There was one change to last week's injury, with Alan Reid dropping out due to injury. Surprisingly he was placed by forward John Baird, who made his first ever start for the Saints first team. David McKenna and Craig Molloy came onto the bench after scoring in the youth team's semi final win on Monday, whilst there was no place for former QOS player John O'Neill. Sadly, QOS didn't have on loan Morton player Alex Williams in their sixteen as he has the flu.
Saints looked shaky in the opening exchanges, with som absolutely shocking defending presenting a great opportunity for the inform David McNiven, however he inexplicably managed to find the bar from inside the six yard box!
It was a bad miss and one QOS were made to regret as Saints were 2-0 up by the 20 minute mark. First a great cross from Simon Lappin found Hugh Murray outside the penalty box, and his cross/shot was looped over Richard Barnard by John Baird for his third goal of the season, his first since the trip to Palmerston in October!
Murray had himself on the scoresheet two minutes later when some fantastic work by Lappin on the left saw his cross miss everyone before the ball fell to Murray, who rifled the ball into the top corner rom distance. Whilst Lappin was producing the goods on the left, the QOS players had taken the interesting option of not bothering to mark Laurie Ellis, as countless times he found himself with no one around him!
Saints could have been 3-0 up minutes later when Barnard duffed a kick out straight off Allan Russell, but unfortunately he caught the rebound. Those cursing about Saints luck when it comes to goalkeepers doing these things were soon eating their words.
First, Barnard finished his afternoon after just thirty minutes. A Saints free kick presented another good opportunity, with Kirk Broadfoot's header across goal just missing Stewart Kean. However, in the process it seemed that Broadfoot's arm had caught Barnard in the face and he needed several minutes treatment before being replaced by Colin Scott, with Broadfoot also needing a bit of treatment on his arm.
Saints had another good chance when Baird crossed for Kean, whose header found the bar but as he was offside it wouldn't have counted, before further drama. Scott seemed to be struggling after being caught late by Russell and when the ball went out of play he collapsed in a comical heap. However the laughter soon subsided when it turned out Scott really was hurt and had to be stretchered off. It seems he had strapping on his knee before coming on and is due to go for surgery soon! With QOS having no other keepers (they have made appeals for some on their website in past months) they had had to put him on the bench anyway. David Craig took over between the sticks. Incredibly he wasn't seriously tested until the final minute of the game!
QOS had a few good chances to get themselves back into the match before half time, with Hinchcliffe forced to save well from one header and another sneaking just over the bar.
At half time I had two thoughts. One was that Saints would now sit back as QOS had a dodgy keeper, despite having ten other decent players. The other was that the referee would give them everything going. Sadly both came true.
I can't be bothered going in to much detail in the second half, but it wasn't pretty. Saints sat back and did sod all and QOS must be wondering tonight how they didn't score, hitting the woodwork a few times and putting shots wide. The whole Saints team under performed and seemed to be happy enough with what they had, instead of going for a few goals.
The referee, meanwhile, was a disgrace. Saints players won the ball and were penalised, 50/50s nearly always went to QOS and Steve Bowey in particular seemed to get away with anything.
Finally, in the last minute Saints managed to force Craig to do something when David McKenna hit a feirce shot and he saved it well for a corner. However, he flapped at the cross and the ball fell to Mark Reilly at the edge of the box, and he lashed home a great strike which most keepers would have had trouble with. It was his first Saints goal since signing from St. Johnstone in the summer.
In the end we probably didn't deserve to win by 3-0 as QOS were excellent in the second half, and we could have had big problems if Brian McLaughlin had been brought on. They were also helped by the referee. However, the fact is we were 2-0 up before their keepers picked up their injuries so QOS can't really complain.