It was an afternoon to forget in the south-side of Glasgow as championship side Queen’s Park showed their quality and inflicted a heavy 6-0 loss on Kelty Hearts.  This saw the end of the Maroon Machine’s 2023/24 Premier Sports Cup campaign, finishing fourth in Group C.

The Spiders went into Saturday’s game knowing a win would likely see them through as one of the better second placed teams – however with multiple sides finishing on nine points they would have to ensure their goal difference was good enough.  Meanwhile, Michael Tidser’s side knew that Tuesday’s defeat to Peterhead effectively ended chances of qualifying through to the knockout stages. 

With that in mind, the hosts were relentless with their attacking display from the very start.  A penalty was awarded in the fourth minute with Ruaridh Adams colliding with a Queen’s Park attacker going for a loose ball.  Dom Thomas would blast the penalty over the bar, however he would open the scoring eight minutes later after a darting run through the Kelty defence.

The hosts would add another two goals before the break with a Sean Welsh header in the 32nd minute, and a Roddy MacGregor strike in the 42nd.  The Glasgow side were well on top and had it not been for some good saves from Adams the scoreline would’ve been heavier.

The fourth from Jack Turner in the 57th minute was a fantastic strike into the top corner from 20 yards out.  Four minutes later MacGregor doubled his tally for the afternoon and Turner rubbed salt in the wounds with the sixth in the 90th minute.

Tidser described the performance as “unacceptable” to Kelty Hearts TV.  “We need to put it behind us and move on to next week,” he added, “it’s up to the staff and coaches to pick the players up and not dwell on it, we’ll go to Montrose next week with clear heads and try and win the game.”  

Written by: Jamie Szmitz

Photography: Kevin Marshall (@KayemPhoto)