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QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 1 : 2 St MIRREN

31st August 2005

Barnard Rating: 6.23

S1 Carr Rating: 5.29

Reid Rating: 5.45

Thomson Rating: 5.90

1 Burns Rating: 6.94

Wood Rating: 5.84

S2 Lovell Rating: 4.18

Bowey Rating: 5.13

Gibson Rating: 7.75

Lyle Rating: 4.03

McLaughlin Rating: 5.76

SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 76 McNiven Rating: 5.00	S2 - 86 Paton	McColligan	English	Scott

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MATCH SUMMARY

Iain Scott did indeed 'ring the changes' as he had threatened to do following the defeat at Clyde. However it was not in terms of personnel as Scott stuck with the same sixteen that lost at Clyde on Saturday with one exception as Derek Lyle came back from suspension at the expense of Stephen Payne. The starting formation and line ups were changed to a more offensive 3-5-2 formation seeing Burns and Gibson as wing backs and Carr, Reid and Thomson as our defence. Gary Wood started in another new position - right side of midfield just inside Paul Burns and the forward line consisted of Brian McLaughlin and Derek Lyle. It took both sides time to settle but nevertheless the game was an entertaining spectacle as both sides battled for supremacy in the centre of the park. It all came to life however in just twenty minutes as the Queens back three were caught flat footed as a long ball was played over the top for Mark Corcoran to run onto and slide past Richie Barnard for the opening goal

Corcoran slots the ball past Barnard to open the scoring

Both sides continued to play entertaining football and Willie Gibson almost equalised for the home side with just five minutes of the half left as he rifled a shot from the edge of the box goalward, Chris Smith in the visitors goal was in the right place to push the ball away for a corner. From the corner the ball was fed back to Gibson via McLaughlin and the cross in met the head of an unmarked Derek Lyle but his effort was high and wide. Queens ended the half looking as though they could get something from the match.

Reid, Burns and Lovell look after Kean

The second half though started with Saints pressing and with only five minutes gone a slip by Chris Carr allowed Stewart Kean a chance to shoot from the edge of the box, however Richie Barnard pulled off a fine save to deny the Paisley forward. Queens came back into the game quickly and were awarded a free kick following a crude challenge on Lovell by Andy Millen, the free kick was taken by Gibson who hit it low and hard around the outside of the wall forcing Smith in the Paisley goals to dive low to his left to push away, he could only push it as far as Paul Burns who rifled the ball home from twelve yards to the delight of the home fans.

Lyle has a point blank chance

Before the celebrations had stopped St Mirren equalised as a ball not effectively cleared on the right hand side was fired back in by Hugh Murray and on taking two deflections beat Barnard in the home goal to restore the visitors lead. Finally David McNiven was brought into the game with Chris Carr coming off, Wood taking over on the right side of the three man defence and McLaughlin dropping into midfield to make way up front. And with his very first touch McNiven very nearly scored as his flicked header was brilliantly saved by Smith to push the ball away for a corner. It was McNiven again who got his head onto a Willie Gibson corner in the dying minutes and again could only see it pas the post before our final good chance fell to Eric Paton who got tangled with McNiven as he fluffed a shot from all of fifteen yards that would have extended the game for another thirty minutes.

McNiven sees his first touch of the match touched just wide

The positive about the performance was that it was a more entertaining match largely due to the more offensive formation and tactics employed but whether we will see that formation and mix of personnel used in a league match is another matter.