Five goals, a missed penalty, two red cards and a whole lot of controversy. It was Scottish football at its finest, although after a mesmerising run of form the South were halted in their tracks by Alloa?again.
A minute of applause was held prior to kick off in memory of local PE Teacher James Hannay
Dapo Mebude made his second start for the club, replacing Ciaran Dickson, and Aidan Fitzpatrick started in place of the injured Isaiah Jones. Mebude lined-up next to Rhys McCabe in an attacking midfield role, with Connor Shields leading the line.
And like the last meeting between the sides at the Indodrill Stadium the game didn?t take long to get going.
Despite seeing little of the ball, Queens were able to go forward in their first meaningful attack of the game through Euan East. East picked out Dapo Mebude in the area, who volleyed home powerfully from the penalty spot.
Mebude twists, shoots and scores
Mebude celebrates his strike
It really was against the balance of play in truth with Innes Cameron causing all sorts of problems going forward for the Wasps, smashing the cross bar after 15 minutes.
And it was the loanee from Killie that architected Alloa?s equaliser. A long ball forward was latched onto by Cameron, before he squared to Innes Murray to fire home from close range. Murray wasn?t meant to be starting the game but a late injury in the warm-up to Liam Dick forced Peter Grant?s hand.
The game ebbed and flowed from there on in with Queens controlling after conceding.
It was 37 minutes before a third goal was scored though. Shields got on the end of a searching ball forward, before holding up and crossing to Euan East who done remarkably to direct his header into the bottom corner under real pressure.
East heads home
East celebrates his first league goal for Queens
It was East?s first league goal for the South and capped off what was, arguably, his best performance in a Queens shirt to date.
Two should have been three not long after though as Shields struck a venomous effort onto the inside of the post.
The away side picked up the ball from Shields? miss and mounted a counter-attack, ending in Lee Connolly firing a beauty of an effort past Rohan Ferguson from 18 yards.
Shields sees his effort crash off the post with keeper and defender helpless
It capped off a superb first-half that saw both teams have nice passages of play. A level score at half-time was probably the correct result, but there was controversy before the sides could head in the tunnel.
Ayo Obileye challenged Ray Grant in the middle of the park, with Obileye?s studs barely showing, he clipped Grant?s foot. Referee Greg Aitken awarded a straight red to the Queens top scorer though, despite Grant getting up sharply after the challenge insinuating that he wasn?t particularly hurt.
Obileye sees red
HT: Queens 2-2 Alloa
An exciting first 45 minutes of football over-shadowed by a controversial refereeing decision that would change the shape of the game.
Calvin McGrory was brought on in midfield for Fitzpatrick who was the unlucky man to be sacrificed.
The second period couldn?t have gotten underway in much worse fashion though with Queens conceding a penalty after 53 minutes. A miss-controlled ball from Wullie Gibson ricocheted off his arm. Aitken pointed to the spot much to the disbelief of Queens players.
Ferguson denies Graham from the sport
But Andy Graham was no match for Ferguson in the Queens goal who saved his second penalty in three games, diving low to his right to deny the Alloa skipper.
As play settled down Queens were, predictably, struggling to see much of the ball given they were playing a man down.
The Doonhamers put in an admirable performance for much of the second period but were undone on 77 minutes. Substitute Liam Buchanan picked up the ball in Queens? half before running at the defence.
Buchanan finds the tightest of corners to net the winner
In the absence of Obileye protecting the defence, Buchanan was able to fire a shot at Ferguson from 20 yards, beating the goalie down at his right.
And as if coming down with 10 men wasn?t hard enough, another controversial refereeing decision meant Queens would end the game with nine.
As McCabe picked up the ball for a throw in, Murray, literally, jumped on McCabe?s back. In reaction, McCabe tried to get the Wasps player off of him but, without looking at the Alloa winger, ended up hitting him in the face.
Aitken sent McCabe off, but only awarded Murray a yellow card, despite being the instigator in the incident.
Murray on
Murray off
McCabe off
Johnston off
Graham - still on.........................
Another talking point came on 91 minutes as Graham manhandled Mebude on the left wing, grabbing hold of the Rangers loanee?s neck to bring him down. It was only a booking for the Wasps captain though.
FT: Queens 2-3 Alloa
A disappointing day in Dumfries for Queens who see there bogey run against Alloa continue. Both sides enjoyed periods on top, especially in the opening half, but the game swung on missed chances and refereeing decisions.
Finlay Jack