The team and fans alike will be boosted by the arrival of new signing, striker Sam Parkin and he is expected to go straight into the starting line-up for the game. Manager Gus MacPherson  is delighted to have captured the big striker, and says that his experience and goalscoring ability will be vital to Queens for the rest of the season. The new signing has promised goals for his new side and hopes to be able to help his new team climb the table. Parkin said ”I want to be the person to come in and score the goals that fire the club up the table and keep us in this league”. He also added ”I never managed to score that many goals during my time at St.Johnstone, but I certainly do know how to find the net”.

So far this season it’s a win and a draw for Queens against the men from Greenock, as so far-and let’s hope it continues-Morton are the only side that Queens haven’t lost to in the league.

Whilst the introduction of Parkin will be a big boost, Queens will have to change their side considerably this time as both Craig Reid and Stephen McKenna will both be out due to suspensions, and long term injuries to both Kevin Smith, and Marc McCusker mean that neither will be availabe. Queens have played 7 league games since drawing 2-2 at Cappielow in November, losing 4, drawing 2, and winning just once, against Ayr. Visitors Morton have played 5 games in the same period, winning twice, drawing once, and losing twice, so current form points to a slight advantage to the team from Greenock.

With just 7 league games left at Palmerston after this one, and facing a particularly difficult run of games  in February, Queens must start to make their home form count sooner rather than later, and three points tomorrow really is a must. I take Queens to edge it, but it might be a close call.

New signing Sam Parkin at Palmerston. Photo courtesy of dgstandard.co.uk

No players selected Tom Brighton to be first scorer at Livingston last Saturday, but Ryan McGuffie’s penalty was good enough to get Milton his first points of the season(4) and in fact his first points since the competition began last season-so well done toyou, Milton. Round 22 takes place this coming weekend in the home game against Morton, where new signing Sam Parkin is expected to make his Queens debut. His points value has been set at 9.

Parkin,who will be 30 next month,played 28 times for St.Johnstone after being signed by then manager Derek McInnes from Walsall, and he scored 5 goals in an impressive start to his SPL career. However in February of 2011 he suffered a broken ankle that kept him out of the game for over 10 months. After recovering from the set-back, he has only made 2 appearances this season most recently against Aberdeen last December.

After begining his career at Chelsea, where unfortunately for him he failed to make an impact, Parkin eventually found his way to Swindon where he became a ‘cult hero’ scoring 73 goals in a spell that lasted for over 140 games.That form attracted attention from several clubs, and Parkin then signed for Ipswich Town before another injury kept him on the sidelines. After more time out of action,and after battling back from the injury another move saw him join Luton Town in an effort to regain his fitness and form. During his spell at Luton he scored 10 goals for the Hatters, however during this time Luton suffered 3 successive relegations and ended up in the Conference, and with severe financial restrictions threatening them, Parkin, as one of the club’s ‘top’ earners was forced to leave, and after a short period at Walsall, he moved North to Perth to join St.Johnstone. His 5 SPL goals came against Hearts(his first),St.Mirren,Hamilton Accies,Celtic and his last was also against St.Mirren back in December of 2010. Hopefully it won’t be too long before Sam hits the net again-a goal this coming Saturday would be just fine!!!

A Ryan McGuffie penalty 8 minutes from time secured a point for Queens as the sides shared 4 goals in a repeat scoreline of the August fixture between the teams. Queens made the brighter start, and went ahead when Tom Brighton netted his 4th league goal of the season-2 of them coming at Almondvale-but the hosts levelled, and then took the lead leaving Queens to rely on McGuffie’s penalty to get them a share of the points.

The result means that Queens are now on their best run of the season, as they are now unbeaten in 3 games, and although a point is better than none, it was quite clearly a case of 2 points dropped rather than one gained. However there was a cost to the point gained, with Craig Reid being sent off for receiving 2 yellow cards, and Stephen McKenna being cautioned yet again which means that both players will be missing for next week’s vital clash with Morton at Palmerston.

Whilst the recent 3 game unbeaten run is an upturn in form for Queens,they have still collected only win league win from 11 games played, and with Ayr having 2 games in hand at present-which will become 3 after this weekend-it is vital that Queens win against Morton, anything other than 3 points from this game will almost certainly leave Queens with too much to do with games running out fast.

Ryan McGuffie scores from the spot to salvage a point for Queens at Livingston. Photo courtesy of www.qosfc.com

Re-joining Queens on loan during the 2010/11 season, Lee started 10 games for Queens, although only 2 were in the league as he found himself as the ‘cup ‘keeper’ behind David Hutton. Playing in the 4 challenge cup games that eventually took Queens to the final, he performed minor miracles in the 2nd round game against Dunfermline at East End Park, which included 2 penalty saves in the shoot-out that Queens finally edged.

This season Lee has established himself as Queens first choice ‘keeper playing in 21 games so far, keeping 7 clean sheets in the process including 2 on the spin which hasn’t happened for Queens for a long time, hopefully in his 50th start for the team tomorrow,he can make that 3 in a row.

STATS TO DATE

P49  W17  D12  L20  CLEAN SHEETS  11

Lee Robinson wil make his 50th start for Queens at Livingston tomorrow.

McLaughlin has started all but one of Queens’ 25 games this season, and along with Kevin Smith, is the club’s top league scorer for the season so far, opening his account for the club in Gus MacPherson’s first league game in charge at Livingston back in August of last year.

Scott McLaughlin scores his first goal for Queen of the South at Livingston.Photo courtesy of http://www.qosfc.com

There were 4 players who chose the ‘No Scorer’ option for Saturday’s game against Ross County, Gogs, Middleagedirtbag,StevieQos, and Wull2001, and the 6 points  awarded to them all has seen Middleagedirtbag overhaul long time leader Virgil to go 2 points clear at the top. The next round takes place on Saturday when Queens visit Livingston. The latest points have been added and the leaderboard has now been updated.

A solid defensive performance and some good fortune saw Queens claim an unlikely point against league leaders Ross County as a game that produced few chances ended scoreless, with Queens becoming only the 2nd team to prevent Ross County from scoring in the league this season.

There were not many incidents of note in a particularly poor first-half, although a rather fussy referee dished out 4 yellow cards, 2 to each side, with County’s Ian Vigurs being a touch fortunate not to be sent off for two quite cynical challenges. Over the 90 minutes it was the league leaders who created the better of the chances, and only the combination of some poor finishing by the visitors and some good goalkeeping from Lee Robinson kept Queens goal intact.

The point for Queens was not enough to move them from the foot of the table as both Ayr, and Raith collected a valuable point each. So with 20 games played, Queens have just 17 points and 5 wins to their name in what so far has been a terrible season to date. The nil-nil scoreline was the 4th time that Queens have failed to score at Palmerston this season, and although the draw brought to an end the recent run of 4 straight league defeats,Queens have still only recorded a single victory during their last 10 league games, and have taken only 6 points from the 30 available-it’s not hard to see why Queens are struggling at the foot of the table, and if they are to be playing 1st division football again next season, they need to start winning games as soon as possible,hopefully, it’s not already too late.

With Queens failing to score at Firhill on Boxing Day,it was only Middleagedirtbag who selected No Scorer, meaning that his 6 points have moved him up into 2nd place, just 4 points behind long term leader Virgil.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH FOR DECEMBER IS:

Pdender    10 Pts

ROLL OF HONOUR FOR SEASON 2011-12

DECEMBER-Pdender       10 Pts

NOVEMBER-BeejayO        16 Pts

OCTOBER-Katboy31 & Middleagedirtbag   12 Pts

SEPTEMBER-ParkgateQos & Virgil   24 Pts

AUGUST-Coo_Shedder  &  Wull2001  12 Pts

Merry Christmas.

Just to wish everyone who reads this blog a Merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy New Year. All the best for 2012, please keep reading!!!