Dundonald Bluebell bow out after Scottish Cup heroics

A last-gasp leveller from Bell defender Craig Wedderburn had sent the match, televised live on BBC Scotland, into extra time before Queen’s settled the match with strikes in both halves as heavy snow began to fall.

Admittedly, had Queen’s not been so wasteful in front of goal, passing up a slew of chances and hitting the woodwork on four occasions, they could have put the match to bed earlier, but take nothing away from Kevin Fotheringham’s men as they put on a well-organised and brave display for which they take immense credit.

Dundonald set up with two banks of five at Kelty Hearts’ New Central Park in an effort to quell the Spiders’ attack and in the first half it worked to perfection, allied with a little bit of luck.

With just eight minutes on the clock, Jai Quitongo, who would prove to be a real handful for the Bluebell defence throughout the match, hit the bar with a shot before Dundonald defender Colin Wilson limped off just a minute later to be replaced by James Mackie.

Dundonald had the woodwork to thanks once again on 16 minutes when a looping header from forward Simon Murray came off the top of goalkeeper James Lennox’s bar.

Murray then turned provider with a great ball played across the Bell goal which found Quitongo who really should have scored but dragged his side-footed effort wide.

Half-time arrived with the score at 0-0. Queen’s had seen plenty of possession but Dundonald had acquitted themselves well.

The visitors took the lead just after the restart, though.

On 47 minutes, a Quitongo header was blocked but the rebound landed at his feet and this time he made no mistake, lashing the ball into the net to put Ray McKinnon’s side one goal up.

Despite that setback, Dundonald almost equalised straight away. A magnificent 30-yard attempt by Aiden Hendry whistled just wide of the Queen’s goal.

Any expectation that Bell might fold after falling behind didn’t materialise and they had another attempt on goal through Chris Gay but his shot was too high.

Queen’s also passed up chances to score, and Quitongo hit the woodwork once again with a header after a great cross from Ross McLean.

With 10 minutes to go, Queen’s were awarded a penalty after Murray appeared to be clipped in the box. However, after initially pointing to the spot, referee Scott Lambie reversed his decision.

It was a let-off for Dundonald and they responded by scoring in the last minute.

A cross was played back across goal by Gay and Wedderburn was on hand to hit the ball into the net from close range to force the tie into extra time.

Queen’s maintained the bulk of possession and with Bluebell starting to tire they took the lead 10 minutes into the first period.

A superb run down the right hand channel from Maclean saw him deliver a great ball into the box and Murray slotted the ball low past captain Lennox to make the score 2-1.

Murray passed up a glorious chance to net the third when, after rounding Lennox, he crashed the ball off the bar when it seemed easier to score, but the third eventually arrived in the second period of extra time courtesy of a header from former Raith Rovers midfielder Louis Longridge.

There was no way back for Dundonald after that but they had performed heroically on the night.