TEAM LINE-UP

Bell

Barr

Thomson

Sives

Parratt

Burns

Simmons

Tosh

McQuilken

O'Connor

Dobbie

SUBSTITUTES

- 58

Kean

- 74

McGowan

- 89

Reid

Weatherston

Halliwell

MATCH REPORT

Queens Team:

1 C Bell, 2 T Parratt, 3 J McQuilken, 4 C Barr, 5 C Sives, 6 J Thomson, 7 P Burns, 8 S Tosh, 9 S O'Connor, 10 S Dobbie, 11 S Simmons

Subs: 12 B Halliwell, 14. S Kean, 15 M McGowan, 16 C Reid 17 D Weatherston

Ross County Team:

1 T Bullock, 2 M McCulloch, 3 A Keddie, 4 A Dowie, 5 S Boyd, 6 A Strachan, 7 R Hart, 8 R Brittain, 9 D Daal, 10 S Craig, 11 M Scott

Subs: 18 D Soutar, 12 M Gardyne, 14 P Lawson, 15 S Higgins, 16 S Watt

Queens did not have their troubles to seek for the trip to Ross County. Bob Harris and Gary Arbuckle were ruled out on Friday and didn't even travel whilst Neil MacFarlane took ill overnight and couldn't be considered. So it was a 3-5-2 again with McQuilken, Barr and Parratt returning to the side along with the fit again Sean O'Connor. County were at full strength with the in form Steven Craig up front partnering Dryon Daal. On the bench they also had Derek Soutar who was infamously goalkeeper for Aberdeen in our Scottish Cup semi-final.

It was clear from the word go that the strong wind would play a big part in the game with any high ball forward into the breeze usually ending up behind where it started! Indeed Jim Thomson forced a save out of Tony Bullock early on with a wind assisted free kick from midway inside his own half! And the ball had been blowing off its mark when he hit it!

The first real save of the game arrived just before the quarter hour when Parratt broke down the right onto Tosh's pass and laid the ball back for Dobbie to sting Bullock's palms from 20 yards. A measure of the wind strength was that McQuilken's resulting corner not only flew straight behind the goal but also behind the terrace! Queens missed a real opportunity on 25 minutes when Boyd and Dowie got themselves in a right mess and allowed Dobbie in on goal albeit from a wide angle. The striker elected to go himself rather than square the ball though and Bullock made a fine block. Ten minutes later, under pressure from Dobbie, Scott Boyd almost turned the ball past his own keeper but Bullock managed to tip the ball round the post.

The deadlock was broken shortly after though after Dowie fouled Stephen Dobbie 25 yards out. The striker picked himself up and, after a delay whilst Mr Finnie lectured the defender, duly lashed the free kick low in at the bottom left corner. Steven Craig should have equalised straight away when he latched onto a loose ball at the other end following a free kick but he lashed the ball over the bar from 15 yards. Seconds later Bell made a fine diving save to take the ball off Craig's head as another wind assisted cross came in. However, the first half ended with Queens one up having had the benefit of the wind. It remained to be seen how we would cope into the face of it for the second period.

Fortunately the wind had died a little by the time County began the second half in determined fashion with Dowie heading a corner powerfully at goal but straight at Cammy Bell. In 55 minutes Stevie Tosh was adjudged to have fouled an opponent on the edge of his own box but Paul Burns was bravely out from the wall to block the resulting free kick before it could cause Cammy Bell any worry. Next to try his luck from 30 yards was Mark McCulloch, whose powerful effort was held by Bell at the second attempt. Queens then made their first change of the day with Kean coming on for Dobbie. It was soon followed by a double change for the home side with Higgins and Gardyne replacing Keddie and Daal.

In the 72nd minute Queens could have tied things up when Kean beat the offside trap to get a strike on goal but it was blocked, as was Burns' follow up. Seconds later Stephen Simmons picked up the game's first booking for a foul on Adam Strachan before Michael McGowan replaced him on the park. With ten minutes to go Craig Barr survived an enormous penalty shout when he went for a low diving header and got the ball trapped under his body inside his own six yard box. For my money the ball didn't actually touch his hand but it was a close call and you wouldn't find many County fans who agreed. Fortunately Mr Finnie did! County then made their final change when Watt replaced Strachan. With five minutes to go Jamie McQuilken collected our second booking, in his case more for persistent offending rather than the specific challenge involved.

A couple of minutes later Jamie McQuilken went down with cramp and couldn't continue so Craig Reid hurriedly got himself on the park. The game was made safe though seconds after that when Michael McGowan collected a loose ball and rifled it into the net from 25 yards, catching Bullock completely off guard. There was still time for Cammy Bell to pull off a miracle save, although the striker turned out to be offside anyway.

In the end a hard-earned three points and it's on to Firhill next weekend.

Ewan Lithgow