Dunfermline fell victim to their Alba Cup bogy team again when they lost 6-5 on penalties to Queen of the South.
The Doonhamers had knocked the Pars out of the tournament at the same stage on the last two occasions, and made it three times in succession when they triumphed at East End Park.
Dunfermline showed their intent in torrential rain with a run and cut inside by David Graham in five minutes, the winger’s shot going over.
A Callum Woods ball found Steven McDougall and his cross was met by Willie Gibson. Lee Robinson parried his shot and the second by Nicky Phinn was blocked.
Queen of the South fired a warning to the Pars after 13 minutes when a Rocco Quinn free-kick went just wide.
The remainder of the first-half was summed up by the Pars’ first corner in the 42nd minute.
The Pars resumed the second-half having the bulk of the possession and Gibson came close with a well hit free-kick in the 50th minute.
Three minutes later, QoS took the lead.
A pass from Quinn deflected off Chris Higgins into the path of Weatherston and he raced in on goal before striking a right-foot shot past the helpless Chris Smith into the net.
The away side almost doubled their lead in the 54th minute when Quinn shot wide after a run and cross by Paul Burns.
Dunfermline almost equalised in the 70th minute when the Pars’ two substitutes combined, A Joe Cardle cross headed just inches wide by Andy Kirk.
It was QoS who looked the more dangerous and a sweeping move involving Weatherston, Derek Holmes and Quinn ended with the midfielder firing over.
Dunfermline drew level after 80 minutes. A ball from Paul Willis found Cardle and the winger ran and crossed for Kirk to chip the ball over Robinson.
Cardle almost put the Pars in front with just two minutes left, hitting a shot from 25 yards which was put out for a corner by Robinson.
The game moved into extra time with the teams level at one-all and QoS should have gone back into the lead after 96 minutes when Weatherston’s cross was met by Quinn, but he misjudged the ball.
Dunfermline went close when Phinn’s shot was deflected by a QoS defender and Robinson dived across the goalline to punch the ball out for a corner.
Graham was next to threaten with a shot going wide of the post in the 100th minute.
Woods hit a speculative shot wide after 113 minutes and the action ended with the teams level at 1-1 after extra time.
Bob Harris, Burns, Quinn, McLaren, Reid converted for Queens with Kirk, Phinn,Woods, Mason and Willis scoring for the Pars.
Graham and Scally missed along with Higgins and Reilly, with McGuffie putting Queens ahead, and Andy Dowie being the unfortunate man to see his penalty hit the underside of the bar to put QOS through 6-5.
A disappointed Jim McIntyre said, “I don’t think we did enough to go through.”
Attendance 1160.