A trip to The city Stadium on the south side of Glasgow rounded off our Premier Sports League Cup campaign as we faced Queens Park in the final round of fixtures in Group A.

With the manager picking up a knock in the game against Aberdeen in midweek, there was one change to the starting line-up with Benji Luissint coming in to replace Nicky Clark. With no recognised strikers available other than the under 19s players, Ben Johnstone had the unusual position upfront for this one.

It was the hosts who got things underway and took the lead after just eight minutes when Caleb Goldie brought down Michael Ruth inside the box and the striker got up to take the spot kick himself. Deniz Mehmet guessed correctly and dived to his left but the ball was at a decent height and near the post.

The home side were on top and as Liam Smith lost the ball in the middle of the park, Ross McLean made a break but Goldie and Jack Hannah got back to cover.

It was pretty much one way traffic and midway through the half, McLean crossed the ball for the unmarked Tyrece McDonnell who forced a good save from Mehmet, with the ball still in play Scott Martin fired well over the crossbar.

However, the pressure paid off with half an hour gone when they doubled their lead. Aiden McCallion did well to lift the ball over the defence and O’Donnell made a good run to get on the end of it, he was under pressure from Mehmet and Goldie but he managed to scramble it into the net. Hannah did hook it away but the ball had already crossed the line.

Two down Queens needed to do something and ten minutes before the break Jack Wills made a good block with his right foot to deny Jack Stott. It was an improvement from Queens and Smith played the back from the by-line for Taylor Charters but his shot lacked power and was easily cleared.

As Goldie over stretched for the ball he was unable to continue and was replaced by a trialist who took over from Zander Mackenzie in midfield as he dropped back to right-back.

In added on time at the end of the first half, Johnstone made his mark as a striker when Stott won the ball in his own half and made a great run forward before picking out Ben who kept his composure and fired a brilliant left foot finish past Wills for his first competitive goal for the club.

HALF TIME: Queens Park 2 Queens 1

As the second half got underway, there was an early chance for O’Donnell before Stott played a short free-kick into the path of Charters, the defender picked his spot and tried to curl the ball into the top corner but cleared the bar.

The Spiders hit back and Lewis Stewart fired the ball across goal but there were no takers and Mackenzie cleared as O’Donnell played the ball into the six-yard area.

It was definitely better from Queens after the break as they carried more of a threat and Johnstone had a chance to grab a second when Charter’s effort was cleared and the ball fell to him outside the box, he didn’t realise he had as much time and couldn’t match his first half strike as he hit the ball over.

McLean then had his effort blocked before Ben Brannan fired across goal.

Into the final twenty minutes and Stott won a free-kick, 25-yards from goal as he kept the ball low it was heading for the bottom corner before being deflected away. It was a decent spell for the visitors and as Mackenzie delivered the ball into the box, it was cleared ahead of Johnstone.

Young substitute, Josh Kelly showed maturity as he aimed for the top corner but his effort was just too high.

As the game entered its final stages, Matthew Sheils who had only just come off the bench minutes before got on the end of a great pass from fellow sub, Zebedee Lawson to calmly fire a left foot shot past Mehmet to round-off the scoring with a minute of the game to go.

FULL TIME: Queens Park 3 Queens 1

Teams:

Queens Park: Wills, Mackenzie, Murray, Lamie, Martin (Lawson 79), Ruth (Hamilton 59), Stewart (Sheils 85), McDonnell (Smith 59), McLean, McCallion (Longridge 59) & Brannan. Subs not used: Sliwinski, Pigmatiello, Carrick & Fisher.

Queens: Mehmet, Goldie (Trialist 41), Charters, Stott, McQueen (Kelly 64), Hannah, Smith, Rogerson, Johnstone, Mackenzie & Luissint (Morton 85). Subs not used: Petry, Thomson & Gray.

Ref: Alastair Grieve

Crowd: 685