Goal feast in Pars revenge

The Doonhamers overcame Dunfermline 4-3 under the lights at Palmerston Park on Tuesday night.

And victory felt good for the Queens players and supporters after the East End Park outfit had knocked the Dumfries side out of the Scottish Cup just over a fortnight ago.

Kurtis Guthrie, Jack Stott, Freddie O’Donoghue and Brennan Dickenson got on the scoresheet for the hosts against the Pars.

Queens led 4-1 with 14 minutes remaining, however, visiting striker Barney Stewart scored two goals in four minutes to set up a nervy ending to the contest.

Nevertheless, Queens held firm to claim a big victory on home turf. They will now play Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park in the last 16 of the competition on January 6 or 7.

McMenamin said: “It didn’t go as we planned at the end. But, to be fair, I thought the boys were excellent.

“They defended the box really well and we brought everybody back at corners just to make us a wee bit more secure.

“We’ve obviously conceded a couple of late goals to make it a bit more tricky.

“But, at the end of the day, to score four goals at home against a Championship team – we’ve got to be delighted with that.”

Liam Smith followed up his goal against Alloa last Saturday with two assists against Dunfermline.

The winger started on the bench against the Wasps before returning to the starting line-up midweek.

McMenamin said Smith was only left out at the weekend because of a change to the way the management had decided to approach the game.

The assistant added: “His attitude is fantastic, he’s always on it and willing to work hard.

“We know what he can do, I thought he was unplayable in that first 30 minutes tonight. He set up two goals and was a real threat. In the second half we didn’t get him on the ball as much but we could see how hard he works.

“I’m delighted for him, because he would have been disappointed at being left out on Saturday.

“We made a wee change on Saturday, just to kind of flip things round a bit. And it worked, because we won 2-0.

“We changed it back a bit tonight, he (Smith) has got two assists and he’s definitely given the manager something to think about.”

The Challenge Cup win follows three points last Saturday away to Alloa. And McMenamin hopes to extend the winning run this weekend.

He knows it will be no easy task at home to a Montrose side enjoying a recent upturn in results.

McMenamin said: “They’re a good side, I’ve watched a lot of their game back from last weekend. Not many teams are going to take three off Stenhousemuir.

“They’re on a great run of form, they’ve got good players and we know it’s going to be difficult.

“They gave us a bit of a hard time up there the last time we played them. But, hopefully here, on our pitch, with our fans behind us, hopefully we can get a good result.”

On the injury front McMenamin said Kurtis Guthrie’s injury did not seem to be anything serious, while youngster Billy Gray is expected to be back in training today.

Striker Jordan Allan has also started to join in non-contact training, with hopes he will make a return at the start of the new year.

Updates are also expected imminently on loanees Cole Burke and Callum Penman.