After the first forty five minutes even the most optimistic of Doonhamers would have been doing a bit of mental arithmetic to see how many goals we could lose by and Partick win by for us to stay off bottom place in the league, then with the half time scores announcing that Thistle were two nil up and with Queens two nil down things didn't look too good.
As it turned out however in that well used phrase it was "a game of two halves", Queens providing a spirited second half performance to not only overturn a two goal deficit but to go on and win in fine style even having the luxury to miss a couple of golden chances.
Back to the first half and it was a tale of two poor teams punting long balls at each other for the first fifteen minutes or so, then young right back Paul Stewart slipped as he was attempting to clear the ball wide right, this let in an Accies forward who eventually squared the ball for Ian Ferguson to clinically finish with little resistance. Then within two minutes homeless Accies notched another, this time down the opposite wing as Nicky Henderson strode through the Queens midfield and despatched a low hard strike past the helpless Hillcoat.
The Queens team, missing influential Captain and midfield playmaker Steven Leslie, appeared shocked by this but could not manage to find a way past the youthful Accies defence. All too often the ball was being played long and high to Charlie Adams who was getting little change out of his marker and was unable to create any chances for his strike partner Stevie Mallan.
The half time team talk obviously hit home as the Doonhamers came out in the same formation but with a new purpose. Co-boss and Captain for the day George Rowe went down whilst defending a two footed high challenge, after extensive treatment to Rowe the match resumed and moments later Stevie Mallan was put through into the box only to be brought tumbling down by an Accies defender and awarded a penalty.
To the crowds surprise Charlie Adams elected himself to take the spot kick and the new improved Chico stroked it home cleanly past the diving Reid in the Accies goal. Keen to get the match underway again Charlie followed the ball into the net to collect it, however keeper Reid had other ideas and Adams was left holding his face flat out on the turf. Fortunately referee Cassidy had a clear view of the incident and immediately brandished the red card at the ex-Hibs keeper. Goalscorer Henderson took over in goal and in truth always looked like a goalscorer taking over in goal!.
As Queens celebrated off went co-boss Rowe who was clearly still suffering the after effects of his injury minutes earlier. On came Alan Kerr and as everyone expected him to take up the left back position with man mountain Hodge going into central defence, Kerr simply replaced Rowe in the centre and actually looked much more comfortable there than he had previously at left back.
Confidence appeared to be oozing through the Queens team now, no thoughts of how difficult it can be to play against ten men, Queens it seemed had the scent of a first home victory in their nostrils and were going all out to make sure it was going to happen today.
Younger legs were called for and on came Bryan Caldwell to replace goalscorer Charlie Adams, Caldwell made his impact almost immediately feeding Mark Weir who got behind the defence and to the by-line before crossing low to the predatory Stevie Mallan who just managed to get his outstretched leg to the ball and send it into the net for the equaliser.
Hamilton at this stage were never looking likely to do very much, as their attacks were at best sporadic and seemed to carry little threat as the re-jigged Dumfries defence held them at bay with some comfort. The final goal was not long in coming. Again Queens were pushing hard with the combined skills of Boyle and Caldwell causing real problems for the Accies backs. Queens were awarded a free kick twenty five yards out and almost immediately the crowd knew that this would be the winner. Up stepped Paul Harvey, but he was joined by Mark Weir and Denis Boyle, so who would take it, Weir, maximum power and straight down the middle, Boyle with a curler round the wall or Harvey just like his goal against Stirling a few weeks back, curled around the wall and into the net. Harvey it was and as soon as the ball was struck it was in the net with Henderson well beaten.
Minutes later the same situation arose, free kick just outside the box, this time though, Harvey could only manage to send it into the crowd.
A spirited performance from a Queens team who are now undefeated in their last three matches and who are now making headway in the league. With results elsewhere ensuring that there is still no one running away with the league Queens still look like having a significant say in who goes where this season.
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