LATEST MATCH SUMMARY

Once again Queens ended the match with less than the full compliment of players, this time both Jim Thomson and Steven Leslie fell foul of the referee. Jim Thomson leaving the pitch in the 27th minute for a late challenge and Steven Leslie for a second bookable offence in the 71st minute, this being particularly unnecessary as his first was for dissent following the sending off of Thomson earlier. To further compound this worrying statistic a further six Queens players were booked, Eadie, Weir, Armstrong, Nesovic, Rowe and Aitken and coach Mark Shanks was sent to the stand.

In terms of the football being played Clyde opened brightly and David Mathieson had to look sharp on at least three occasions in the first twenty minutes to thwart the Clyde forwards, Queens settled quite well though and infact took the lead from a beautifully flighted cross from Steven Leslie which George Rowe headed neatly into the back of the net in 23 minutes, just before the first red card. Queens held on well and indeed played some impressive football in the remainder of the half but were caught out when transfer listed playmaker Alex Nesovic gave the ball away in midfield and Clyde broke forward to equalise the score.

The second half continued with Queens pressing hard to regain the advantage and Mark Weir came close with a drive just over the crossbar. A triple substitution by manager Rowan Alexander in the space of seven minutes saw Bailey replace on loan striker Gareth Armstrong in 67 minutes, Stevie Mallan for Ken Eadie in 63 minutes and Dennis Boyle for Mark Weir in 60 minutes, these moves had the desired effect of freshening up the ten men but the controversial second sending off in the 71st minute of Steven Leslie left the players with a mountain to climb.

Clyde's pressure was rewarded shortly after in 78 minutes when the Queen's defence couldn't clear the ball and Conway pounced to finish the game.

The sending offs and bookings in this match coupled to those suspensions currently being served will leave manager Rowan Alexander with a king size headache for team selections over the festive season. Hopefully the players will respond and produce the goods on Sunday 27th December against promotion favourites Livingston at Palmerston.