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Elgin City 1 Queen's Park 1

Elgin City: Clark, Beveridge, McPhee, Niven, Duff, O'Donoghue, Gunn, Cameron, Leslie, Nicolson, Moore. Subs: Crooks, Millar, Lawrie, Wilson, Calder. Queen's Park: Parry, McGinn, Meggatt, Little, Brough, Anderson, Watt, McBride, Daly (Smith), Longworth, Murray. Subs: Bradley, Lachlan, Ronald, Lochhead.

It's got to be Queen's. We travel all the way to Elgin and come home still in the hat for Tuesday's Scottish Cup draw. But should we be happy - who knows?
We were the better team at Borough Briggs, had the bulk of the chances - and looked like the side that wanted to get the job done. But at the end of the day, we had to rely on a McBride penalty to get us back on terms - and we could easily have lost the game right at the death.
It was a funny old cup tie right enough, and kept the crowd on its feet from start to finish.
The drama started early, with Chuckie Watt having to travel up this morning after being delayed in traffic and missing the team bus last night. He got there in time to take his place in the starting line-up, while Mick Daly and James Brough came in to replace Paul Stewart and Sean Burns. Young Owen Ronald (son of former Spider Paul) took a place on the bench, along with Peter Bradley, Craig Smith, Gavin Lachlan and Blair Lochhead.
Queen's started on the front foot and with only two minutes gone, Murray threatened down the left.He played in McBride, but his shot was deflected into the arms of Clark who saved easily.
Queen's continued to press but couldn't find a way through. Elgin, despite being the home side, were happy to hit on the break, which they did to decent effect after seven minutes. Thankfully Queen's were alert to the danger and cleared easily.
McBride looked in the mood, even this early, and combined well with Meggatt and Longworth to set up a promising situation. The linesman spotted an offside infringement - and the move came to nothing.
Queen's soon had their first scare of the afternoon when the pace of Gunn left us exposed. This time it was the offside flag on the other side of the pitch that came to our rescue.
The first real chance of the afternoon came after 13 minutes and fell to the home side. There seemed little danger as they moved upfield until Little slipped and fell to the deck. Paul McGinn was sucked in under the ball, but with the alarm bells ringing, Leslie hit the cross far too hard and the danger slipped away.
Queen's took up the offensive again and broke with purpose. Nicolson could have been booked for the foul that ended our move - he had to get a yellow card when he kicked the ball away after being penalised.
The resulting foul came to nothing, and it was back to square one.
At this stage, Queen's had lots of possession, but little real quality on the ball.. That changed as we approached the midway point in the half. McBride, Watt and Murray engineered a lovely break. It ended with Chuckie getting a sight on goal - but not for the first time, keeper Clark stood tall to deny us.
Elgin broke straight away and only over-anxiety stopped Gunn from putting his side into an unlikely lead.
Queen's, however, shrugged off the scare and again took the game to their hosts. Longworth and McBride combined to good effect and Jamie's shot looked a goal all the way until keeper Clark somehow stretched out a finger to keep the ball out.
And so it continued; McGinn fired in a ball which begged to be put away; it wasn't.
Anderson began to weave his magic and sent Watt scampering in on goal. Again Clark came to the home side's rescue.
Ten minutes from the break, Meggatt and Longworth won us a corner and when McBride whipped the ball in, Daly had a glorious chance to open the scoring. His shot was on target, but the legs of Duff appeared from nowhere to turn the ball behind for a another corner.
Queen's were so much on top that this one had to produce a goal - and it did ... for Elgin.
As McBride curled the ball in, Clark came to collect and quickly cleared. The ball found its way to Gunn and he fired past Parry.
It was almost unbelievable; there had only been one team it it - yet the hosts found themselves a goal ahead.
That goal seemed to stun both sides and the action until the whistle was mainly in the middle of the park.
Half time came with the score:
Elgin City 1 Queen's Park 0.
Neither side made any changes at the break. Queen's probably felt they were playing well enough to get back on terms, while Elgin probably felt that if they could be so little in a game - yet be ahead - they didn't need to change personnel.
And it was the home side who had the first chance of the half, Leslie shooting over after getting on the end of a soft free-kick award.
Moore then weaved his way through a worryingly-static QP defence to let fly. Thankfully Parry was more alert and produced a great stop to keep the deficit at one goal.
The escape spurned Queen's into action and Watt went close before we finally got the break we had been looking for.
With 57 minutes on the clock, a through ball was nudged into the path of Longworth. As he bore down on goal, he was taken out by Niven.
It looked a pen for all the world, but it seemed to take a long time before referee McDermott pointed to the spot.
McBride did his usual efficient job from the spot and with just over 30 minutes to go, the tie was back to where it had begun.
If Queen's had been on top before, they now took a stranglehold on the tie. Anderson began to have a real influence on proceedings; Chuckie tore up and down the flank - ably supported by young McGinn - and McBride pulled the strings whenever his wee partner in arms was not around.
Despite pinging several tempting balls into the Elgin box, we just couldn't find the net. Daly looked certain to give us the lead when one scrumptious cross arrived on his toe. He got his effort on target, but somehow it was turned behind for a corner. As the flag-kick came in, three Queen's players tried to bundle it over the line. Somehow it eluded them all - and the far post - and the scores remained tied.
It had been a cracking cup tie up to this point, but as the game wore on, the tension increased and the officials became more involved. Mick Daly and Jamie Duff had a little tete-a-tete off the ball, which was spotted by the linesman - with the result that both players fell foul of the referee for an incident that gave handbags at dawn a bad name.
As the game entered its final quarter, Gardner Speirs made his move, bringing on Smith for the tiring Daly.
The flying machine was quickly involved, bursting through the middle to shoot into the side net, before rampaging down the line to give Watt a sight at goal. Sadly, Chuckie was again denied by Clark.
Queen's continued to press, and could have tied the game up with a bit of luck - or a tad more composure in front of goal.
Both were lacking, and all our good work could have been undone with one minute of panic at the back.
That nearly arrived right on time as we failed to clear a cross from Beveridge and the 14ft tall substitute Millar almost made us pay.
Thankfully, we somehow scrambled the ball clear and the final whistle went almost immediately.
A full-time score of 1-1 at Borough Briggs looks at first glance an excellent result. But as always seems to be the case with Queen's, the score doesn't tell the full story.
At times this afternoon we were very good too watch, producing some excellent football. For all that, we couldn't put the tie to bed when we had the chances - and could easily have come home trying hard not to regurgitate our dinners after experiencing the sick feeling of defeat.
But let's look on the bright side. We're still in the cup, and have the ability to take care of Elgin when they come to HQ for the replay next Saturday.
Naturally, there's a downside. The replay means our eagerly-awaited home league game with old rivals Clyde will need to be rescheduled ... possibly to another midweek slot.
Is nothing ever straightforward with Queen's? Of course not - but that's just part of the fun of following this great club.
Keep the faith ... and who fancies a draw that takes Elgin City or Queen's Park to Tynecastle in the next round?

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