Queen of the South 2 St Johnstone 0
Goals at both ends of the second half from Derek Lyle and Gavin Reilly ended St Johnstone's William Hill Scottish Cup defence and sent Queen of the South into the quarter-finals as 2-0 winners.
Goals at both ends of the second half from Derek Lyle and Gavin Reilly ended St Johnstone's William Hill Scottish Cup defence and sent Queen of the South into the quarter-finals as 2-0 winners.
Lyle scored from close range three minutes after the interval to reward the Scottish Championship play-off hopefuls for taking the game to the holders.
Queens had the better of a tight first half and came close to stretching their lead before St Johnstone got going as an attacking force in the final quarter.
But substitute Michael O'Halloran missed the best of their chances before Reilly netted on the counter-attack in the closing stages.
St Johnstone started well and came close early on when David Wotherspoon curled a free-kick just wide of the near post, but they lacked a cutting edge with Steven MacLean absent.
Queen of the South had more of an edge to their play as the half progressed with Reilly and Lyle both close to getting on the end of a couple of balls in the box.
Left wing-back Kevin Holt put in a great ball that had no takers and both Ian McShane and Holt had half-chances but could not get their volleys on target.
McShane got the first shot on target in the 45th minute after Reilly laid the ball back to the 18-yard line but his effort was straight at Alan Mannus.
There was more meaningful action in the first few minutes of the second half than the entire first period. Saints had a couple of decent attacks but Murray Davidson scooped a shot over and Chris Kane did not have the pace to get away from the home defence following James McFadden's return pass.
Queens went straight up the park and Paul Burns got the break of the ball in a challenge with Tam Scobbie to find himself one on one with Mannus from Holt's ball down the left, but the Saints keeper spread himself to block.
He was beaten within a minute though after Reilly sent in a deep cross from the left. Lewis Kidd came in to strike a volley and Lyle finished it off from three yards out.
Queens sought to extend their advantage and Reilly shot just wide from 20 yards after dispossessing Wotherspoon before just failing to make contact with McShane's cross.
O'Halloran appeared on the hour mark to replace Danny Swanson following a quiet debut for the on-loan Coventry midfielder and Brian Graham soon replaced Kane as Queens sat deeper and deeper.
St Johnstone threw everything at their opponents but could not trouble Jim Atkinson in the home goal.
Steven Anderson headed over from a corner and O'Halloran had a glorious chance with 20 minutes left when the ball broke to him in the six-yard box following Simon Lappin's cross but he completely mis-kicked before limping away.
McFadden shot well wide from a decent chance as Saints continued to press but, with thick fog descending on Palmerston, the home side put plenty of daylight between the teams when Reilly slotted home substitute Stephen McKenna's low cross fro the right in the 90th minute.
Reilly celebrated with all of his team-mates including goalkeeper Atkinson and half of the crowd behind the goal before taking a booking for going into the fans.
Queens were only subjected to late danger from snowballs thrown from the departing St Johnstone fans before celebrating again when the final whistle blew.