If this was to be Ian McCall's last game as Dundee United manager, then at least it was a winning one as Queen of the South were dismissed at Palmerston Park in the Tennent's Scottish Cup fourth round.

A 3-0 win was achieved in comfort in McCall's hometown of Dumfries, with Jim McIntyre, Mark Wilson and Stuart Duff the men on target.

United looked nothing like the side which had imploded so remarkably on a much bigger stage in midweek.

McCall made two changes to the side which had suffered CIS Insurance Cup semi-final humiliation in the 7-1 defeat by Rangers on Wednesday, and it was no surprise that Tony Bullock replaced Nick Colgan in goal.

The second was enforced as skipper Derek McInnes was forced out by a knee injury but that hardly hampered United as Duff, the scorer of the third goal, was able to reclaim his place in the side.

The small, but noisy, away contingent must have feared the worst in only the fifth minute when Barry Robson blazed a great chance over, having been presented with a clear sight of goal by an Eric Paton header.

But it was soon clear that Queens did not possess the guile to trouble the visitors at the other end and, by the 13th minute, United were ahead.

Stevie Crawford's flicked header located McIntyre in plenty of space in the box and the man who had hit both posts with one shot in midweek had little difficulty rifling a rising drive past Queens goalkeeper Colin Scott.

The former Rangers goalkeeper had been given little chance of stopping that one, but should have done better when Wilson beat him from fully 35 yards in the 24th minute.

The Scotland Under-21 international had seen a pass upfield headed back to him by a defender and his immediate response was to belt the ball goalwards on the volley.

It was truly struck but Scott had time to get across to his left-hand post, where he helped it over the line.

The third was the result of a poor error, too, with Willie Gibson scuffing an attempted clearance of a pacy McIntyre cross straight to Duff, who gleefully pumped the ball past Scott.

Gibson was brought off at the break, with Brian McLaughlin coming on.

United had already made an enforced change, with centre-back David McCracken limping off in the 36th minute to give 17-year-old Gary Kenneth a debut.

McIntyre might have made it 4-0 10 minutes into the second half following a run from Robson which was followed by a defence-opening pass.

But the striker could only hit the side-netting from a position on the left of the box.

Queens had yet to muster a decent effort on goal and made a change up front just before the hour mark when Emilio Jaconelli replaced David McNiven.

The game was already beyond their reach, however, and United seemed content to allow the game to meander slowly to a satisfactory conclusion, for their own hopes of cup success if not McCall's.

United gave Jason Scotland a run out in the final 20 minutes and Scott made a stoppage-time stop to deny Alan Archibald.

The Tannadice side marched into the last eight of the competition but it would remain to be seen if McCall would also be there.

Teams

Queen of South Scott, Paton, Reid, Thomson, Craig, Burns (Payne 73), Bowey, McColligan, Gibson (McLaughlin 45), McNiven (Jaconelli 58), Lyle.

Subs Not Used: English, Barnard.

Booked: McColligan.

Dundee Utd Bullock, Mair, McCracken (Kenneth 36), Ritchie, Archibald, Wilson, Kerr (Brebner 76), Duff, Robson (Scotland 69), Crawford, McIntyre.

Subs Not Used: Colgan, Grady.

Goals: McIntyre 13, Wilson 24, Duff 39.

Att: 5,532

Ref: D McDonald (Scotland).