The new 5G Palmerston pitch was unveiled today as Queen of the South were held to a 0-0 draw at home to SPL-side Heart of Midlothian in their latest pre-season warm-up.

The sun shined as the home side dominated from start to finish.  Hearts no doubt felt lucky to come away from Dumfries with a clean sheet as the Queens attack created a number of good opportunities without adding the finishing touch.

Queens manager Jim McIntyre said: “I thought we played exceptionally well.  I thought we passed the ball really well, the players took on board what we are trying to do.

“There`s good players here and it was a stiff test for us here today because Hearts have just come off the back of a really good result midweek but I thought we started the game really well and that`s important when you`re playing a team from a higher division.  Off the ball we pressed really well also."

As well as being impressed with his team`s performance, McIntyre praised the quality of the new-look artificial surface.

“[The pitch is] excellent.  Really, really good.  We trained on it for the first time on Thursday and it was baking hot but the players have coped with it really well.  It`ll take a couple of weeks for the pitch to settle but I thought the ball ran really well on it.  We soaked it before the game and that’s what we`ll do to keep our fluid passing.”

Queens finish their pre-season with a friendly at home to St Mirren on Wednesday before getting the 2013/14 season underway as they start the defence of the Ramsdens Cup against Spartans on Saturday at Palmerston.