Ross County were the visitors to Palmerston for the second of our back-to-back home games in the group stages of the Premier Sports Cup. Newly relegated from the Premier league County were going to be a strong test and manger Peter Murphy made just one change to the side that beat Edinburgh City in midweek. Striker Kurtis Guthrie hadn’t fully recovered from the whiplash injury he picked up in the first half of that game so he missed out and Jack Stott took his place in the starting eleven.

Queens made a decent start and Matty Douglas wasn’t too far away with a header early on before Ross Laidlaw made a good save to hold Benji Luissint’s volley.

But as the visitors started to press more Adam Emslie hit a shot from the edge of the box that Ross Stewart got down well to his right to save. The keeper then turned Ronan Hale’s effort round the post before Emslie delivered a cross from the left that Douglas headed clear.

With twenty minutes gone Ross Docherty pounced on a defensive mix up but Jack Hannah got back to clear the ball off the line.

Queens had survived the ten minutes of pressure and as Kai Kennedy worked his way into the box Akil Wright made a clearance. Midway through the half, Queens had a claim for a penalty as Ben Crompton looked to handle the ball at the edge of the box as Luissint tried to get the ball through. That wasn’t given and as County attacked Hale turned quickly to fire a right foot shot towards goal that Stewart saved.

Half an hour in Emslie was fast again but this time Hannah made a great block. Queens were giving as good as they got in an entertaining game and as Reece Lyon got the better of Wright, Laidlaw made a good block to clear the stand in striker’s left foot effort. A minute later, Taylor Charters slipped the ball to Mikey Hewitt only for the Highland side to clear.

And in the closing stages of the first half, it was the hosts who had the better chances. Kennedy linked up well with Liam Smith and as he burst into the box, he tried to find the top corner but couldn’t get enough steer on the ball and it flew wide. Lyon then cut the ball back to Ben Johnstone who hit a right foot shot from 20-yards that was just wide and two minutes before the break, Stott rifled a shot towards goal from the edge of the box that the keeper somehow managed to push over the bar.

HALF TIME: Queens 0 Ross County 0

In the opening ten minutes of the second half, Hewitt hit a left foot volley across goal and Kennedy’s right foot shot from 20-yards cleared the crossbar. Kennedy was involved in Queens next attack too when he played a good cross field pass into the box looking for Smith but the winger couldn’t get a strong enough head on the end of it.

As County introduced experience from the bench, they started to control the game more and had a lot of possession but weren’t really causing problems and midway through the half, Charters hit a shot from distance that stung the backside of Len O’Sullivan as he blocked.

The game turned with just under twenty minutes to play when Jay Henderson hit a terrific right foot shot into the top corner from outside the box that gave Stewart no chance. From there County managed the game for long spells although Queens pushed them hard again in the closing stages and in the final five minutes, Stott’s 35-yard effort was wide of the upright, Douglas had a header collected by Laidlaw and the keeper turned Charters effort from close range out for a corner.

FULL TIME: Queens 0 Ross County 1

Teams:

Queens: Stewart, Hewitt, Charters, Lyon, Douglas, Hannah, Smith, Luissint, Kennedy, Johnstone (Trialist 79) & Stott. Subs not used: Thomson, Rogerson, Ross, Trialist, McLinden, Hall & Chapman.

Ross County: Laidlaw, Crompton (Lyall 69), O’Sullivan, Wright, Henderson (Phillips 79), Cornelius, Hale, Emslie (Smith 79), Docherty, White (Clark 58) & Gallagher. Subs not used: Foster, Robesten & Thain.

Ref: Peter Stuart

Crowd: 1012