Our 2024/25 league season got underway with a trip to Alloa and Manager Peter Murphy made four changes to the side that faced Airdrie in the final league cup group stages. Brennan Dickenson, Reece Lyon, and Harry Cochrane all missed out due to injury while Jay Hogarth dropped to the bench. Ross Stewart took over in goals with starts for Kai Kennedy, Benji Luissint and Jack Brydon.
The first real chance of the game fell to the home side when Steven Buchanan made his way down the right side and managed to deliver the ball into the box only for Stefan Scougall to fire the ball high.
With quarter of an hour played, Ben Johnstone tried a shot from distance, but his effort also cleared the bar.
It was scrappy and neither side looked like making a breakthrough, as Alloa tried, Luissint and Mickey Hewitt both headed clear before Dave McKay failed to find a way past the Queens defence.
Midway through the half, Oscar MacIntyre charged down the left and crossed to edge of the six-yard box where Josh Walker had sneaked in behind, he managed to make contact but hit it with too much power.
As Alloa broke, the lively Buchanan forced another chance, but it didnt amount to anything.
On the half hour mark, Stewart got down to his bottom right-hand corner to stop a Calum Waters shot and Matty Douglas then cleared from Buchanan. As Queens made a break, Walker rounded the keeper out wide but couldnt get in close enough to have the shot and there was no one up in support for him to make the cross. Kieran McKechnie did manage to get to it, but it was headed clear.
In the closing stages of a poor first half, Kennedy had a shot from 25 yards but didnt test the keeper and McKechnie and MacIntyre combined with the former staying onside for the return pass, but his shot was blocked.
Three minutes before the interval, from a corner, Kevin Cawley headed just wide of the post.
HALF TIME: ALLOA 0 Queens 0
Nine minutes after the restart Scougall took a snapshot and hit the ball wide with the outside of his left boot.
There werent manage goal mouth chances, but Luke Rankin came close to opening the scoring on fifty-seven minutes when agonisingly for him his header crashed off the crossbar.
Minutes later, Rankin was in again but this time his shot was blocked by Stewart before Hewitt cleared the loose ball.
With an hour on the clock, the home side were looking for a penalty when the ball came off the arm of Douglas, which it did but clearly wasnt intentional.
As Queens tried to create more, Kyle Doherty came off the bench and within minutes did well as he tried to play in McKechnie only for Kane Thomson to come from behind to intercept the ball.
Luissint then tried to curl the ball into the top corner but hit it over instead. It was a good spell for Queens and Walker cut inside to hit a left foot shot towards the bottom corner, but PJ Morrison got down to save.
Into the final ten minutes, MacIntyre won a corner, Kennedys delivery was met by the head of Brydon but that was knocked away and minutes later as substitute Shay Nevans curled the ball in, Douglas headed clear.
The Wasps were finishing strong and Scougall opened up space but couldnt get his shot on target before Nevans was in space and Cameron ODonnell tried an overhead kick but were met by a solid Queens rearguard.
In added on time McIntyre and Brydon both put their bodies on the line to block before Nevans turned it wide.
FULL TIME: Alloa 0 Queens 0