Two first-half strikes from Nicky Clark and Gavin Reilly saw Allan Johnston`s men run out worthy winners in the Second Round tie.

 

Queen`s manager Allan Johnston: "Delighted with the result.  A real team performance, there were some really good performances out there and we’re just delighted to be through to the next round.

 

"The first half we played some really good football, maybe in the second half we didn’t pass the ball as well as we could have.  I thought we were the better team.

 

Johnston went on to praise his team`s performance against the top division side: "We said to the boys before the game ‘you’re playing against Premier League players and its up to you to raise your standard and see if you’re good enough to play them`.  Obviously, it’s good for their careers to do well against teams like that.

 

"There were some brilliant performances.  Wee Dan Carmichael out on the wing and I thought we defended well as a team.  We were nice and compact, we tried to pass the ball and we created a lot of chances.  I can’t ask for more than that.

 

"The boys deserved it with the performance and the workrate.  Obviously skill as well, it wasn’t just about closing down but passing it as well.  The big challenge is doing that week in, week out and they’re more than capable of doing that."

 

Goalscorer Nicky Clark was delighted to get on the scoresheet: "It was brilliant, especially against a Premier League club.  I’ve not done that in my career so far so I was delighted to get it.

 

"Even if they weren’t resting players, we were still confident going into the game.  We are on a good run, still unbeaten so I hope that continues.

 

"Everybody knew their jobs and I thought we performed brilliantly tonight.  The boys were magnificent I thought."

 

When asked who he preferred in the next round, Clark replied: "We’ll take anybody now, we fancy our chances after that."