ALLAN JOHNSTON comfortably guided Queens through the play-offs to ensure their Championship status; however, his challenge now is to find a team to play in the division next season.

Only their talisman and captain Stephen Dobbie has been signed up so far – every other player is out of contract.

Talks will begin right away and Johnston is hopeful he can retain the services of the majority of the squad having enlivened them after replacing Gary Naysmith two weeks ago.

“There is a lot of work to do, I think the only player we have signed for next season is Stephen Dobbie,” Naysmith said. “He’s not a bad one to start with so I can’t complain too much. Some boys who have been on loan are going back to their clubs and others are moving to other clubs,

“I’d just like to thank the boys for their effort. We’ve only been in a short period of time but they’ve given everything and that’s all you can ask.”

It was Johnston who led Queens into the Championship in his first spell as manager six years ago and he insists they should never be in this situation again. He admitted that he was asked if he only wanted to take over from Naysmith on a short-term basis but he has the hunger to rebuild Queens in the summer.

He said: “It happened last minute, with the timing and you’re thinking the play off, it’s a big gamble because obviously you want to be in the Championship, but this is a great club and I’m delighted to be back.

“If you are coming in there is no point coming in for a few games, you either want to be here or you don’t. I wanted to be here and I’m delighted to get it sorted and have a couple of successful seasons.

“It’s a good club but we have a lot of work to do. We’ve got the nucleus of a good squad, but we are going to have to work had to try and keep them and try and freshen things up with some new players.”

In truth, Queens were never really in jeopardy. Rovers gave them a bit of a fright early on but they never really looked like overturning the 3-1 deficit from the first leg.

Chris Duggan had a couple of half chances and Kevin Nisbet was close to connecting with Craig McGuffie’s corner – all inside the first 20 minutes; however, Queens gained control of the game and never really looked like losing it.

Rovers are now shaping up to a third consecutive season in the third tier. Manager John McGlynn said: “Over the two legs I couldn’t be more proud of the players. It was just so disappointing we couldn’t get that goal that would have turned the final on its head.

“We put Queens on the back foot early and we needed to get that first goal to put some nervousness into the stands.

“I’m gutted that we are playing League One football again next season but we will have to dust ourselves down and go again.”