Suffering Saints need extra time to sneak past QOS
Tommy Wright had to suffer extra time to see his side go into the quarterfinals of the Betfred Cup, but felt they should have wrapped the game up during the 90 minutes. He said: “We were the better side and our quality in the extra period took us through. “But we should have seen ourselves through earlier – we missed one or two chances, and they did gave us a tough fight.” The Perth side started with an old score to settle, having, as Scottish Cup holders three years ago, been knocked out of that competition by the Dumfries side 2-0 at Palmerston. But it was Queens who made the first impression with Stephen Dobbie bringing out a fine save from Zander Clark as he turned on a bit of magic to create an opening and get in a 15-yard drive. Saints retaliated with Murray Davidson beating the keeper from the edge of the box but the ball flashed outside the post. That set the pattern for the early stages with play swinging from one end to the other. Saints got the opener in 27 minutes when Murray Davidson touched on a cross from the right and Tony Watt was on hand to fire past the Dumfries keeper from the edge of the six-yard box. Lyndon Dykes had a opportunity to equalise just before the break, but shot high and wide from 15 yards. A minute into injury time, he did level, with a speculative shot from 25 yards which Clark could only watch finish in the corner of the net. Saints had the bulk of the pressure after the restart and keeper Martin had to dive across his line to pull down an effort from David Kennedy before Drey Wright was unlucky with a 20-yard rocket which rebounded from the post. At the other end, Stirling eased his way through the Saints
defence on a 40-yard run and fired in a shot which rebounded from the angle. Saints regained the lead four minutes into extra time when Watt turned the ball in from the by-line and Wright hammered it home. Ten minutes later, Watt was back on the scoreline with a counter from close range. The Dumfries side pulled on back when Dobbie scored from the penalty spot, but Callum Hendry made it safe for Saints on the final whistle. Queens boss Gary Naysmith praised his players: “They put up a good fight and I have nothing but praise for them.”