Who won the Wii and the South win against Clyde
Queen of the South Supporters Trust - Palmerston Park, Dumfries >>

First of all, news of our Junior Blues Christmas ‘Win a Wii’ competition. The lucky winner was Vicky Boa from Moffat. Vicky was presented with her prize by the Supporters Trust Vice Chair, Louise Currie before yesterdays match against Clyde.

It’s not often that Wayne Rooney and Stephen Dobbie have something in common, but the entry of both in their respective matches this weekend, turned the games in their teams favour. Dobbie’s entrance in the 56^th minute, brought greater penetration and his goal, which brought Queens back into the game, was a typically sublime piece of control in the box with a volley to finish off. From then on Queens stormed forward with yet another goal from Paul Burns and a penalty from Steve Tosh saw the South run out comfortable winners in the end. Clyde fought well for the first hour with Kevin Bradley a stand out.

Stephen Dobbie celebrates his opener against Clyde

The papers gave their usual thorough detailed match reports J . Not surprisingly the Sunday Mail decided to give generous cover the Dundee Dunfermline game, but Hamilton were sidestepped as Saints 2-0 win over Partick dominated the !st Division coverage. ‘Tosh, I’m slick in the middle’ was the headline from Colin Patersons report. Tosh said “ I’m playing in my favourite position now which has really helped my performances. I’ll play anywhere but prefer to have a licence to play and pass the ball around in the middle of the park. I was filling a problem we had out on the left earlier in the season. The gaffer knew that and I knew that. Getting behind defenders has never been part of my game”. Queens boss Gordon Chisholm was quoted as saying “Our tempo wasn’t good enough in the first half………….we are now looking to get as high up the table as possible”.

Rob Campbell's first touch as sub saw him floored

The Scotland on Sunday’s headline was ‘Pressure pays dividend for Queens’. In the Sunday Times Queens were relegated to a short paragraph with Dundee, St Johnstone and Livingston’s matches taking up the chunk of the 1^st division coverage. The Sunday Post gave Hamilton’s 0-0 draw against Stirling maximum coverage with Queens squeezed into a small column under the headline ‘Queens widen gap’.

In terms of attendances Dundee vs Dunfermine had 4,607, Saints vs Partick managed 2490, Livingston vs Morton was 2300, Queens managed 1,513 and somewhat surprisingly league leaders Hamilton managed a lowly 1,410. There was no corresponding home fixture on this weekend last season after a 3,700 crowd on the 2^nd Jan against Gretna, Queens were off to Dundee in a 1-1 draw where Sean O’Connor equalised a Derek Lyle goal. The 2005-06 season saw Queens draw in 1,823 against Hamilton on January 6th.

Saturdays programme notes saw Gordon Chisholm highlight Jim Thomson’s contribution to Queens as the big man passed 300 appearances against Livingston. “He has the heart of a lion and my congratulations on his achievement” came the plaudit from Chis. Certainly Jim has looked more like a Brazilian with his recent overhead kicks, back heels and mazy runs. Certainly his overhead hook on the volley, followed by a mazy dribble through several Livi players was the highlight of the 1-0 Boxing Day match. Congratulations to JT. His efforts for Queens, both on and off the pitch are not lost on most Queens fans.

The Chairman continued a nostalgic look at some of the Queens greats, with Chris Balderstone, Ian McChesney, Jimmy Robertson, Tommy Bryce and Andy Thomson all getting a mention.

We fans certainly can’t grumble with a festive period which has seen Queens win all 3 home games and lose out narrowly to league leaders Hamilton in a game Queens could have won. Those 9 points have seen Queens move to 5^th in the table a point ahead of Partick and 5 points clear of the dreaded play off position. Next Saturday it’s Linlithgow Rose in the Cup at Palmerston.