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QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 3 : 1 PARTICK THISTLE

2nd April 2005

Barnard Rating: 7.03

1 Paton Rating: 7.48

Reid Rating: 7.41

Craig Rating: 7.33

English Rating: 6.20

Payne Rating: 8.34

Lovell Rating: 6.95

McColligan Rating: 6.86

S2 Bowey Rating: 6.22

S1 Lyle Rating: 6.63

2 S3 McNiven Rating: 8.09

SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 76 Wood Rating: 5.62	S2 - 84 Gibson	S3 - 89 McLaughlin	Burns	Scott

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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 Jim Thomson missing through suspension manager Iain Scott gave David Craig the chance to shine in the centre of the defence today against one of his old clubs, that was the only change to the last outing at Hamilton although youngsters Burns and Gibson did get a place on the bench at the expense of Alex Williams. A very healthy support from Glasgow came down hoping to see their favourites make up some ground on the hosts and hopefully make up some ground on the teams just above them, however it could not have been any worse a day for the Maryhill fans as they were comfortably defeated by Queens and all of their nearest relegation 'scrappers' won their matches leaving the 2003/04 SPL side facing an SFL Division 2 season in 2005/06.

An excellent travelling support in good voice

The first twenty minutes or so of the match were largely uneventful with very little to comment upon. Queens though started to up their possession and make more headway against the visitors. Eric Paton looked set to rifle a free-kick goalward from the edge of the box but elected a cute chip over the wall that no Queens player could react to and Partick charged up the other end. However Armand One may have many skills but close control and pace do not seem to rank amongst them and it was fortunate that it was the big striker that was presented with a chance in the six yard box and not a more nimble player. All Queens good moves seemed to stem from the right hand side of the park and it was a Payne, Paton combination that saw the ball played just behind David McNiven as the striker raced into the box on twenty four minutes. At the other end the main source of concern was from the feet of Andrew Ross and Derek Fleming down the right hand side. Just on the half hour Queens broke the deadlock with a superb finish. The ball went out for a corner and Stephen Payne played an inswinging ball to the back of the six yard box, David Craig rose above the defence and headed the ball down and into the box, the defence looked static as David McNiven's reactions once again proved to be the difference and the rejuvenated striker turned the ball home to open the scoring for Queens. Three minutes later and the lead could have been doubled as Tommy English broke down the left and sent a ball across the face of the goal with no-one able to clear or finish and the ball able to run out for a bye-kick.

McNiven is first to react and fires home

It wasn't long before the lead was doubled though as English again sent a ball across the area, this time it was pushed out as far as Eric Paton on the edge of the box and with a spectacular left foot volley the right back sent the ball crashing into the bottom corner giving 'keeper Arthur no chance.

Paton fires home with his left peg

Partick made one chance to pull a goal back just before half-time as Kenny Milne managed to squeeze through the defence but could only screw the ball across the six yard box to see Andrew Ross head the ball onto the top of the net. Half time came and it was 2-0 to Queens. The second half started with a hint of desperation as Dick Campbell took the unusual step of making all of his three substitutions with Gibson, Hinds and McConalogue on for Milne, Mitchell and One. And to be honest the Partick side looked a fraction more threatening as the half opened although that didn't last long as on fifty three minutes David McNiven pounced onto a long clearance and as the defence closed in on him a Derek Lyle decoy run was enough to put thee 'keeper off and allow McNiven to finish with style into the far bottom corner of the net.

McNiven fires into the back of the net as Lyle plays decoy

Seven minutes later and Partick maybe thought that they were back in the game as a McConalogue strike from the edge of the box beat Richie Barnard all ends up to give them a goal back. The new front pairing of Hinds and McConalogue did look more dangerous but then again Queens were sitting back slightly with their two goal cushion and a solid defence. With just fifteen minutes to go Queens had a superb chance to kill the game completely, Brian McColligan raced free down the left and both David McNiven and Derek Lyle were looking for the ball to played past the one defender with them to give them the almost certain goal. However McColligans ball was played between McNiven and Lyle and that allowed a Partick defender to clear the ball from the danger area. Derek Lyle took a bit of as knock late on and was replaced by Gary Wood whilst Steve Bowey was replaced by Willie Gibson with five minutes left and David McNiven by Brian McLaughlin with only a minute left. Late sub Gibson managed to get himself booked for squaring up to a Partick player with only minutes left on the clock. This was a good performance by Queens against a very disappointing Partick side. However Queens were creative and Stephen Payne was particularly good today with David Craig a 'stand-out' in defence. David McNiven too deserves a special mention as his reaction is always extremely sharp and that was well shown again today in the first goal.

Two goal hero David McNiven