Montrose came to Palmerston Park with a very threadlike squad and only had one outfield substitute apart from two Club Academy youngsters. They lined up with Matthews in goal then Allan, Waddell, Watson and Whatley in the back four with Gardyne and Masson in midfield along with Machado and Brown down the wings to support McAllister and Lyons up top. No Steeves, Johnston, Mackinnon or Dillon on the day. Queens on the other hand had a full squad including nine on the bench in a game which they had to win to keep up their challenge for a play-off place.

The referee was Colin Steven and Queens went for it from the start as a long ball was lobbed over keeper Matthews in the first minute but was a touch too high. A couple of minutes later the defence was out-paced again but the shot went wide but was offside anyway. It took until the 8th minute for Queens to open the scoring when Jack Brydon got on the end of a corner and headed in at the far post to make it 1-0.

At that point it seemed like an uphill task for a threadbare and re-jigged Montrose side and another Queens cross was headed just wide again. Then a sudden change of fortune as Brown went clear down the left and centred for McAllister but in two challenges on Montrose players a penalty was awarded and Rory McAllister scored to make it 1-1 on 16 minutes. As a result Queens went down to 10 men when Brydon was red carded. Montrose started to up the pressure and keeper Dabrowski saved the day for Queens with a brilliant one handed save on 17 minutes. Then disaster for Montrose on 20 minutes as a 35 yarder from Stephen Hendrie evaded Matthews and went in low via the foot of the post to make it 2-1.

Watson moved into midfield with Queens down to 10 men and made quite a difference there with Whatley moving to right back in a back line of three now. The Mo were now very much in control at that point and on 35 minutes it became 2-2 when McAllister set it up for Craig Brown who sent a left footer high into the Queens net. All square going into the half-time break, or so we thought but Rory McAlister had no such thoughts and he made it 3-2 for the Mo when he ran across the Queens box and sent a hard shot across the keeper into the far corner.

Second half started with Queens bringing on Morrison for Connelly but it was Montrose who went close again as a Lyons cross was met late by Brown whose shot went wide. Then a trademark Watson shot from 30 yards went wide. Still Montrose controlled the game by man-to-man stuff but had to be careful not to make a mistake moving into the last 30 minutes.

Referee Colin Steven started a rash of yellow cards now with McAllister booked for a foul and Hendrie for his reaction but as he was yellow carded his next foul was red carded and Queens were down to nine men now. Webster came on for Watson on 65 minutes and was almost immediately yellow carded harshly for a trip and soon after Masson was yellow carded for a similar offence. Queens made a triple change on 71 minutes and soon after Montrose firstly brought on Grant for Brown and then Giacomini for Masson to halt play on 77 and 79 minutes.

Into the last 10 minutes and Montrose were comfortable against the nine men of Queens as they played man to man stuff to keep possession. A long shot by Queens did not trouble Matthews as he watched if fly too high. Into stoppage time with Montrose keeping it near the corner flag and right at the end only Blair Lyons will know how he missed scoring before the final whistle blew for a 3-2 win for the Mo. 

A good win for Montrose with everyone doing their job but Waddell at the back was immense again and McAllister is still very much a handful up front.

Report by Steve Doyle

Pic courtesy of QotS