Queens 1Hamilton 1 |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Apr 04 2007 at 9:47 AM |
Hamilton Accies made the short trip down the A74 for this midweek league fixture. The previous three games this season had all ended in scoring draws and as I made my way to Palmerston on a clear Spring evening I felt that this latest encounter might well end up the same. It was third top against third bottom and an unchanged Queens line up from the one that picked up 3 points at Broadwood on Saturday took to the field in front of a 1650 crowd which included a couple of hundred visiting fans.
Queens opened brightly attacking the Terregles Street end and both Dobbie and strike partner O'Connor linked up well in the early stages as Dobbie had an effort held by Accies keeper Murdoch then big Sean found space down the right but his ball across the box was too deep and there were no takers. The home side were then shocked as the visitors took the lead in what was their first attack. A through ball seemed to be missed by Jim Lauchlan and it ent right through to ex Gretna striker Brian Wake and he had the easy task of slipping the ball past Jamie MacDonald giving the young Queens keeper no chance. My worry was that Hamilton would now just sit back and defend their lead as they certainly aint the most adventurous side in the Division but Queens kept the heads up and a couple of minutes later good play by Stevie Murray on the left saw the ball arrive at the feet of Stevie Tosh 25yds out and his powerful shot was well held by the keeper.
Hamilton were awarded a number of free kicks in the first half just outside the box , the first was awarded for a foul by Jim Thomson on McLeod but the ball went over the top and from the next one it was cleared by Eric Paton. On the quarter hour mark Queens had a great chance to level when Dobbie latched onto a long ball over the Accies defence but decided to have a shot which hit the keeper when a better option was a ball to an unmarked O'Connor inside him.
Queens then put a little period of pressure onto the Accies defenders and a leveller arrived just after the 20 minute mark when a Paton cross from the right was met by the head of Sean O'Connor and his looping header went over Murdoch and into the net.
It was then the visitors who put some pressure on Queens but without ever really troubling Jamie MacDonald. As half time neared big Jim Thomson got upfield and his header from a Murray free kick was held by the keeper. The ball then nearly ended up in the Queens net but Eric Paton cleared the ball off the line and the follow up shot was well held by Jamie MacDonald. The first half ended at 1-1 but the visitors certainly had quite a lot of the play and deserved to be level. Big Sean was immense in the first half but I thought that Dobbie was quiet and Stevie Tosh is certainly not 100% fit.
Queens made no changes at half time and were soon on the attack towards the Portland Road end of the ground. A corner from Paton skimmed across the goal with no takers after 49 mins then a minute later Sean O'Connor was taken off and replaced by John O'Neill. It was later reported that there is no serious injury with Sean and he was taken off just as a precaution. Following the change Andy Barrowman moved up front to partner Dobbie and it was Dobbie who had the next chance when he turned well just inside the box but his shot was so high it nearly went over the covered terracing. A good long ball out of defence by Paton was picked up by Stevie Murray who controlled it well but again like Dobbie he shot well over the top. This was followed by a nice cutback from Dobbie but the ball missed both Murray and Barrowman. On the hour mark Billy Reid brought on Gilhaney in place of McLeod and as Accies became more physical it was no surprise to see Marvyn Wilson get the games first yellow card. Wake should have had one earlier for diving in the box and Alex Neil should also have been booked for tugging at shirts and niggly tackles. With less than 15 mins to go Ian McCall swapped Dobbie for Weir. The ex Hearts man gave 100% in the time he was on the pitch and following some good work from Weiro the ball was picked up by Jonjo O'Neill but as he ran into the box the ball bobbled away from him and the chance was gone. Paul Burns then replaced a tired looking Stevie Tosh after 77 minutes just after Elebert picked up another booking for Hamilton. As the game went into the closing stages Queens looked the more likely winners with Weir and O'Neill looking lively.It looked like a winning goal all the way when Jonjo rose to head goalwards but Murdoch made a top notch save to deny the Queens midfielder.The final whistle went and in the end a draw was a fair result and Queens moved upto 7th in the table above Partick on goal difference. This is our highest league position of the season. In the other relegation battle tonight Ross County beat Partick 2-1 up at Dingwall to close to within 4 points of Queens. A massive game is in store at Firhill on Saturday as Queens are the visitors. A victory for the South then would surely see us safe for another season of Div 1 football. I will have to miss this game as I am away out to France snowboarding for the next two weeks and will also miss the Livingston game at Palmerston. I will be making sure I can get the laptop connected to the internet during these two games but if I cant get a connection I might be pestering some of you with a phonecall or two from the Alps !!!
Hope we get the points required for safety before I return so thet the last two games against St.Johnstone and Airdrie can be party time.
MUSKY.
P.S. Ian, get Jamie MacDonald signed up for us for next season.....it makes sense both for the lad and Queen of the South Football Club.
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