The lead is down to just 9 points now as ‘McGuffie 2’ moved closer to current leader, ‘Qos1 St.Mirren1’. ‘WWHeisenberg’ moves up to 3rd place just above ‘Albertz 11’. Round 28 takes place this coming Saturday when Queens play hosts to Alloa.

NEW LEADER

After a convincing 5-0 win for Queens at Cowdenbeath, ‘Qos 1 St.Mirren1’moved back to the head of the leaderboard after he was the only player to select Derek Lyle to score first. Two further goals for ‘Del’ earned the new leader a total of 30 points, and his lead over 2nd placed, ‘McGuffie 2’ is now 19 points. Round 27 of the contest takes place this coming Saturday when Queens host St.Johnstone in the Scottish Cup.

‘Qos1 St.Mirren1’ was also the top points scorer in January with a total of 40 points.

NEW LEADER

After reaching the halfway point of the league programme, the 1st goalscorer competition has a new leader. ‘McGuffie 2’ has now moved 16 points clear of ‘Qos1 St.Mirren1’who is in 2nd place. The new leader was also the top scorer for the month of December, scoring 25 points from the 4 games played. Round 23 takes place this coming weekend when Queens start 2015 at home to bottom side, Livingston.

Just 2 players selected Iain Russell to register first for Queens at Hearts, ‘Albert 11’ and ‘Francis_Begbie_HFC’, each player scoring 8 points.  The current leader is still ‘Qos 1 St.Mirren 1’, who has a 4 point lead over second placed ‘McGuffie 2’. Round twenty of this seasons competition takes place on Friday when Queens host Rangers.                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the cup win over Brora, ‘Guthrie 2’ closed the gap on leader ‘Qos 1 St.Mirren 1 to just 4 points after being the only player to select Derek Lyle to score first. A total of 9 players scored points during this round. The next round(19) sees Queens head to Tynecastle to take on league leaders, Hearts.

Congratulations to Middleageddirtbag who scored the most points, 85 during July/August.

NEW LEADER

Only player to score points from the 2 games against Livingston was ‘Middleageddirtbag’ who selected no scorer in the Cup game on Tuesday. The 14 points he collected moves him above ‘McGuffie 2’ into top spot after 6 games. Round 7 takes place this weekend when Queens put their unbeaten league record on the line at Ibrox.

DUMBARTON 0-4 QUEENS

A convincing away win for Queens saw them move to the top of the Championship table as they got the better of both the home side, and the blustery conditions. It was virtually all one way traffic, as Queens were the dominant side for pretty much the entire 90 minutes.                                                                                                                      Striker, Derek Lyle continued his fine recent run, scoring for the 3rd game in a row as confusion in the home defence saw him strike after 20 minutes following good work from Gavin Reilly. Although controlling the rest of the half, no further goals were scored, but it was the away side who went nearest to adding to their lead when captain, Chris Higgins went very close. However after the break, the goals flowed, as Queens really got the better of their hosts. Young striker, Gavin Reilly powered home a near post header from Lyle’s perfect delivery to put Queens well in control, and player-coach, James Fowler, crashed home a stunning drive from 35-yards to net his first goal for Queens, and to guarantee that the points were in the bag. There was still time for Iain Russell to add a fourth for Queens, and even late on the away side had another couple of really good chances to inflict more damage on a struggling Dumbarton defence, but both Lewis Kidd, and Mark Durnan, were denied.                                                                                                                                                                                       MATCH REACTION This was as comfortable for Queens as the scoreline would suggest and in fact virtually from the first minute of the game, the away side dominated. Derek Lyle probably should have opened the scoring after just 80 seconds, but when he did strike after 20 minutes, Queens were well on top. James Fowler’s stunning strike was the highlight in terms of goals, but this was a very impressive team performance by Queens, and even after just 2 games played, the early signs are looking good. Playing the same team consistently is certainly helping the cause, and with players like Baird, Paton, and Kerr, all waiting to feature, it’s a case of so far, so good.

QUEENS: Clark-Dowie-Holt-Higgins-Durnan-Carmichael(Kidd 70)-McShane-Fowler-Russell-Lyle(Dzierzawski 75)-Reilly(Baird 77)

SCORERS: LYLE  20  REILLY 50  FOWLER 68 RUSSELL 77

CROWD  958

QUEENS 2-0 ALLOA

The league campaign began well for Queens as they recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over Alloa. Keeping to the same team that won last time out against Elgin, Boss Jim McIntyre, in charge for the 50th time, went with the same attacking 4-4-2 formation, as Gavin Reilly, and Derek Lyle lead the line.                                                             After a scrappy start, Queens eventually got the breakthrough after just 8 minutes, Derek Lyle finishing well after he initially chased down a short back pass. The visitors had a couple of decent opportunities to draw level, most notably when McCord shot over when well placed. After hitting the net 3 times last week, Iain Russell nearly added to his total for the season, but his curling effort was just too high. The visitors went close again and once again it was McCord who had the chance, but Zander Clark made an important block to keep his side ahead. A long ball from Dowie found Carmichael on the right, and after breaking into the area, the winger fired an effort just wide of the far post.                                                                                   A clumsy challenge by Chris Higgins quite rightly saw him receive the game’s first caution, and although Meggatt’s header hit the bar, he was penalised for being in an offside position. With Queens struggling to add to their lead, Alloa were caught out by the home side as they launched a perfect counter attack. As the ball broke loose to Lyle, he was able to pick out a perfect pass that found Russell, and he in turn found Reilly. The young striker controlled well before smashing an unstoppable shot past Gibson to double Queens’ lead.                                                                                                                                                                                                        Alloa almost instantly had a big chance to drag themselves back into the game, but Zander Clark produced a fine block to deny McCord. 

Early at the start of the 2nd period, Queens had two really good opportunities to increase their lead when both Carmichael and Reilly spurned chances, although to be fair, the ‘keeper deserves some credit for saving both attempts. With Queens continuing to push forward, a really good move involving McShane, Holt, and Reilly, ended with Lyle having his shot smothered by the ‘keeper. Another chance came for Lyle following a corner, his powerful effort just clearing the bar. New signing, John Baird was given his Queens competitive debut with 13 minutes left, and not long after coming on, he thought he had crowned his first start with his first goal, but after providing a nice finish to a McShane free-kick, he was ruled to have been offside,a tight call, but probably right from my view. With seconds remaining, Alloa should have got themselves a consolation goal. A cross to the far post was headed goalwards, but Chris Higgins with the aid of a post, kept the ball from crossing the line, but when the ball fell to Spence the striker somehow blasted his effort from 2 yards out, high over the bar.

MATCH REACTION An opening day win for Queens was predicted, but with better composure and more accurate finishing, Alloa might have taken something from the game. In a first half that was pretty even, Queens enjoyed some good fortune to get a break for the opening goal, and even their second goal 5 minutes before the break came slightly against the run of play, although the goal was created and executed really well. Midfield is still a bit worrying for me, wee Danny doesn’t defend as he should-hard for him to do so as an attacking player-and still not sure of Fowler. Thankfully playing with 2 strikers will always give us more options when we attack, and I think Baird will prove to be a decent signing. Really impressed by both front men today especially Reilly who never stopped running and finished a fine move with a really good goal, his 6th league goal in his last 6 league appearances at Palmerston,and for me he certainly deserved his man-of-the-match nomination. It is always good to get off to a winning start, and the confidence will be high after a steady, but effective performance.

QUEENS: Clark-Dowie-Holt-Higgins-Durnan-Fowler-McShane-Carmichael(Kidd 70)-Reilly(Dzierzawski 88)-Lyle(Baird 77)-Russell  

SCORERS:    LYLE  8     REILLY 40

CROWD  1635                                                                                                                                                           

 

Queen of the South manager, Jim McIntyre,took charge of his 50th competitive game this afternoon when Queens opened their Championship campaign at home against Alloa.                                                                                  His record to date, after today’s win is……

Overall : P50  W24  D10  L16

League : P39*   W18  D7    L14    * includes 2 play-off games

Cup : P11  W6  D3* L2         * 2 Games led to defeat after extra time/penalties

Goals :  League 58    Cup 25    Total 81

All five games against Alloa during McIntyre’s reign have seen Queens remain unbeaten winning 4 and drawing once.