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QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 1 : 2 HAMILTON ACCIES

1st January 2005

Scott Rating: 5.93

1 Paton Rating: 7.52

Thomson Rating: 6.38

Craig Rating: 5.38

S3 English Rating: 4.65

Burns Rating: 6.26

S1 Bagan Rating: 5.05

Bowey Rating: 6.31

Gibson Rating: 5.88

Lyle Rating: 5.19

S2 McLaughlin Rating: 5.31

SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 55 McNiven Rating: 4.79	S2 - 55 Wood Rating: 5.29	S3 - 85 Jaconelli	McColligan	Barnard

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Members of the Internet Fan Club can award players marks out of ten for their performance today. The player with the most points awarded in the two days following a match will be the IFC Man of the Match. All of the points will then be added to a running total for each player and the results published in the mom League Table.

Name or IFC No.

MATCH SUMMARY

With the rain falling in Dumfries and parts of the car park flooded it looked unlikely that we would see any football at Palmerston today, even as kick off approached. However the referee made the correct decision as the pitch held out for the full ninety minutes and whilst conditions were not ideal they were certainly playable. Indeed you would think that a side more used to playing on grass than plastic may even have the upper hand in conditions such as these. Iain Scott made a minor reshuffle as he restored Tommy English to the side with David Craig going back into the heart of the defence alongside Jim Thomson at the expense of Gary Wood who took a seat on the bench. The only other change being the restoration of the fit again Colin Scott to the No. 1 spot with Richie Barnard back onto the bench again. Hamilton for their part had a number of key players missing. The first action of the game saw Jim Thomson booked for what appeared to be an innocuous challenge on the edge of the box. Hamilton then made an early substitution surely due to injury when ex-Everton player David Carney left the field to be replaced by Paul McLeod. It was the substitute who on just ten minutes should have scored when a Queens cross field ball again became stuck in the mud and picked up Corcoran who released McLeod, however the Aussie striker's shot was too close to Colin Scott and the 'keeper saved comfortably. It was a further ten minutes before much of note happened, this time for Queens as Bowser tip-toed through the Accies defence but scuffed his shot which was deflected away for a corner. Queens however continued to play across the park rather than look for opportunities to use either wing where the mud was less 'sticky'. With Hamilton playing with mainly number eleven, Corcoran, upfront you would have thought that the defence would have plenty of composure and time to clear any threat, however in the thirty first minute they somehow contrived to give the ball away on the edge of the box as Corcoran chased them down, the result was that the number 11 had plenty of time and space to curl a lovely shot past Colin Scott and into the top corner of the goals to open the scoring.

Corcoran (top left) sends his shot past Scott and into the top corner to open the scoring

Five minutes later and without the lesson being learned Corcoran again was given tons of freedom as he collected the ball on the right hand side and strode forward without a challenge in site until reaching almost the six yard box, his effort this time hitting the post and ending up as a bye-kick. Second later Paddy Keogh had a free-header that Scott managed to pull down just under the bar. Half time was welcomed. The second half started and within three minutes the left hand side of the home defence had been posted missing once again with this time McLeod able to take full advantage with a shot that beat Colin Scott at his near post. Queens though responded immediately and it was only good fortune that prevented the Accies conceding a goal as a free kick on the left hand side of the box was fed across goal to David Craig who fired a low shot that crashed off the post and rolled along the goal line before being cleared. A goal for Queens was only minutes away however and it was Eric Paton from a dead ball who would score it, a free kick was conceded by Accies on the edge of the box after Willie Gibson went down. Paton stepped up and curled a shot over the wall and into the net leaving McEwan in the Accies goal with little chance to save.

Paton's free kick leaves McEwan in the Accies goal grasping at air

Immediately Iain Scott made two changes and swapped his frontline for Gary Wood and David McNiven with Brian McLaughlin and David Bagan going off, Derek Lyle taking a right wing position with Paul Burns becoming more central. It was then all Queens for the remainder of the match with the visitors content to sit on their lead and Queens desperately trying to undig the hole that they had put themselves in. A free kick from the left hand side saw Tommy English send one towards goal that McEwan had to save, Bowser sent one past the post as did Gary Wood.

McEwan pushes away an English free kick

All in all it was a poor performance from a Queens side that really needed to win this game. Accies will take heart from this and with Queens now looking nearer to the bottom than the top of the league it has been a very poor last few weeks. Maybe a change of competition next week is what is due.