Queens Team:

1 C Bell, 2 T Parratt, 3 J McQuilken, 4 N MacFarlane, 5 A Aitken, 6 J Thomson, 7 P Burns, 8 S Tosh, 9 S O'Connor, 10 S Dobbie, 11 G Arbuckle

Subs: 12 B Halliwell, 14 S Robertson, 15 S Simmons, 16 D Weatherston, 17 M McGowan

Dundee Team:

1 R Douglas, 2 E Paton, 3 E Malone, 4 D Williams, 5 K Benedictus, 6 C McKeown, 7 F Daquin, 8 C Pozniak, 9 M Antoine-Curier, 10 B Deasley, 11 D O'Brien

Subs: 12 L Roy, 14 J Lauchlan, 15 M Gilhaney, 16 R Dodds, 17 R Davidson

Queens made their first visit of the season to Dens Park to face a Dundee side whose results have picked up since the appointment of Jocky Scott to replace Alex Rae. Gordon Chisholm, a former Dundee captain under Scott, didn't have his problems to seek with team selection, particularly at the back where the three Craig's, Sives, Barr and Reid, were all unavailable along with Bob Harris. Fortunately captain Jim Thomson's timely return from his own suspension eased the problems somewhat and he joined Andy Aitken at the heart of the back four for the first time this season. Scott Robertson was another returning body to the squad after weeks out injured but he had to make do with a spot on the subs bench. He was joined there by David Weatherston who swapped roles with Gary Arbuckle from last week. The Dundee side was a relatively familiar one and contained Eric Paton, presently captaining the side, and Jim Lauchlan from last year's Queens squad. The latter though has yet to actually get on the park since his summer move and had to be content again with a spot on the bench. The dangerous Mickael Antoine-Curier started up front along with young Bryan Deasley.

The contest was five minutes old when Queens carved the Dees defence open down the right and should have taken the lead. Burns, Dobbie and O'Connor combined to send a low ball across the six yard box and Stevie Tosh, from a very narrow angle, beat Douglas with a shot but saw it graze past the post and away. Dundee's first effort on goal arrived 5 minutes later when Pozniak was given space to strike from distance but he failed to trouble Bell with a shot that went well wide. Moments later they went much closer though when, from Daquin's right sided corner, young Kyle Benedictus rattled the ball against the crossbar. Fortunately he hit it so hard that the rebound bounced clear of the penalty area and the danger was gone. Queens were soon back in attack at the other end though and, from Tosh's cross, Andy Aitken of all people forced a fine save from Douglas. Soon after Dobbie caused chaos in the home defence too but his shot was eventually charged down.

The half settled down somewhat after that with little goalmouth action until, with five minutes to go to the break, Deasley got space in the penalty area and cut in from the right to fire in a dangerous shot. It might have beaten Bell, we'll never know, but Stevie Tosh got himself in the right place to make a vital block. Seconds later, on an increasingly rare foray forward, Dobbie fired a volley wide of goal. Two minutes later another break forward following fine work from Dobbie on the right saw Paul Burns make the goal-line but there was nobody to pull the ball back to and the chance was lost. In the end it was a fairly even half of play, though the home side will curse their luck when they struck the woodwork.

The second half was five minutes old when Dundee were forced into a substitution due to what looked a bad injury to young Benedictine, though nobody had touched him. That meant a competitive debut for Jim Lauchlan against his former team-mates. There wasn't much in the way of goalmouth action early on in the second period either, though Tosh's clever free kick in 62 minutes should have seen Dobbie in on goal only for the striker's control to let him down for once and the chance was gone. The deadlock was broken shortly afterward though. Gary Arbuckle was adjudged to have tripped Eric Paton on the edge of his own box despite the protests of the Queens players. When the arguing had died down the ball was knocked slightly to the side and Eric Paton curled a beautifully struck shot into the top corner beyond Bell. I guess it was inevitable really that if a breakthrough came, Paton would be at the heart of it.

Neil MacFarlane collected the first booking of the game shortly after the re-start for a foul on Chris Pozniak and Chisholm decided an attacking change was now needed so David Weatherston replaced Arbuckle. On 71 minutes a Tosh corner caused chaos when Douglas fumbled catching it but Antoine-Curier charged down MacFarlane's shot. Shortly after Andy Aitken had Douglas worried with a long range effort but it drifted over the bar. Another, much lower long range effort, this time from Tosh, was easier dealt with by the former international keeper.

There was some controversy on 75 minutes when referee Dougie McDonald saw some mysterious offence in the Queens penalty area and attempted to award a penalty to the home side. Fortunately Antoine-Curier had been offside in the build up and the flag had been raised for some time so, when it was finally noticed, Queens got the free kick instead. At the other end Dobbie fired in a shot from a tight angle that Douglas tipped over the bar but the game was ended as a contest in 79 minutes when Antoine-Curier sped down the right and cut the ball back for Bryan Deasley to hammer past Bell from close range.

Queens should probably have got on the scoresheet with nine minutes to go when Aitken's deep searching ball found O'Connor in front of goal but his flicked header missed the target with Douglas rooted to the spot. With a couple of minutes to go Chris Pozniak picked up Dundee's first booking when he pulled Weatherston back on halfway. There was still time in the final minute for a quite bizarre decision when Douglas backed up to tip a looping O'Connor header over the bar only for Mr McDonald to award a goal kick. The Dundee players were as incredulous as the Queens ones but in truth it mattered not. The final whistle went seconds later on another loss.

Attendance 3,630 (181 Queens fans)