BUDDIE GOOD WAY TO MARK CUP WIN
Points thrill Ross on anniversary of Hampden triumph
Queen of the South ...1 St Mirren .....................3 Kenny MacDonald St Mirren took another huge step towards the top flight with an emphatic win on the fifth anniversary of their League Cup Final triumph.
Danny Mullen fired a fine opener before Queen of the South’s Jordan Marshall levelled at Palmerston. But second-half goals by Lewis Morgan and Kyle Magennis secured the win.
Jack Ross hailed his side’s show on the anniversary and joked: “Thanks for reminding me! I was in the team that lost to nine -man Rangers in 2010! But, yes, it was a good way to mark it.”
Saints fans unfurled a banner in tribute to the League Cup win that read: ‘ Five years to the day players became legends. Now it’s your time.’
On the title race Ross added: “If we keep winning we can’t be stopped. And it has helped that the teams around us have dropped points today so it could not be any better.
“We are on 63 points now and I think that’s more games won by us than when Hibs won the league.
“The problem is we don’t draw many games but to have 63 points at this stage of the season is quite remarkable.”
Saints came close with a 12-yard Magennis glancing header in 15 minutes but the ball flew inches wide.
A bizarre blunder by keeper Jack Leighfield almost gifted Saints the lead.
A hit-and-hope effort from Cameron Smith bounced in front of the keeper who looked to have scooped up the ball but it somehow ended up being flipped up and over the bar.
The Paisley side did take the lead when a fabulous run by Morgan took him past three defenders before he played in Mullen.
He cracked a first-time shot away from the keeper and into the far side of the net in 17 minutes.
Queens swept back and levelled in 22 minutes when Marshall played a one-two with John Rankin and burst into the box to drive a low shot across Craig Samson and inside the right post.
Morgan capped his sizzling show with a fabulous curling free-kick to put his side 2-1 up in 51 minutes and Saints clinched the points through Magennis.
He ended a fantastic run by blasting an angled 15-yard shot from the left into the bottom right corner.
Queens chief Gary Naysmith said: “We have to stop giving teams their goals rather than them earning them.”