Queen of the South are through to the Fourth Round of the Scottish Cup after a tightly contested 1-0 victory over Championship leaders Hamilton Academical at Palmerston.

The visitors were the better side in the opening period but were undone by Derek Lyle`s close-range header on 64 minutes.  Lyle had only been on the pitch for eight minutes after replacing Ian McShane and manager Jim McIntyre was pleased to see the substitution work so well.

He said: “Sometimes they work, sometimes they don`t!  I was delighted.  It was a real battle today and we had to dig a result out.  It was really difficult conditions with a swirly wind and the pitch being as skiddy as it was.

“I thought Hamilton edged it in the first half, they looked the more likely and we got a wee break when that one comes back off the bar.  In the second half we came out and started to play a bit, we had a tinker with the shape which definitely helped us and it was great to see Del coming on and getting his goal.”

Captain Chris Higgins picked up the man of the match award after a commanding defensive performance.  He said: ” It was windy out there and early on the game was erratic, it was like pinball in the middle of the park – for us especially, we couldn`t get the composure that we needed.  It was a scrappy game all together to be honest.

“They had a great chance early in the second half and probably should have scored which would have changed the game.  We`ve ground it out though which is the most important thing. 

“It`s our job to keep clean sheets and that`s two in a row which is good for the five of us at the back, the goalkeeper and the back four.  It`s good for our confidence as well and gives us a base to work on, we know we`ve got the players going forward that can score goals.”

The cup-tie was the first of a double header between the two teams with Hamilton returning to Palmerston next week for a league fixture.

Jim McIntyre added:  “We were probably given the most difficult draw in the round so it`s great to get through that.  As I say it was a hard fought game with nothing between the teams and next week it`ll be a hard, hard game.

“It was good to get back to winning ways at Palmerston because it`s been a while and I`m delighted for the punters because they`ve seen us play well but lose matches against teams that they probably expected us to beat.  Today just lets you know exactly what this division is like, every week there`s results that are not expected.

“As a team we`re working so hard for each other and we`ve had a couple of breaks.  That`s important as well.  Early on in the season we weren`t getting the breaks at our own end and in front of goal as well but the boys deserve all the credit.  Clean sheets and winning games breeds lots of confidence.”