With Cammy Bell in goal, a back four of Parratt, Barr, Sives and Andy Aitken, a midfield of Burns, Macfarlane, Tosh and McQuilken and a strike partnership of Stephen Dobbie and Stewart Kean no one was left in any doubt that Gordon Chisholm had selected his strongest side for this Alba MG Challenge Cup match.

Queens started brightly against a Morton side whose manager had clearly taken the inspiration for his teams tactics straight from Derek Adams of Ross County a few nights ago.  Sit deep and with one man, Brian Wake, upfront make the most of any breaks that come your way.  As it was the script panned out just as expected with Queens on top possession wise early on but being denied clear chances.  It did take a full fifteen minutes for a first sight of goal though as Craig Barr headed over from a corner.  A few minutes later and a super bit of skill by Stephen Dobbie gave himself a shooting opportunity, his effort was well beaten out by Cuthbert but despite the ball falling at the feet of Craig Sives the big defender couldn't get his effort on target from ten yards out.

Bell keeps a grip under pressure from McGuffie

Morton were clearly boosted by their success and were becoming more of a force in the tie and on the half hour mark Cammy Bell had to look smart to rise above the defence to claim a lofted corner into his six yard box.  Paul Burns at the other end found himself in a similar situation to the game versus Nordsjaelland when he burst through down the right, he had Stewart Kean coming in down the left but also a clear view on goal, again, as in Denmark he produced neither as good enough cross or a strong enough shot to trouble Cuthbert in the Morton goal.  It almost proved costly as second later Brian Wake found himself through on goal, however this time it was Burnsey the defender who got in the last ditch tackle that put the ball out for a corner.

The best bit of skill from a Queens player came just before the break as Stephen Dobbie took out two defenders as he rolled the ball back under himself and turned towards goal, the only problem being that there were another three defenders to get past and they combined to make sure that Dobbs didn't get a look at the goals.  The half finished shortly afterwards with Queens looking the better of the two sides but worryingly with nothing to show for it.

The second half was only a minute or so old when Brian Wake was give all the space in the world down the Queens right hand side, he shot low across Cammy Bell and into the back of the net to give the Greenock men a lead that you just knew would require something special to break down.  Five minutes into the half and David Weatherston was introduced to provide the key to unlock the visitors defence, Andy Aitken was sacrificed and Jamie McQuilken dropped back into the left back role.  Stephen Dobbie continued to cause problems and had an effort blocked for a corner as he tried to cut back across the face of goal.  Gordon Chisholm then changed Neil Macfarlane for Scott Robertson and within seconds of coming onto the park the midfielder got his name in the referee's book for a late lunge at Alan Jenkins as the former Stranraer player showed him a clean pair of heels.

No way through this time

Morton almost increased their lead as a goalmouth scramble saw numerous players flailing around trying to either clear or score, in the end the ball was cleared.  Jamie McQuilken was booked for what appeared to be dissent.  Gordon Chisholm then made his final substitution as he replaced Paul Burns with Stephen Simmons.  It then looked as though Queens went for a 3-5-2 formation although poor Tom Parratt didn't appear to have any help at all out on the right whereas the centre circle appeared to be overrun with Queens midfielders.  As it turned out that's where Morton scored their second goal from as Ryan McGuffie took advantage of the space on the visitors left to curl an effort over Bell and into the far corner to complete the scoring.

Bell can do nothing as McGuffie's shot heads into the net

Queens had one more chance near the end as David Weatherston did hit the bye-line, however his cross went through the legs of Stewart Kean and fell to Scott Robertson who appeared surprised and ended up putting the ball pst the post.

In summary David Irons got his tactics spot on and for all the possession that Queens had it was Morton who went away worthy winners.

Colin Johnstone

Click on this link to see the full photo shoot from tonights game.picasaweb.google.co.uk/queenofthesouthfc