LATEST NEWS
For previous news articles see the monthly archive at the foot of this page.
Team News 31st January 2002
A full squad is available for selection this weekend for what is a very important fixture for Queens, with all four sides at the top of the table playing each other it is essential that Queens come out on top. John Connolly has returned from his business trip and will be controlling things from the touchline this weekend.
Angels 30th January 2002
Queens find themselves at the top of the league today with the release of the Fair Play League tables, the Doonhamers sit proudly at the top of the league, a league that a mere two seasons ago they were propping up. Congratulations must go to John Connolly and his staff for instilling in the side a level of discipline that has been sadly missing for a few seasons prior to their arrival.
Re-arranged Dates 30th January 2002
The Scottish League have advised us of the dates for the previously postponed games as follows:

Morton - Home - 26th February 2002
Hamilton - Away - 5th March 2002
Stranraer - Away - 12th March 2002

The dates throw up some interesting combinations with back to back games against Morton and Stranraer.
Man of the Match 30th January 2002
Thanks to everyone who re-sent their Man of the Match votes, the results see two goal George O'Boyle pick up his first Man of the Match award for Queens by some distance, with cross provider Alan Gray picking up joint second spot with Andy Aitken.

The Player of the Season League Table has also been updated and can be found via the Man of the Match link.
Scott
Rating: 6.67
Gray
Rating: 7.22
Thomson
Rating: 6.94
Aitken
Rating: 7.22
Anderson
Rating: 6.44
Connelly
Rating: 7.06
S2
Donald
Rating: 6.33
Connell
Rating: 6.88
Atkinson
Rating: 6.61
S1
O'Neill
Rating: 6.67
S3 - 2
O'Boyle
Rating: 8.83
SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 65
Weatherson
Rating: 6.73
S2 - 81
Moore
S3 - 89
Allan
McAlpine
Robertson
Fully Operational 28th January 2002
At around 11:00am today the site became fully operational again, so all of the form submissions from messages, Q&A, Man of the Match and the Fan club sent after that time have been received, we have however not received anything submitted via the site in between Saturday afternoon and this morning, would anyone who has sent anything please re-send. Also we will keep the MoM voting open for another two days to allow you to send in your votes, if you voted before 11:00am then please re-send. Apologies for the inconvenience but it was totally outside of our control.
Round Up 27th January 2002
We are still experiencing problems with the submission of forms from the website, our website hosts, Global Internet, have advised that we should be back operational by tomorrow at the latest. This affects, Messages, MoM, Fanclub and the Shop, if you wish to send anything urgently please use our direct email address qosfc@doonhamers.fsnet.co.uk. Thank you and apologies from our host.

Don't believe what you read in the papers, it was definitely Alan Grey who crossed for George O'Boyle's first goal yesterday and the substitutes were as per the report on this site and not as per all of the printed press have reported today.

Two former Queens men are now playing in the North East, Stuart Connolly is turning out for Esh Winning in the second division of the Albany Northern League, whilst Jon Sunderland is currently with Whitley Bay although he is reportedly attracting great interest from York City.

Queens start to the third quarter of the campaign has seen them hit 100% in terms of points available after a third of the matches have been played, the second quarter was relatively poor as only 33% of the points available were taken, better earlier season form when our success rate was up at 59% may well turn out to be a critical factor in where we find ourselves come May.
Site Problems 26th January 2002
Problems with the site that started earlier today with total loss of service have only partly been resolved. The site is viewable but form submission from the site is not operating correctly, hopefully this is a blockage and nothing is lost, however if you want to send a message click on this link qosfc@doonhamers.fsnet.co.uk, this is a direct email and doesn't rely on being processed by the website.
Reaction 26th January 2002
Assistant Manager Ian Scott in charge in the absence of John Connolly said. "Owing to the conditions it wasn't the best advert for football but we battled well and were the stronger team in the vital last ten minutes. George O'Boyle took his goals well and I was delighted to get the three points which keeps us right up there as promotion challengers."

Club Captain Jim Thomson echoed Scotties words and added, "Not only today but in our last three matches we fought right to the final whistle, that's the difference between a good and a bad team in this very competitive league."

Goalscorer George O'Boyle was obvious delighted with his contribution, "With the Clydebank game off we all knew this was a big match for us, it was always going to be close but I was glad to be on the spot to score, both goals however came from two brilliant crosses from Alan Gray, who deserves some of the credit."
Congratulations Jazza 26th January 2002
Congratulations to Jamie McAllister who today scored his first league goal for Aberdeen. His scoring record at Dumfries was similar which is surprising as the quality of his deadball play was always one of his major strengths.

Belated congratulations also to ex-Queens man Derek Townsley following the big man's first goal for Hibs in their midweek match against Aberdeen.
Site Down 26th January 2002
Apologies to everyone who tried to access the site today, it has been down for some time due to a technical problem with our service providers server.
Central Park Snow 25th January 2002
The pitch at Cowdenbeath's Central Park has been covered in snow today, it is expected to be washed away by rain tonight and hopefully will be playable tomorrow. Please check that the match is definitely on before you travel. We will carry news of any cancellation here.
Team News 24th January 2002
Team news tonight comes straight from the training ground, and the news is that John O'Neill and Jon Crawford are both fully fit. The squad will be along similar lines to last week with the addition of Crawford but the starting line-up will not be decided until just before the match, although a team that has won both of their last two matches with clean sheets is unlikely to see many changes.
Ted Moves On 23rd January 2002
Former Queens star Ted McMinn has moved back into football management after a brief spell between clubs after leaving Oxford United in November when his long time compatriot Mark Wright resigned following an incident with a match official. Wright came back into the game when he took over the reigns at Chester City earlier this month and Ted followed him a few days later. The duo now have the task of resurrecting the Conference strugglers season and leading them up the table.

Wright and McMinnn knew each other from their time at Derby County, from coaching at Derby they went on to manage Southport in the Conference and then Oxford United, Chester are the third club to benefit from the experience of the pairings management skills.
Man of the Match 21st January 2002
Andy Aitken wins his second consecutive Internet Fan Club Man of the Match award with another fine performance at the back to keep a second clean sheet in one week. Second place went to the match sponsors choice on the day of Gordon Connolly for his tireless efforts and third to super-sub Peter Weatherson.

The scores have made a few changes to the Internet Fan Club Player of the Season league table with Peter Weatherson taking over the top spot from Jon O'Neill and a number of others moving up. Look out too for Andy Aitken breaking into the top half of the league within the next few weeks. The league table can be found via the Man of the Match link.
Scott
Rating: 6.44
Gray
Rating: 6.02
Thomson
Rating: 7.00
Aitken
Rating: 7.78
Anderson
Rating: 6.54
Connelly
Rating: 7.48
S2
Donald
Rating: 6.59
Connell
Rating: 6.62
S3
Atkinson
Rating: 6.26
S1
O'Neill
Rating: 6.02
O'Boyle
Rating: 7.04
Substitutes
S1 - 63
Weatherson
Rating: 7.15
S2 - 67
Moore
Rating: 6.35
S3 - 70
McAlpine
Rating: 5.61
Allan
Robertson
Match Reaction 19th January 2002
John Connolly
I thought it was going to be one of those days when we just couldn't find the net. We hit the post in the first half and then the bar twice in the second half but the boys persevered and there is no doubt that the better team won in the end. That's two wins on the trot and two clean sheets in the last two games and we're right back up there in the promotion hunt. I was also pleased for George O'Boyle scoring his first goal for the club."

Commenting on the goal George O'Boyle said, "It is always good to score your first goal for any new club, joining mid-way through a season is never easy and I was delighted to see the ball finish in the back of the net."

Sponsors Man of the Match Gordon Connolly commented, "That's two good wins in two weeks and if we keep grinding out results like that we will be right up there in the promotion hunt at the end of the season."
In and Out 18th January 2002
Signing up this morning was 29 year old left back Derek Anderson, Derek's career has seem him with Glennifer Thistle Boys Club, Kilwinning Rangers, Kilmarnock, Rotherham United(trialist), St.Mirren(trialist), Ayr United, Hibernian, Hartlepool United, Morton and latterly Alloa Athletic, he is an experienced player with Premier League experience and will go straight into the squad for tomorrow's match versus Stenhousemuir at Palmerston.
Leaving the club this week is Jon Sunderland, the right winger featured regularly last season but made only three starts this season, work commitments have meant that he has been unable to train regularly and the parting is amicable.
Team News 17th January 2002
Making it back into the squad this weekend is Stuart Davidson after his bout of flu. Definitely missing is Jon Crawford with his back injury whilst the clubs top scorer John O'Neill is rated only 50-50 following an ankle injury picked up against Clydebank last weekend.

IN

OUT

50-50
Man of the Match 14th January 2002
A superb display in the centre of defence earned Andy Aitken the Man of the Match award from the Internet Fan Club by some way, second place was taken by a fine home debut by George O'Boyle, whilst third was scooped by the impressive Barry Donald who had a very effective game in the centre of the park.

All in all a high average for what was a solid performance from a team that demonstrated strength in all departments.

The Player of the Season league table has been updated as have the player stats, click on the Man of the Match link to view them.
Scott
Rating: 6.83
Gray
Rating: 6.35
Thomson
Rating: 6.98
Aitken
Rating: 8.06
Atkinson
Rating: 6.41
Connelly
Rating: 7.02
Donald
Rating: 7.10
S2
Connell
Rating: 6.12
McAlpine
Rating: 6.43
S1
O'Neill
Rating: 6.51
O'Boyle
Rating: 7.24
SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 67
Weatherson
Rating: 6.84
S2 - 79
Moore
Rating: 5.88
Allan
Burns
Robertson
Released 13th January 2002
Young Irish striker David McMahon has been released by the club following his one month loan spell, manager John Connolly said, "I feel particularly sorry for David as due to the lack of football in the month he had with us we never really got a chance to have a look at him other than for part of the game at Alloa."
Reaction 12th January 2002
John Connolly
"I always said that this would be a big big game for us, since we've been out of action for a month. It was a hard competitive match but the boys gave 100% effort and battled really well to grind out the result we wanted."

Peter Weatherson
Obviously over the moon having come on as a sub to score the winner and said, "It was just brilliant to win the game, it was brilliant to score the winning goal and it was a brilliant cross from Allan Moore."

Jim Thomson
"Great to be back, my jaw is fine and it was an important win for us."

George O'Boyle
"It was a hard physical game but it is always great when you win."
Junior Blues News 11th January 2002
Following the postponement of the Morton game, the complimentary tickets which allowed all Junior Blues to bring a friend for free to that game, will now be valid for the home game against Clydebank on Saturday, 12th January, 2002.
Team News 10th January 2002
Assuming that the weather does not get any colder the match versus league leaders Clydebank looks set to go ahead on Saturday, the leaders will be keen to get back to their winnings ways after their shock home defeat against bottom side Morton on Tuesday evening.

If the game does go ahead it will be the first game in almost one month for the Doonhamers whilst the Bankies have the advantage of at least playing on Tuesday and of course training every day due to their full-time status.

John Connolly will have almost a full squad to pick from with Jim Thomson fit again but Jon Crawford will not feature due to an injury caused by the solid underfoot conditions whilst training and Stuart Davidson is struggling with a flu bug. It will also be a chance for the home fans to see George O'Boyle in action at Palmerston for the first time in a Queen of the South jersey.
No Frost 9th January 2002
The hard frozen pitch at Palmerston has managed to recover over the past few days of milder weather and is now free of any frost, the Tuesday evening training session went ahead on the turf last night for the first time in a few weeks. If the weather remains reasonably mild then Saturday's match should not be in any doubt, however colder weather is forecast so it is a case of wait and see at the moment.
Cup Shock 5th January 2002
South West neighbours Stranraer are to be congratulated on holding SPL side Hibernian to a no score draw at Stair Park today, congratulations in greater measure must also go to the Stair Park ground staff for defrosting the pitch and providing a playable surface so soon after the postponement of the local derby versus Queens and in conditions not conducive to natural recovery.
Happy New Year 1st January 2002
A happy and prosperous New Year to all Queen of the South fans wherever in the world you happen to be, from all at Palmerston Park. Unfortunately with the cloudless skies and sub-zero temperatures at the moment it may be a while before the side sees any football, however training continues as usual.

Players from the past are noticeable in the press at the moment with Andy Thomson being the second highest league goal scorer in the entire English League, including Premiership, and with former on-loan 'keeper Alex Williams being awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours list announced today, many of you may not remember the arrival of Alex at Palmerston Park, however it was in season 1986/87 when Alan Davidson had injured himself in training that the 6foot 3inch 'keeper arrived from Billy McNeils' Manchester City and featured in five matches for the Doonhamers. He himself was recovering from injury but never really made it back to full fitness and left City for Port Vale in 1987. His MBE recognises his role as Football and Community Development Officer in Manchester and specifically his services to Young People. Congratulations to Alex.
Stair Park Frozen 31st December 2001
An early inspection at Stair Park has ruled out any chance of the match scheduled for Tuesday going ahead, the pitch being frozen.

This means that Queens will not have a competitive match until a week on Saturday when league leaders Clydebank visit Palmerston.
Fair Success 30th December 2001
An impressive display of football programmes could be seen today at the Programme Fair held in the Social Club at Palmerston, almost one hundred people attended the event with most purchasing items of interest to them.

Queens Historian and Museum Curator Ian Black was especially pleased with the numbers attending and with being able to add a few missing programmes to his extensive collection as a number of Queens fans turned up with some particularly hard to get items.
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