FOR BIG VICTORY
Ol iver cracked in a sublime 18-yard strike.
Quitongo grabbed a fourth goal in 64 minutes when he converted a fiercely- driven Forbes cross from close-range.
A Darren Brownlie foul on Forbes saw O’Ware blast home from the spot with 18 minutes left with substitute Jon Scullion going close twice to making it six.
Queen’s boss Gavin Skelton said: “If anything could have gone wrong, it went wrong.
“That was a really bad afternoon at the office.”
For Mor ton the y can now turn all their a t t ent ion t o ne x t Saturday’s Hampden showdown with Derek McInnes and his Dons.
Delighted Duffy said: “We can start preparing for what will be a tough game with Aberdeen with a few smiles.”
Goals from Scott Fraser and Tonyy Andreu did the damage as Jack Ross s suffered defeat in his debut game.
And McKinnon said: “We knew itt would be tough so it was a big threee points for us. We were excellent in n the first half and should have had thee game put to bed.
“They threw everything at us after r the break and long balls into the boxx caused us some problems.
“But the guys are learning you have to dig in to get results and it’s not always about pretty football.
“Tony gives us that extra bit of quality. He should have scored in the first half but his goal was class. And Scott is an unbelievable talent who wasoutstanding again here.”
McKinnon was in a generous mood forgiving defender Mark Durnan for his red card late in the game.
He added: “Mark said he’d forgotten he’d already been booked when he got his second yellow.”
United midfielder Fraser had a
chance to tee up Andreu in the box in the second minute but he failed to play his pass quickly enough and the opening was lost.
Buddies striker John Sutton had a chance six yards out after Ryan Hardie diverted the ball into his path but he couldn’t get it under control.
Hardie saw a header blocked in the ninth minute before Cammy Bell smothered his shot from the edge of the box.
And the busy forward, on loan from Rangers, fizzed a low shot narrowly wide after 16 minutes.
Lewis Morgan had two efforts from the edge of the box but they were too tame and too easy for Arabs No.1 Bell.
United then got the breakthrough when Andreu flicked it on for Fraser to fire into the corner in 38 minutes.
Home skipper Gary Irvine cleared a goalbound Andreu shot from a tight angle off the line, though it was trundling rather than thundering towards the net.
Morgan burst into the United box after robbing his marker but couldn’t get any power in his shot.
Bell then pulled off a brilliant save from home sub Lawrence Shankland but Andreu’s beautiful chip sealed the deal in the 73rd minute after Jamie Langfield had blocked Simon Murray’s initial effort with his foot.
United finished with 10 men after Durnan picked up two yellow cards in quick succession.
Saints boss Ross said: “There’s plenty to be encouraged by and I couldn’t have asked for any more.
“We created plenty of opportunities and on another day could have won it – but United were more clinical.”