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Spiders were looking to advance even further in a competition where Hamilton and Aberdeen had already been put to the sword by Stark's men, but weighed down with the handicap of not having Damiano Agostini, Steven Reilly and Richard Sinclair available, there was to be no further scalp at a wet and windy National Stadium last night.
There were four changes from the side that left Billy Stark raging with their performance against Montrose on Saturday, David Crawford, Shaun Molloy, Damiano Agostini and Frankie Carroll made way for Mark Cairns, Jonny Whelan, Tony Quinn and Robert Dunn.
So, we lined up with Cairnsy in goals and a defence of Dunlop, Quinn and Whelan in front of him. The midfield five consisted of Paton, Trouten, Kettlewell, Canning and Ferry. Dunn partnered on form Weatherston up front.
Queen's started the better side and had a real opportunity after only five minutes of play. Alan Trouten left Bobby Donnelly in his wake after a run up the left and he delivered a cutback to Stevie Canning who hammered the shot right at Meldrum and the former Kilmarnock keeper made a comfortable catch. Richie Foran blew a good chance for Well moments later after Paton's attempted headed clearance fell right to the Irish forward but he shot straight at Cairns.
We then blew two incredible opportunities just on the 20 minute mark which we were to later rue. Weatherston left Well defender Reynolds trailing after a great nutmeg and his cutback was perfect for Steven Canning two yards away from an empty net. Somehow though, Stevie missed as for some reason he felt he had to take a touch rather than bursting the net and this poor decision allowed Meldrum to recover and pam the ball wide. The resulting corner saw both Dunn and Paton have shots cleared off the line and from then on you just knew it wasn't to be our night.
Moments later, Motherwell opened the scoring. A high ball was won by Kerr in the Well midfield and he played the through ball into Richie Foran who slid the ball past Cairns and into the net as the Queen's keeper rushed out. It was a lesson in clinical finishing for Spiders and the man it effected most was Canning, his head went down and we suddenly lost our creativity from the midfield.
Well should have made it two with the last action of the half, Lasley hammering the ball wide when sent one-on-one with Cairns by a deft Scott McDonald backheel.
But, it was a tad harsh that Spiders went in for the half time team talk down in a half where they put on a good performance.
HALF TIME: Queen's Park 0 - 1 Motherwell
The second half started very poorly and within minutes Richie Foran had hit both Cairns right hand post and the crossbar, and seconds later he added Well's second goal. After an almighty scramble in the penalty box, Foran slammed the ball past Cairns and the defence and into the roof of the net.
Only ten minutes later after they had pressured the Queen's defence some more, it was 3-0 to the visitors. McDonald made a disgraceful dive and the Aussie midgets fall to the ground convinced inept referee Mike Tumilty to point to the spot. Foran stepped up and made no mistake, sliding the ball into the right corner of the net past an outstretched Cairns.
The game had now ended as a contest but Queen's did start to look a bit better once more, the introductions of Bowers and Ronald invigorated our forward line and Alan Trouten's clever free kick to Robert Dunn nearly reaped the rewards of a consolation but the former Thistle striker Dunn's effort was just wide of Meldrum's left post.
Paul Ronald was unlucky when he met Trouten's cross but he headed straight into Meldrum's arms from 12 yards as the game petered out. Late on Tommy Murray made his return from an injury sustained in April and looked lively.
So a memorable cup run was over and now we must consign the glory of Aberdeen and Hamilton to the back of our minds the league's now the most important thing and we need three points on Saturday, when East Fife come to Hampden.
QUEEN'S PARK: Mark Cairns, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Tony Quinn, Jonny Whelan (Richard Bowers), Steven Canning (Paul Ronald), Stuart Kettlewell, Alan Trouten, Robert Dunn (Tommy Murray), David Weatherston, Mark Ferry
SUBS NOT USED: David Crawford, Shaun Molloy
BOOKING(S): Jonny Whelan, Paul Paton, Mark Ferry
REFEREE: Mike Tumilty
ATTENDANCE: 2408
MAN OF THE MATCH: Robert Dunn, Was good up front and used his experience. He held the ball up well and was unlucky on two occasions not to break to his Queen's goalscoring drought.