Queen of the South 2 - 0 Dundee

Queen of South 2-0 Dundee

Updated: March 8, 2008, 5:45 PM UK

A freak injury-time goal sealed Queen of the South's progress to their first Scottish Cup semi-final since 1950 following a deserved 2-0 win over Irn-Bru First Division rivals Dundee.

After a scrappy first half Stephen Dobbie's brilliantly-executed goal - his 17th of the season - put the Dumfries side into the lead.

And Ryan McCann sealed the famous victory when he fired into an empty net from well inside his own half after Dundee goalkeeper Craig Samson had gone forward for a free-kick.

Dundee boss Alex Rae had to name himself on the bench as he was without seven first-team players through injury, suspension and ineligibility.

He brought in the likes of strikers Bob Davidson and Jan Zemlik, and on-loan Hibernian midfielder Patrick Noubissie.

But the home side - who stretched their unbeaten run to 10 games - always had the edge.

Dundee winger Freddie Daquin looped a header over in the opening minute, but Queens had the better of the early stages.

However, they struggled to carve out decent shooting chances and Neil MacFarlane sliced well wide from the edge of the box when play did open up.

Dundee came back into the game and Eddie Malone had two openings inside the box.

His first effort was weak and straight at the goalkeeper, while he failed to test Jamie MacDonald when Daquin's deep cross found him in space.

Queens came closest to breaking the first-half deadlock when Dobbie turned Paul Dixon inside the box and fired a shot just off target.

But that moment of class was out of keeping with a scrappy first half, not helped by driving wind and rain.

Proceedings were briefly livened up when a fan ran onto the pitch from the away support and evaded several stewards before being intercepted by Queen of the South midfielder Jamie McQuilken.

The weather and the match improved immediately after the restart and Jim Thomson headed on target from the edge of the box, but Samson easily held it.

Thomson's slip at the other end allowed Davidson to shoot from 25 yards, but MacDonald was well placed to save.

The Queens goalkeeper almost gifted Dundee the lead when he dropped a cross by Malone, but he recovered well to block Zemlik's effort.

McCann had an ambitious 30-yard free-kick saved by Samson, before the hosts took the lead in the 51st minute.

Dobbie controlled MacDonald's long kick out brilliantly and steered the ball into the corner with the outside of his boot.

The Dumfries side almost made it 2-0 moments later but Paul Burns scooped a first-time effort just wide after Steve Tosh had a shot blocked.

Tosh had two more chances to score, the first on the counter-attack following a clever pass by Dobbie.

The midfielder ran from inside his own half but was running out on steam before firing a shot from a tight angle which was turned wide by Samson.

He was then off target from the second opportunity when the ball broke to him 12 yards out.

Dundee fought back and Davidson was on target from Malone's corner, but MacDonald caught his looping header.

Referee Mike McCurry then ignored hopeful penalty claims when Dundee substitute Jani Sturm went down under attention from Thomson behind him.

The visitors piled men forward as time ticked by, but they left gaps at the back which Queens exploited.

On one such occasion substitute John Stewart beat David Worrell to a clearance on the halfway line, allowing him a clear run on goal, but Samson dived to save his low effort from just inside the box.

The second goal came in injury-time, though, in bizarre circumstances after Samson had joined his team-mates in attack.

The Dundee goalkeeper got in the way of Sturm's shot and the ball broke to McCann, who launched the ball into the empty net from more than 60 yards.