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Our dreams of reaching the SPFL Trust Trophy final were shattered by Aiden Fitzpatrick’s first minute strike for The Doonhamers on a night of frustration at Balmoral Stadium.

We were virtually camped in our opponents’ half of the pitch after that – and created chance after chance – but just lacked the composure needed take one of them and save ourselves.

The defeat will be a sore for our players to take because they gave it their all, with Blair Yule in particular having one of his best games in a Cove Rangers shirt.

But no matter what they did, they just couldn’t get the break needed in front of goal.

Queens keeper Joshua Rae did his bit with a series of brilliant saves, with one in the first half – from Fraser Fyvie – absolutely unbelievable.

BBC Alba, who showed the game live, awarded their man-of-the-match to Queen’s forward Ruben Soares Junior.

Failing to go for keeper Rae – or Yule – must have baffled their viewers.

If it were a boxing match, the men from Dumfries would have been forced to throw the towel in long before end.

This, however, was a game of football in which goals count, so you have to give the visitors credit for getting the one they needed then placing their bodies on the line to protect it to ensure they will face either Kilmarnock or Raith Rovers in the final at the beginning of April.

Injuries to Shay Logan and Ryan Strachan, Harry Milne’s suspension and the fact Kai Fotheringham was cup-tied meant we could only list three outfield players on the bench.

A fair number of the 728 crowd were still making their way into the stadium when Queens took the lead, with less than a minute on the clock.

Soares Junior collected a long ball out of the Queen’s defence, near the half way line, then sent FITZPATRICK racing clear on the right with a perfectly timed pass.

The former Norwich City winger advanced into the area before lashing a 14-yard shot high into the net to give the Championship side a dream start.

In fairness to our lads, they immediately went about the task of trying to bounce back and Rory McAllister was unfortunate to see a shot from a tight angle on the right bundled wide of the post by Rae.

Joshua Todd had a great chance to score a second for Queen’s in the 14th minute when he broke clear from the half way line, but his shot from the edge of the area was well saved by Kyle Gourlay.

Keeper Rae was the hero for Queens again in the 15th minute, when he dived full length to deflect Fyvie’s 22-yard net-bound shot wide for a corner.

Our next chance came from a well-worked corner routine.

Fyvie played the ball in short from the left to Mitch Megginson, who had raced out to collect the pass.

The striker then immediately whipped a cross over to Mark Reynolds, but he couldn’t connect correctly with his header from 10-yards and the ball bounced up off the ground into the arms of Rae.

Megginson’s powerful 19-yard shot was also held by Rae as we remained camped in and around the Queens’ penalty area.

The next opportunity, in the 22nd minute, came from Yule’s fine right wing cross that McAllister could only head wide from 14-yards.

Queen’s broke forward almost immediately and Alistair Roy should have done better than send a 12-yard header over the bar after being set up by Calvin McGrory.

If ever there was a sign that it wasn’t going to be our night, it was in the 25th minute.

Megginson left Rae for dead with a shot from just inside the area, but the ball rebounded to safety off the inside of the keeper’s right post.

Fyvie immediately latched on to the rebound and looked to have scored from seven yards until Rae stretched a leg out to clear the ball with a wonder save.

We kept at it though, with Robbie Leitch only just off target with a powerful 16-yard shot after he had collected a pass from Megginson.

If keeper Rae wasn’t making saves it was his defenders who were doing well to block efforts, as Megginson found out in the 40th minute.

That rebound fell to McAllister, but he was denied the chance to shoot when Rae made a brave save at his feet.

The pattern was exactly the same in the second half, which began with Rae diving to hold a 16-yard effort from Megginson.

Vigurs then took a corner from the right and his cross reached McAllister, but his eight yard header crept just wide of the target.

Rae excelled again in the 53rd minute, when he dived full length to push away a raging drive from Leitch that looked to be heading for the top corner.

Just after the hour, it was Megginson’s turn to be denied again, when he turned cleverly before seeing his 14-yard shot saved by Rae.

Soares Junior had the chance to increase Queens’ lead in the 64th minute.

He looked to be at least a yard offside when the ball was played through to him, but the striker was allowed to go on with the Cove defenders in his wake.

He was denied when Gourlay made an impressive save from his 15-yard shot.

Queen’s had another opportunity three minutes later, when player/boss Willie Gibson battered a 22-yard free-kick wide of Gourlay’s right post.

Queen’s were rescued by Rae again in the 71st minute, after Vigurs had played a great ball through to Yule.

The midfielder’s 10-yard shot was heading for the net until Rae dived to push the ball behind for a corner.

Vigurs took the corner and crossed to McAllister and his 10-yard header slipped a couple of feet over the Queens’ crossbar.

Manager Paul Hartley had thrown all of his outfield subs on and was going for broke before Queen’s scorned a glorious opportunity to make it 2-0 in the 82nd minute.

Alistair Roy played the ball through to Fitzpatrick and he looked certain to score until Gourlay made a top drawer save from his 18-yard shot.

Rae made another stop from McAllister and Jamie Masson also fired wide from 20-yards as the match moved into four minutes of injury-time, but the Doonhamers held out to book their dream day out at the final.

COVE RANGERS: Gourlay, Neill, Scully (Adeyemo 77), Ross, Yule, Megginson, McAllister, Vigurs, Leitch (Masson 69), Fyvie (McIntosh 77), Reynolds.

Sub: McKenzie.

QUEEN OF THE SOUTH: Rae, O’Connor, Todd, Roy (Paton 93), Fitzpatrick (Joseph 83), Debayo (Cooper 83), McGrory, East, Johnston, Gibson, Soares Junior.

Subs: Cowie, McKechnie, Nditi, Folarin, Henderson.

Referee: David Dickinson.

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