There was something of a festival atmosphere in Dumfries as hundreds of Rose supporters flooded into the town and by kick-off both sets of supporters were going through their repertoire of songs. Linlithgow even brought their own piper and his strains could just be heard above the tremendous din in the away stand.
Queens looked rather nervous to start with as the Rose started to knock the ball around with confidence. The visitors almost took a shock lead when Dick had a great chance but shot straight at MacDonald after Carrigan had set him. By now almost
a 1,000 Rose supporters had crammed into the East stand and were giving their team tremendous vocal support.
They were however silenced 16 minutes by a wonderful strike from Queen's Dobbie who picked up an O'Connor flick on and then beat Logan at his near post with a powerful drive. This settled Queens and they started to take control and ask questions of the Rose defence. Thomson made it 2-0 for Queens on 22 minutes when
he got his napper on to a Harris corner to divert the ball down and up into the net.
Rose were stunned and tried hard to get back into the game but could make no impression on an experienced Queens rearguard in which Thomson and Aitken were outstanding. Queens were also reaping benefits in midfield in which Tosh and MacFarlane were asserting their authority. It was no surprise when the dangerous O'Connor put Queens 3-0 up with a clinical finish into the corner of the net on 40 minutes. It had been all Queens in the first half despite a cautious start and the Rose had a mountain to climb in the second period.
To their credit Linlithgow threw caution to the wind and had a real go at Queens at the start of the second half and the home defence knew they had a fight on their hands. Carrigan had rotten luck when his superb free-kick crashed of the crossbar with MacDonald beaten and then MacFarlane scopped a goal bound header off the line.
Thomson however was in superb form as he organised his troops and with huge gaps now appearing in the Rose defence there were rich pickings for Dobbie and O'Connor as the Rose goal came under constant pressure in the last quarter.
Dobbie should have had a couple more including a penalty and but for an inspired display by Rose goalkeeper Logan there could have been a deluge of goals in the closing minutes. The Palmy crowd were baying for goals but they had to be satisfied with only one and it came on 72 minutes when a Tosh shot was diverted into his own net by the unfortunate McArthur.
Queens won comfortably in the end against a team who fought to the bitter end. Linlithgow were worthy of the standing ovation they got from both sets of supporters at the end as the fog descended on Palmerston.
Queens MAD man of the match - Jim Thomson - He hardly put a foot wrong all afternoon and took his goal superbly.
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