Peterhead 0 Queen’s Park 5

Rudden came in for a quick-fire debut following his overnight recruitment with MacGregor handed his first competitive start however there was no place for Charlie Fox who, as well as being injured in midweek against Celtic, was suspended or Ruari Paton.

The hosts threatened with a raid down the right within the first 60 seconds with Queen’s glad to have Louis Longridge popping up to clear at the expense of a corner that failed to threaten danger.

Sean Welsh nodded another home attack past for a corner on five minutes and as The Blue Toon continued to threaten Callum Ferrie was forced into action shortly afterwards when he pushed away a stinging Peter Pawlett 20 yarder.

Rudden rose to meet a Longridge cross on eight minutes however referee Nicolson blew for a foul by the striker against goalkeeper Stuart McKenzie.

Longridge created a chance again just after the ten-minute mark with a swinging ball to the back post from the right that was headed over by MacGregor with Josh Scott just failing to pick out Rudden with a similar ball from the other side after a further three minutes had been played.

Rudden came close to his first QP goal on 20 minutes when Dom Thomas slipped the ball through a defender’s legs and into his path however McKenzie spread himself to save the attacker’s first-time effort.

Peterhead created a chance midway through the half when Turner was robbed of possession and Pawlett cut a pass back to Max Barry with the midfielder’s shot going high over.

RUDDEN did grab his first Queen’s Park goal with half an hour played and it came from a well-worked move as Longridge slipped the ball forward to MacGregor who turned and slid a path across the six-yard line for the new number 17 to side-foot home.

The visitors then had two penalty appeals turned down within seconds of each other as a handball went unpunished and then McKenzie got the benefit of the doubt in a sliding challenge that sent Turner tumbling.

A fine tackle from Lewis Reid prevented Rory McAllister advancing on Calum Ferrie’s goal and set-up a lightning raid that only ended when McKenzie clutched another Longridge cross.

Two minutes from the break The Spiders had a corner however a goal was threatened at the other end as Peterhead cleared and found themselves with an attacker spare after Turner was nudged off the ball with Ferrie doing well to block Ben Armour’s effort.

Half time – Peterhead 0 Queen’s Park 1

Early into the restart a long ball forward from Danny Wilson looked to have released Rudden however McKenzie raced from his goal to head clear.

With 59 minutes played a piercing pass from Thomas released Scott on the left with the former Newcastle United player hitting the touchline before sending over a cross that was just too high for Rudden.

A minute later Scott repaid the favour with a ball to Thomas who fired it across the home goal for Rudden who flicked it on to the in-rushing MacGREGOR who stroked home from eight yards to double Queen’s Park’s lead.

Peterhead thought they had pulled a goal back on 65 minutes when Jason Brown slid in to volley home a free-kick however an offside flag cut short the home fans’ celebrations.

The Blue Toon came close again with 20 minutes left after Andrew McCarthy had teed up Pawlett to drill across Ferrie’s goal however there were no takers.

Reid did well on 75 minutes to block a shot from Seb Ross after the midfielder had twisted and turned to create space to shoot.

Josh Hinds was given a quick and painful introduction to Scottish football as he was sent crashing to the turf by McCarthy within seconds of coming on with the Peterhead player booked for his challenge.

It was 3-0 with ten minutes to go and it was another fine strike as Hinds darted forward and passed from left to right to find Thomas, who took control of the ball and then slipped a pass to the dashing MAUCHIN, who had over-lapped his skipper before sticking out a boot and poking past the advancing McKenzie.

A mix-up in the home defence with five minutes left presented MCLEISH with a shooting chance and the substitute took full advantage as he rolled a low shot into McKenzie’s goal from 20 yards.

In injury time clever build up play from Hinds allowed him to send TURNER scampering down the left wing and he sent over a cross that turned into a shot and flashed into the net to complete the scoring.

Queen’s Park – Calum Ferrie, Jack Thomson (Will Tizzard 66), Danny Wilson, Lewis Reid, Louis Longridge (Josh Hinds 76), Sean Welsh (Zach Mauchin 66), Jack Turner, Roddy MacGregor, Josh Scott, Dom Thomas (Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia 84), Zak Rudden (Liam McLeish 66).
Unused substitutes –Jack Wills (G/k), Tyrece McDonell, Magnus Mackenzie, Darryl Carrick.

Peterhead – Stuart McKenzie, Danny Strachan, Caleb Goldie, Jason Brown, Ben Armour (Seb Ross 66), Rory McAllister (Kieran Shanks 51(Robert Ward 66), Scott Ross (Andrew McCarthy 51), Peter Pawlett, Dylan Forrest, Cieran Dunne, Max Barry.
Unused substitutes – Blessing Oluyemi, Jordan Armstrong, Jack Brown, David Wilson, Jordan Brown.

Referee – Duncan Nicolson