen’s forwards.

East Kilbride continued to play neat football and had a shot well saved by Wills in the Queen’s goal after 28 minutes. A goal for the visitors was only delayed however, as a shot from Jack Leitch on the half hour mark found the back of the Queen’s net.

Will Tizzard had a mazy run forward after 41 minutes halted by the East Kilbride defence and from that Queen’s attack, East Kilbride raced up field and a smart save from Wills gave the visitors a corner as the clock nudged towards half time. The subsequent corner was played in with pace and found the head of David Ferguson to level the scores just before the break.

Half time: Queen’s Park 2 East Kilbride 2

The pace of the game continued as the first half ended, with both sides getting the ball down and playing a swift passing game on a more than decent surface at The city Stadium. Duncan and Turner both picked up yellow cards for the hosts in a busy opening spell at the start of the second half.

As the game progressed, Queen’s fitness began to tell with Rudden and Rocco having efforts which failed to trouble Matthew Connelly in the East Kilbride goal. The visitors were still well in the game however, and Wills had another smart save just after the hour mark.

Queen’s made a number of substitutions in an effort to force a winner, however a couple of shots from Turner in quick succession failed to tip the scoreline in Queen’s favour. Indeed, it was the visitors who nearly snatched a late winner, with a fierce shot from the edge of the box striking a post before being cleared by the Queen’s defence.

There was no further scoring as referee Lloyd Wilson blew for full time – an extra 30 minutes was required to find a winner.

Full time: Queen’s Park 2 East Kilbride 2

The first period of extra time was just over a minute old when Queen’s went ahead curtesy of a shot from the edge of the box from substitute Reece Evans which flew into the top corner. Things got even better for the Spiders when a Ryan Duncan free kick after 97 minutes crashed back off the bar, only to hit the unfortunate East Kilbride keeper who could only watch in vein as the ball trundled into the net.

A minute later the tie was effectively ended when a Ryan Duncan through ball found Zak Rudden racing clear and the big striker bagged his second goal of the game in fine style.

Queen’s superior fitness was now showing, with the visitors finding it hard to make any impression on the Queen’s defence. The scoring was wrapped up after 109 minutes when a short corner was played to Longridge whose first time cross into the box was fired into the net by Reece Evans to make the final score 6-2 for Queen’s.

Full Time after extra time: Queen’s Park 6 East Kilbride 2

Queen’s Park: Jack Wills, Joshua Scott (Josh Hinds 99), Sean Welsh (C) (Darryl Carrick 73), Louis Longridge, Benjamin Jackson (Nikola Ujdur 113), Will Tizzard, Zak Rudden (Max Thompson 105), Jack Turner, Ryan Duncan, Seb Drozd (Reece Evans 76), Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia (Timam Scott 73).
Unused Substitutes: Calum Ferrie, Joseph Smith.

East Kilbride: Matthew Connelly, David Ferguson, Kieran MacDonald (Reegan Mimnaugh 96), Sean Fagan (Scott Ferguson 55), Jack Leitch (C), Nathan Flanagan, Cameron Elliott, John Robertson (Luke Main 105), Ian McShane (Joao Balde 64), Jamie Hamilton, Lewis Spence.
Unused Substitutes: Christoper Truesdale, Broque Watson, Calum Biggar, Adam Livingstone.

Referee: Lloyd Wilson