Pars royally beaten as Queens hunt down play-off spot
Queen of the South’s incredible run of form continued thanks to another terrific strike from Willie Gibson.
It’s hard to believe that the Doonhamers – who were rooted to the bottom of the Championship with only four points on Boxing Day – have put together a tremendous run of results and are now firmly in the hunt for a promotion play-off spot.
And Queens boss Allan Johnston hailed his side’s battling qualities against Dunfermline.
He said: “It’s hard to single out individuals. It was a real team performance.
“You can see that from the way the boys are working for each other, getting blocks in and pushing forward when we have the ball.
“Willie’s goal was brilliant. He’s a top-class player and it showed again today.
“I feel we thoroughly deserved the victory with our secondhalf performance. We restricted Dunfermline to very few opportunities and our keeper had very few saves to make all game.
“We have turned a corner since Christmas, but we won’t get carried away as we know how tight the league is right now and we could easily fall back down the table.”
After an even start at Palmerston Park, the first talking point came when Pars forward Craig Wighton was brought down in the area by James Maxwell on 11 minutes.
But Declan Mcmanus fluffed his lines from the spot as Rohan Ferguson easily got down to his left and saved his tame penalty kick.
The visitors were in control for long spells of the opening period but couldn’t break down the solid Queens defence.
The hosts had their first chance on 22 minutes when on-loan Middlesburgh winger Isiash Jones curved his cross-cum-shot goalwards, but Owain Fon Williams palmed it to safety.
Three minutes before the break, Jones continued to cause Stevie Crawford’s men problems as he used to tricks and pace to dance past three defenders.
His delightful cross was met by Ayo Obileye but his volley was superbly saved by Fon Williams.
Dunfermline burst forward a minute later but Mcmanus directed his effort inches wide of Ferguson’s post.
After the restart, the visitors had two long-range efforts from Steven Whittaker and Kerr Mcinroy go inches wide before they fell behind on 50 minutes.
Jones used his strength to cause problems in the Pars box before the ball fell to Gibson and he unleashed a powerful 20-yard cracker into the bottom corner of the net.
It has been brilliant two weeks for the veteran after his winning strike against Dundee last Saturday.
Queens gaffer Johnston brought on Rangers loanee Dapo Mebude on the hour mark.
The young forward – who made the headlines earlier this month as one of five Ibrox players who breached Covid protocols – nearly capped off his return immediately with a goal but saw his looping effort from 14 yards curl just wide.
Moments later, Mebude turned his marker and sent in a terrific delivery from the right which found Euan East, but his header was a whisker away from the target.
The Pars were unlucky not to get a leveller when Joshua Edwards’ shot from 18 yards was tipped wide by Ferguson on 68 minutes.
Dunfermline pushed for a late equaliser with chances from captain Paul Watson and Iain Wilson but were caught on the counter at the death.
Lewis Mayo brought down Mebude just outside the box and was shown a second yellow card, which summed up a miserable afternoon for the Pars.