Record-breaking Dobbie fires Queens to final spot
Queen of the South are not totally a one-man team, but Stephen Dobbie’s worth to the Doonhamers was on display once more as Montrose were seen off 5- 0 and the Dumfries side secured their place in the Championship Play-off final.
Dobbie sat on the bench during Tuesday night’s 2-1 first-leg defeat by the Gable Endies due to a hamstring injury which forced him to miss the majority of the final quarter of the season.
In his absence, Queens slipped down into the play-offs but he was back with a bang and creating a goal-scoring record at the same time as Allan Johnston won his first game in charge of his second spell at Palmerston.
Dobbie levelled the tie – and the club’s record of scoring 41 goals in one season held by Jimmy Rutherford and Nicky Clark – after 11 minutes when he started a move in his own half and finished it when he collected a pass from Lyndon Dykes and slotted home.
Dykes lob bed the hosts ahead midway through the half and, when Dobbie grabbed his second on 28 minutes, both the record and Montrose were broken.
Michael Doyle added a close-range fourth with Dobbie completing his hat-trick and the scoring five minutes before the break.
Queens brought their talisman off early in the second half and the game petered out. Johnston said: “We blew them away with the tempo we played at. Stephen will get all the headlines, but the pace we played at and the way we passed the ball about was fantastic.”
Johnston, who took Queen of the South into the Championship in 2013, will have top it his wits against another manager looking for second- time-around success at the same club when his side meet Raith Rovers this week.
The Kirkcaldy side, under the guidance of John MCGlynn, held Forfar to a 1-1 draw at Station Park to complete a 3-2 aggregate success.
The Loons had the better of the play and they forced an equaliser on 55 minutes when John Baird’s flick from a corner was deflected into the Raith net.
However, before For far could build up ahead of steam, Michael Travis was penalised for fouling Nathan Flannagan and, after the defender was dismissed, Kevin N is bet net ted the resultant penalty.”
Mcglynn said: “The boys carried out a very prof essional performance. We had a game plan that the players stuck to apart from at one corner.”