Queen of the South 0 - 0 Partick Thistle: Queens fail to net against battling Partick

QUEENS were dominant in every department except the most crucial one, the art of scoring, a problem which threatens to haunt them as a winter of discontent looms, writes Alex Dowdalls at Palmerston.

Despite a second-half onslaught, Gus MacPherson’s Dumfries outfit couldn’t find a way past a resolute Thistle rearguard. Thistle have now failed to win any of their last eight encounters at Palmerston.

Queens almost made a dream start when Stephen McKenna swept the ball wide for Danny Carmichael to drill in a low first-time ball, but Scott McLaughlin, 12 yards out, fluffed his shot in front of goal.

The Jags, with the worst strike rate away from home in the First Division, might have improved on that record when Paul Paton clipped the ball over the Queens defence to Tommy Stewart, but his clever lob landed on top of the net.

Queens created the best chance of the first period in 24 minutes when Nicky Clark set up McLaughlin, who cracked the ball just past from 20 yards, clipping the outside of the left-hand post.

Ten minutes after the restart Queens should have edged in front when Kevin Holt’s volley was superbly blocked by Thistle goalkeeper Scott Fox.

In 76 minutes, the Jags keeper was back in action to brilliantly turn Tom Brighton’s volley over the bar.