Queens chalked up their first victory in seven matches with a 2-0 win over Morton at Palmerston last night. And the three points saw us jump from seventh back up to fourth slot in the table again.... writes Bill Goldie on the Official Site.
Goals from Colin McMenamin and Willie McLaren gave us a 2-0 interval lead and although the visitors had most of the territorial advantage in the second period they failed to crack a stubborn Queens' rearguard.
Amazingly it's nine long years since we last beat Morton at Palmerston! It was on the 27th April, 2002, in our final match of the season and we triumphed 4-0.
Only a week earlier we'd clinched promotion with a 3-0 victory at Forfar and we've stayed up ever since. Our best ever finish being fourth place.
Our record at Cappielow in recent years has been great and on our most recent visit to Greenock we chalked up a 4-0 win thanks to a David Weatherston 'hat-trick'.
Morton had a fair smattering of ex-Queens' men in their squad last night--Peter Weatherson, Derek Lyle and Stuart Kean, and of course their manager was none other than Allan Moore.
Said a happy Kenny Brannigan afterwards, "I'm told that we hadn't beaten Morton down here at Palmerston for nine years. I'm just glad I didn't know that prior to kick-off!
"I felt it was a hard fought victory but we defended well, especially in the second half. We kept a 'clean-sheet' and could have won by more.
"I'm glad we've brought that bad run to an end and picked up all three points. 'Burnsy' gave the team a better shape and we dealt well with everything Morton threw at us in that second half.
"We could have won by more and Colin McMenamin set us on the right road with a great opener.
"I felt a multitude of things helped! That extra day off helped tired legs from the weekend and our boys all looked that bit sharper."
Morton gaffer Allan Moore wasn't too happy and blasted, "To say I'm disappointed is an understatement! We didn't show up for long periods in that first half and found ourselves two down at half-time.
"When Peter Weatherson came on that helped but we missed far too many chances in that second half while Queens held firm".