GARDNER SPEIRS today hailed hero keeper Neil Parry as his spot-kick sent Queen's Park through at Berwick Rangers.
The Spiders were twice pegged back at Shielfield, first through Neil Janczyk and then by Kevin McDonald in extra time, cancelling out a pair of Tony Quinn strikes to send the cup clash to penalties.
It was Parry who would emerge as the Queen's saviour, saving three successive efforts and then netting the decisive spot-kick himself to send Speirs' side into the second round.
The Hampden boss said: "Who would have guessed it would be Neil who would even- tually end up as the matchwinner?
"It was also guys like Tony Quinn who pulled this very young squad through in what was a terrific cup-tie."
Elsewhere, there was opening-day disappointment for Dumbarton as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Queen of the South at the Bet Butler Stadium.
Nicky Clark got the only goal of the game for the Doonhamers to send Allan Johnston's side through.
And Dumbarton goalkeeper Stephen Grindlay reckons the cup shock will prove an ideal learning curve as they prepare for the new Irn-Bru First Division campaign.
He said: "We've been playing well so far. This was our first real challenge and Queens are still a full-time side.
"They've come down from the First Division, but kept a lot of players. We're not far away but just need to start taking our chances.
"That gives us a good indication of what we're going to be up against.
"We played well enough, but we need to take our opportunities at this level or we will get punished."