( Allan 2, Whelan, Dunning )
John McCormack stuck with the same side that had drawn with Gretna and Morton over the last two weeks, and his persistence paid off extremely well.
Queen's started brightly with the two Stevens - Moffat and Canning - linking up successfully together. John Gemmell, Johnny Whelan and Canning all got efforts in on goal in the opening 10 minutes. It was an encouraging start, but Queen's had to make sure that they didn't slip up, and they nearly did. Shire's Derek Ure found himself in space, but his shot dribbled pathetically past. Scott Baldwin came closer, however, and his effort caused more cause for concern, but Stewart pushed away the shot and the ball was cleared. Despite those attempts at goal, QP were the more dominant of the two sides. The Spiders came close when Steven Moffat lofted the ball into the Shire box. The goalkeeper rose to collect the ball but fell in the melee and James Allan could only hit the ball over the bar in difficult circumstances. The long-haired winger didn't have to wait long though for his goal, and it came on 14 minutes. Dunning pelted down the right hand side of the park and his cross found Allan who stooped to head the ball into the net for Queen's Park's opener.
The first goal was always going to be important and thank God it was the men in the orange and blue ( the "away" colours ) that got it.
To their credit, East Stirling looked to get a goal back immediately, but brief scrambles were plentiful and shots were not.
John Gemmell, desperate to score after last week's heart-break, fired a low shot that didn't trouble Findlay too much. Confusion was apparent in the Shire defence especially when Dunning managed to continue a run with the help of some bemused full-backs. Sadly for the Falkirk men, that was the story of the day.
Steven Canning had taken several corners for Queen's on the left hand side, but none of them had paid off. That was until the 32nd minute. His corner was knocked on by Allan and Scouser Whelan added Queen's second after a brief mix-up.
The remainder of the half had nothing going for it at all as Shire seemed contented with hammering the ball aimlessly up the park. They did manage, however, to keep the defecit the same going in to half-time.
Now, for the entertainment. Well, not really. But listening to East Stirling motor-mouth tannoy announcer ramble on for 15 minutes was fairly amusing.
The second half started like the first half had ended. Diver's men appeared to be pressing forward more, but that just left huge gaps at the back. John Gemmell's first touch and overall awareness seemed a little ill-timed and that prevented him from adding a QP third.
As mentioned, Shire's defence was left exposed due to the tactics enforced at half-time and Allan Dunning had space to run through the defence and blast in the Spiders' third. His first shot had been blocked by the goalkeeper, but Findlay was helpless when the youngster let rip on the rebound. 2 minutes later, a beautifully worked free-kick by Gemmell released Jimmy Allan, but his toe-poked shot struck the post.
It was exhibition stuff for Queen's now and Steven Fallon broke away on the left wing only to see a lack of support in the area preventing a cross.
Allan wrapped up the goalscoring with 25 minutes by beating both the offside trap and the Shire keeper. A lukewarm shot squirmed underneath Findlay who then buried his face into the ground in shame.
The Queen's fans kept themselves warm with a good old fashioned sing song as they saw their side coast to victory.
John McCormack brought off Gemmell and Quinn for Ross Clarke and Paddy Gallagher to freshen up the team and prolong the agony of East Stirling.
Jimmy Allan had a hat-trick within his grasp, but his deft chip went just past the post.
East Stirling did try and get a consolation goal for the brave fans who stayed on until the better end. Gerry Boyle had a weak shot saved by Stewart. The referee had been relatively untroubled throughout the match, but he did have to book Brian Fairbairn for persistent fouling and petty behaviour.
That did nothing to soil the Queen's fan's mood when the final whistle blew. A convincing win proving that looks can be deceiving. This was certainly not the result that a distant reporter would expect, especially since both teams had an equal total of points coming in to the match.
Queen's fully deserved their victory and now they must challenge Peterhead at Hampden in 7 days.
East Stirlingshire: Findlay, Maughan, Drummond ( Boyle 57 ), McKay, McGhee, Oates, Struthers ( McLaren 79 ), McAuley, Ure, Fairbairn, Baldwin ( Leishman 65 ).
Substitutes not used: Grant, Todd. Booked: Baldwin, Fairbairn.
Queen's Park: Stewart, Ferry, Canning, Moffat, Agostini, Fallon, Dunning ( Crozier 79 ), Whelan, Gemmell ( Clark 73 ), Quinn ( P. Gallagher 73 ), Allan.
Substitutes not used: White, Mitchell.
Goals: Allan 14, 64, Whelan 32, Dunning 52.
Attendance: 315.