An 89th minute equaliser from Dundee`s Matt Lockwood robbed Queens of a vital win in this afternoons clash at Palmerston as once more another late goal proved to be very costly.

After Tuesday`s gallant performance over Aberdeen, boss Gus MacPherson made two changes to the starting line-up,with John Potter making his home debut,replacing Chris Higgins, and Stephen Simmons starting ahead of Stephen McKenna as Queens aimed to stretch their unbeaten league run to 5 games.

In a fairly even opening period, both sides created half chances, the visitors through the pace and direct running of McCluskey, while Queens replied with a run and shot from Nicky Clark, although to be fair there was no power in his effort to worry Dundee `keeper Douglas.With 9 minutes on the clock, Queens might well have gone ahead following quick thinking by Craig Reid.After being fouled, Reid took the free-kick himself and before any Dundee defenders were in position his through ball found Clark just inside the box, but the striker stumbled at the vital moment and his shot was charged down by the recovering McKeown.The Palmerston pitch was cutting up pretty quickly, and on a sticky and very bobbly surface, both sides struggled to put together many passes, and although the visitors were trying to play a passing game, most of their approach play faltered in the final third.

On 15 minutes a good turn of pace from Danny Carmichael was rewarded with Queens first corner of the game, but Clark`s delivery from the set-piece was poor and easily tidied up by the Dundee defence. Almost straight away at the other end, Dundee went close as a shot from O`Donnell from 25-yards was turned away for a corner by Lee Robinson ping to his right to make the save.Queens were next to attack, again down the right side of the pitch with Clark and Carmichael combining well to set up a chance for Allan Johnston, but the veteran midfielder`s attempted chip shot from the edge of the box cleared the far post and went wide. For a few minutes the game was played mainly in midfield with neither side being able to string enough passes together to create an opening, although a break from Clark could have been more rewarding for Queens had the referee given a free-kick for what looked like a blatant pulling of his shirt by McGregor as he tried to escape from the Dundee defender. After half-an-hour following Dundee`s third corner of the game, Queens had a bit of luck as Robinson completely missed his punch and the ball was deflected away for another corner which Queens defended well. Dundee`s best chance of the first half fell to their most impressive player McCluskey. Latching on to a well driven pass from O`Donnell, the winger`s first touch took him past Alan Reid in one movement which gave him the chance to shoot, but Robinson was out to meet him and block his angled shot.

The final 10 minutes or so of the first period belonged to Queens, and while they were not as dominant as they were on Tuesday night, this was certainly their best spell of the game as they kept Dundee on the backfoot by launching a series of attacks.Danny Carmichael was upended on the right, and the resulting free-kick from Clark was met by a glancing header from Ryan McGuffie that landed on the roof of the net with `keeper Douglas rooted to the spot. Carmichael was again at the heart of the Queens attack, and Parkin`s flick to him saw his close range shot scrambled clear at the near post as Queens searched for the opening goal. On a rare foray upfield, Dundee were awarded a free-kick just outside the box-Stephen Simmons receiving a yellow for the foul-but Conroy`s effort was high, wide and most certainly not handsome from the visitors point of view. Then just when it seemed that the half would end scoreless, Queens got the breakthrough on 44 minutes. Clark`s ball in from the right found Sam Parkin at the near post and his flick with the outside of his boot just had enough power to creep in between the post and Douglas to give Queens the advantage, giving Parkin his 3rd goal in two home games.

Parkin squeezes it in - photo from Sandy Robertson

HALF-TIME QUEENS 1-0 DUNDEE

Neither side made any changes at the break, and the early part of the half saw Dundee continue to have the bulk of the possession without ever really threatening the Queens back line, and it was Queens who had the first attack of the half, but Craig Reid`s cross after a good run drifted out of play and behind for a goal-kick.

Ten minutes into the 2nd half, Dundee thought that they had equalised, but the referee spotted some pushing inside the Queens six-yard area and disallowed the effort, much to the relief of the home support in the crowd of 1682. At the other end, a cross from Simmons was flicked over by Parkin, and on the counter, Dundee went close again after Hyde combined well with Conroy,but the former Queens man was well off target with his shot.

With 64 minutes gone, John Potter was unlucky not to mark his home debut with a goal, his flicked header from a Clark free-kick going only just wide of the far post as Queens chased the all important second goal. Stephen McKenna replaced Simmons on 67 minutes, and the substitutes first touch nearly produced a goal as he collected Parkin`s pass and fired wide of the target from just outside the box. The 2nd yellow card for Queens came when Danny Carmichael was cautioned for a rather wild challenge-upset that he had not been given a free-kick in his favour, Danny decided to `get his own back`, and referee Conroy, who had made some rather baffling decisions, was probably right in this case.

Allan Johnston was replaced by Gavin Reilly with 17 minutes left as Queens continued to press forward. Another free-kick, this time on the left almost reaped pidends for Queens, as with everyone expecting a cross, Clark tried a crafty shot at goal, but Douglas was alive to the situation and with the help of 2 defenders, pushed the ball away for a corner. Before the kick was taken , 2 Dundee defenders needed treatment, but rather surprisingly only one of them was forced to leave the field of play after being treated, a situation that quite clearly upset the Queens management team as they could be seen clearly pointing this out to the beleagured nearside assistant.With time running out, and Queens looking set for a vital win, once again the curse of a late goal came back to haunt them. Irvine combined with substitute Riley and then delivered a cross into the box that was flicked on by Hyde, and Lockwood coming in from the left wing hammered the ball across Robinson into the net to give Dundee a point that they barely deserved

Douglas foils Reilly and Parkin - photo from Sandy Robertson

So as it was both sides had to settle for a point that is really no good to either as they both really needed the win for differing reasons. Man of the match went to Danny Carmichael, who had another fine game, and the unbeaten league run is now extended to 5 games, but with 2 difficult away trips to come at Falkirk, and then Ross County, Queens will be bitterly disappointed that after having the better of the chances in today`s game, they only managed to take a point.