Queen of the South 0 St. Johnstone 1

Last updated : 12 August 2006 By Footymad Previewer
Saints boss Owen Coyle was delighted at taking full points against Queen of the South, he said: "They made it hard for us. He added, "I felt it was more like a cup-tie but we held onto our lead and they didn't really trouble our defence".

The 1-0 victory leaves Queen of South still stuck on no points but Ian McCall, their manager, said:" I thought we deserved something from this game - for our part it was a poor goal to lose".

But that goal in just ten minutes really came from the textbook as Goran Stanic weaved between two men before cutting the ball down the wing to Paul Sheerin. He trailed it to the touch-line before cutting-in and sending over a precision cross which gave Simon Mensing the simple chance of heading home.

The home side made a quick bid to draw level but the Saints defence was solid and never allowed them a clear-cut chance.

Referee Calum Murray had to quickly nip some "enthusiastic" tackling in the bud by producing the first two of six yellow cards, with a red at the end of the game for Queen of the South's Jim Lauchlan for pulling down Steve Milne.

The game centred very much in midfield with both defences giving little away, though Queen's keeper Barry-John Corr made the save of the day, diving-in to take the ball away from the feet of Martin Hardie. Tthen in the later stages he excelled again, touching a shot from Jason Scotland round the post.