GIBSON'S GOAL GRABS IT
By Gary McKenzie at Links Park
January 9 2005
Tennents Scottish Cup Third Round, Saturday 8 January 2005, Links Park, Montrose. MONTROSE 1 (Smart (45)) QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 2 (Lyle (41), Gibson (50)). As the weather played havoc with lives and other matches across the country, we were treated to a fine cup-tie at a windy Links Park.
Montrose, all in blue, took on their First Division opponents who wore their change strip of yellow shirts and 
black shorts.
A major surprise was the omossion of Stuart Ferguson from the squad with Dodds taking his place at left-back. Wood and Hall were given the strikers berths with support from Kerrigan and Smart in the middle of midfield. Webster and Sharp occupied their usual roles o n the wings.
Queen's started better and put the Montrose defence under a fair bit of pressure early on, but Montrose came back at them and made some chances of their own.
Montrose should have taken the lead on 13 minutes when Woody's shot was saved by the keeper and Smarty's follow-up was blocked on the line. Neil Stephen hit over the bar from the resultant corner.
QoS then had a chance when McColligan shot over.
On 20 minutes Woody ran into the box, but the through ball was deflected for a corner and on 23 minutes Webster shot just wide. Webster went close again when Smart held up the ball well but the winger shot straight at the keeper.
On 25 minutes, QoS winger, Gibson, began to show his talent when he skinned two Montrose defenders down the left and cut inside but his cut back was fied over.
On the half-hour, Jim Butter did well to save at point-blank range from Bowey and concede a corner.
However, the Doonhamers were one up after 41 minutes when LYLE fired a through ball from McColligan high past Butter's right hand into the net.
Montrose showed their resilience on the stroke of half-time when they fought back after Burns handled in the box and SMART stepped up to take the penalty. His shot was saved by the keeper, but he followed up well to level the scores.
QoS restored their lead with the goal of the game on 50 minutes. GIBSON who was their most dangerous player throughout, met Paton's speculative cross on the full volley and it flew into the net.
The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Mo, and we struggled to make the chances we had in the first half.
On 65 minutes, a fine Kegsy pass sent Webster down the inside right channel and his shot went inches past the left hand post.
On 70 mins, QoS replaced Craig with Hill. Montrose responded by replacing Kerrigan with Slater and Hall with Watson. However, there was to be no brave fight-back. QoS defender Wood was booked for a tackle on Watson with 8 minutes remaining, then Montrose brought on Smith for Webster right at the death.
Montrose were never overawed by their opponents from two leagues above and we can be proud of the effort they showed. On another day, perhaps some of the early chances would have gone in and we would be in the Fourth Round. It was certainly great to see the Mo on Sportscene for the first time in ages!
Teams:
Montrose
Butter, Donachie, Dodds, Doyle, Steohen, Kerrigan, Webster, Smart, Wood, Hall, Sharp
Subs: Watson, Greenhill, Slater, Smith, Hankinson
QoS
Svott, Paton, Wood, McColligan, Craig, Thomson, Burns, Bowey, Jaconelli, Lyle, Gibson
Subs: Barnard, Bagan, English, Payne, Hill
Other Match Reports
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=169816&cc=5739
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/4154149.stm
http://www.montrose-mad.co.uk/news/loadrprt.asp?cid=MTCH&id=198198
http://www.montrosefc.uk7.net/Montrose%20FC%203/