THERE are those that say you should never go back. Why bother retreading a familiar path, trying to capture some past success or another? Why risk tarnishing your legacy at a club where your cult hero status is firmly secured? Is a vainglorious return to an old stomping ground ever really worth it?

To those questions, the career of Stephen Dobbie provides a fitting response. The 38-year-old, who last night made his final appearance in a Queens shirt after a second stint at Palmerston spanning five years, has had something of a nomadic career. Between loan moves and permanent deals, Dobbie has been involved in a remarkable 17 transfers in his career yet he has only turned out for 12 different clubs.

It was Dumfries where Dobbie finally found his home, though, and last night Queens waved goodbye to one of its greatest sons as his second spell at the club came to an end. After 268 games and 158 goals spanning seven and a half years in total, the striker will have been hoping to sign off in style with one last goal and one final win. But it didn’t turn out that way.

Supporters gathered outside Palmerston to give their hero something resembling the send-off he deserves. Fans lined the street of the entrance to the stadium, applauding the striker as he soaked up the adulation from inside his car. Flares were set off supporters bellowed out Dobbie’s name one last time, and the fan favourite was then clapped onto the pitch by his team-mates as the game got under way.

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Jason Cummings clearly didn’t receive his script, though, as James McPake’s men grabbed an early lead. Minutes after Christie Elliot had rattled the crossbar after a jinking run through a crowd of bodies, Cummings went one better as the January loan addition combined with Paul McMullan to rattle home his seventh goal of the season.

Max Anderson really should have doubled Dundee’s lead on the half-hour mark after the ball fell fortuitously to his feet, sending him through for a one-on-one with Jack Leighfield, only for the teenager to roll his effort wide of the far post.

The Dark Blues made amends seconds later though as Cummings doubled his tally. Paul McGowan weaved his way down the left before squaring the ball to the former Hibs man, whose shot was bundled in at the second attempt after Leighfield rushed off his line to deny the striker.

The same man could have had his hat-trick early on as Cummings latched onto a lobbed ball forward, springing clear of the Queens defence and shaving the woodwork with an effort that lacked both power and direction.

And then Dobbie’s night was over. With 73 minutes on the clock, the striker took one last look around Palmerston before jogging off the park as he was replaced by Niyah Jospeh, concluding what has been a remarkable chapter of his career.

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The victory means that Dundee’s route through the play-offs is now a little more forgiving as they leapfrogged Raith Rovers to clinch second place, avoiding the two additional fixtures that accompany finishing third. The Kirkcaldy side had started the day as best of the rest behind table-toppers Hearts but a 4-0 defeat at home to Robbie Neilson’s side ensured John McGlynn’s men would have to settle for third.

Gary Mackay-Steven opened the scoring on 11 minutes in Fife before Euan Henderson added a second around the hour mark. Iain Davidson’s dismissal for Raith moments later didn’t exactly help the hosts cause, with Steven Naismith and Mackay-Steven rubbing further salt into their wounds by adding to the scoreline.

There was further drama at the foot of the table as Ayr United, Greenock Morton and Arbroath were involved in a three-way battle to avoid finishing in the dreaded relegation play-off place. The latter two sides played out a nervy goalless draw at Gayfield, condemning David Hopkin’s side to ninth spot.

Up in Inverness, Daniel McKay’s sixth-minute strike left Ayr with a mountain to climb yet they appeared to have scaled a significant chunk on it when centre-back Aaron Muirhead levelled the scores from the penalty spot shortly before half-time.

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Another sucker punch arrived within minutes of the restart when Caley Thistle’s Sean Welsh restored the lead for Neil McCann’s side, with the goal again coming via the penalty spot. That didn’t deter the Honest Men though as Josh Todd equalised midway through the second half, ultimately securing Ayr’s place in the Championship.

And in the evening’s other game, Alloa ensured that they concluded a season to forget on a high note by defeating Stevie Crawford’s Dunfermline 1-0, with Innes Cameron grabbing the game’s only goal early in the second half.