Queen's Park stun Dundee as another SPL scalp is taken

The dark blues came into the game looking to end a run of three consecutive losses, but fell to a humiliating 2-1 defeat to the third division side.

 

Queens Park manager Gardner Speirs though was jubilant, but admitted some of the victory was due to the first half dismissal of Neil McGregor.

 

He said: "After the sending off and the penalty the game changed completely, and from then on we were able to keep the ball without too much pressure on us”.

 

Winning goal scorer Sean Burns added: "The sending off spurred us on. It put extra pressure on them and we managed to get the goals”.

In the opening ten minutes the away team asserted their dominance as the SPL club, and were in front after just six minutes. The ball sliced open the home sides defence through an excellent passing movement between John Baird and Jim McAllister, and Steven Milne slid the ball into the net past Neil Parry.

After the opener it was the home side that battled their way into the game harrying the Dark Blues at every opportunity. However on the eleventh minute Dundee created a chance through Jim McAllister when the midfielder crossed in from the right only for the shot to be blasted over the Queens Park goal by Ryan Conroy.

The spiders kept the tempo up and played their way back into the game with Ricky Little making good runs down the right and midfielder Michael Keenan stamping his authority on the game in midfield.  The first yellow card of the game came on the 18th minute for Queens Park defender Andy Robertson when he was cautioned for kicking the ball away after conceding a foul.

The home side were rewarded in the 24th minute when they were awarded a penalty, after Jamie Longworth was hacked down in the box ten yards from goal by McGregor. The Dundee defender was shown the red card for the foul and Longworth subsequently scored for Queens Park with a low drive to the left hand side of the goal. This sparked the first substitution of the game with Dundee taking off Graham Webster replacing him with Declan Gallagher.

It was Dundee who finished the half with an attack when Ryan Conroy displayed a brilliant jinking run through the Queens Park defence unchallenged and unleashed a spectacular 20 yard shot which had to be tipped over the bar by Parry, sending the sides in all square at half time.

It was the home side who started the second half on a high just as they had finished the first however both teams were playing fast attractive football when they were in possession but the final ball needed was eluding both sides.

 

Queens were controlling possession of the ball and they almost capitalised on this in the 60th minute when a Sean Burns corner was met by a Michael Keenan header only for the Dundee Goalkeeper to tip the shot over the bar.

 

As both sides attacked the Dundee goalkeeper was caught out at a cross, only able to fist the ball away from goal into the path of Andy Robertson whose deflected shot narrowly whizzed past Rab Douglas’s post.  However it was the home side who took a sensational lead in the 75th minute when Jamie Longworth hit a perfectly weighted pass from the half way line into the path of Sean Burns who blasted the ball to the left past the out rushing Dundee goalkeeper and into the net. 

 

Dundee pushed for the equaliser and could have taken the game to extra time in the dying minutes as Neil Parry stretched to tip away a cross which fell into the path of Jim McAllister, but Little cleared the ball to safety before McAllister could blast it into the open net. The spiders held on to claim a magnificent victory over the SPL newcomers, and are guaranteed to face top flight opposition again in the third round.

 

Dundee: Rab Douglas, Neil McGregor, Iain Davidson, Davide Grassi, Ryan Conroy, Matthew Lockwood, Gary Irvine, Jim McAllister, Graham Webster, John Baird, Steven Milne. Subs - Declan Gallagher, Stephen O'Donnell, Jamie Reid, James Thomson, Alex Baird (gk).

Referee: Brian Colvin.

Attendance: 707