On the Road Again

As Willie Nelson once said: "We are on the road again" to arguably the toughest test of the season so far as we make the long trek to Dumfries to play Queen of the South, one of the clubs who will fancy their chances at making the play-offs at the very least. Often a difficult venue to try and extricate points from, Palmerston will host the game this Saturday with a 3:00pm kick off. Our last visit last season saw Admin Brooks take his anger out on us as we were pumped 4-1. I believe we are a different beast this season though and barring injuries we should have enough in the locker to come away with something as long as we stay focussed on the job in hand.

If you are needing cheered up, there's a comedy night at the stadium the night before the game at Dumfries. See details below

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Match/Ticket/Bus/Info

Car Park for Sale: Sold

KDM Trophy v DundeeB

Hospitality v East Fife

Comedy Night (This Friday)

⬇️ See Below ⬇️

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Tickets available here

It was the first outing of the new away strip last weekend and it was a successful outcome as thankfully the curse of Manager of the Month failed to materialise.

LEAGUE 1 RESULTS

• Kelty 0-3 ICTFC

• ICTFC 2-0 P'Head

• ICTFC 1-2 Stenny

• Mont 0-2 ICTFC

• ICTFC 1-0 Alloa

• Cove R 0-1 ICTFC

We came away with a hard fought 1-0 win over Cove Rangers at Balmoral Stadium thanks to a deflected second half strike from Calum MacLeod. That win pushed the Caley Jags up to second in the table behind the only team to beat us in the league, Stenhousemuir.

Despite picking up the three points, if I can nit-pick somewhat, we disappointed on our TV debut with a less than flattering but hard grafted display. Defensively we dealt reasonably well with Cove and racked up our fifth clean sheet, which has not gone unnoticed. The part that was less aesthetically pleasing was our inability to carve out as many clear opportunities as we should have. I know, I know, it's nit-picking of the highest order, but with the quality of our options on and off the park I was expecting more. Maybe it was the fake grass or the lack of atmosphere amongst the portacabins, but we looked lacklustre from early on. Could do with Alfie Bavidge getting his shooting boots on. Are we expecting too much of him after his explosive entry last season. I'm sure it will come, let's hope it starts on Saturday at Palmerston. Calum MacLeod has rightly been getting the recognition he deserves after taking stick in his opening adventures at right back. Good wing back displays from him recently and always willing to add to the attack on occasion. Great to see him get his reward with the winner at Cove. As they say, "you've got to be in it to win it" and although there was a deflection, he backed himself to get on the end of Spoony's lay off and three points it was.

Scott Kellacher has the usual script: "One or two struggling" So basically, that tells us nothing, therefore make your own team up for this one.

Queens went down last weekend at East Fife with this squad. Reece Lyon headed them level just before the interval but Nathan Austin hit a second half winner just after the restart.

LEAGUE 1 RESULTS

• Cove R 0-2 Queens

• Queens 1-4 Accies

• Queens 4-0 Peterhead

• Stenny 0-0 Queens

• Queens 2-1 Kelty

• East Fife 2-1 Queens

Kai Kennedy is still at Palmerston but Adam Brooks is now at Crusaders in Northern Ireland. Kurtis Guthrie and Reece Lyon have three League1 goals and Kai Kennedy has scored twice.

Peter Murphy was not a happy bunny after losing at East Fife hinting that they (QotS) deserved nothing from this game and simply did not turn up. I take it that that means they will have had their arses kicked and will be up for it this weekend

Home advantage was an indicator last season with both sides taking full points in their home games. The last meeting at the end of March last season saw Adam Brooks hit a second half brace after we had the temerity to go ahead midway through the first half. We ended up getting thrashed 4-1 Meh!

Saturday, March 29th, 2025, 3:00 PM at Palmerston Park, Dumfries. Attendance: 1,006

It was a miserable afternoon down South as the game kicked off and after the posturing was over, Ben Brannan put the first effort of the afternoon wide in the tenth minute. Alfie Stewart went even closer from distance. It had been a good opening twenty minutes from the visitors and after Keith Bray had a header saved Alfie Stewart scored into the bottom corner from inside the box. Perfect start from the Caley Jags but we were quickly pulled level when Jack Hannah headed high into the net from a Kai Kennedy ball into the box. That was Hannah's first goal for QotS. Bray had one chalked off for offside as Inverness responded to that setback but it was the hosts who were starting to look more threatening as half-time approached and Harry Cochrane went close after he latched onto a cross from the left but shot inches wide.
HALF TIME: 1-1
Shortly after the break Connal Ewan blocked a shot from Kennedy as the hosts went on the front foot. Cochrane went close again and a minute later Jordan Allan put Queens in front, slotting into the bottom corner after an assist from Admin Brooks. Alfie Stewart tried his luck from outside the box but his namesake in goal saved easily. Musa Dibaga saved from Taylor Charters after a quick counter attack with Kennedy providing the opportunity. With around twenty minutes left Admin Brooks stuck the knife in lashing home from a tight angle into the top corner. Game over, but not the scoring. Kennedy was chief tormentor winning a free kick from which Luissint went close to a fourth but for Dibaga keeping the ball out. It was a bit of backs to the wall in the final moments but Admin Brooks finished his vendetta against us with a fourth in the last minute, smashing in a powerful strike to end our day of pain in the rain.
FULL TIME: 4-1
Jack Hannah scored the equaliser five minutes after Alfie Stewart had opened the scoring for the visitors. Queens eventually routed the Caley Jags 4-1 with further goals from Jordan Allan and a brace from Admin Books. He really has it in for us and was a pain in the rain.

Table ahead of Saturdays fixtures

Formation: Queen of the South FC was formed in March 1919 from three existing Dumfries and Maxwelltown teams: Arrol-Johnston Car Company, Dumfries FC, and the 5th Kings Own Scottish Borderers. 

• Another club, Dumfries Amateurs, said stuff that for a game of soldiers and declined the invitation to join and the other clubs agreed to the merger. Dumfries Amateurs dissolved in November 1920.

National League Competitions Division 2 – Champions 1950–51, 2001–02, 2012–13; Runners-up 1932–33, 1961–62, 1974–75, 1980–81, 1985–86

National Cup Competitions

• Challenge Cup – Winners 2002–03, 2012–13;

• Runners-up 1997–98, 2010–11

• Scottish Qualifying Cup – Winners 1923–24

• Scottish Cup – Runners-up 2007–08

Here's the League1 fixtures for this weekend

Some tasty fixtures that will affect the look of the table come 5:00pm on Saturday. It would of course be a big ask for all the games to align nicely again this weekend. Let's not forget that Alloa and Kelty have a catch-up game to play and that goes ahead on October 7th @ 19:45. With that in mind a Cove win this weekend would be much appreciated as would a win for Kelty. That said we need to do the business ourselves. Could Peterhead also do us a favour and take something away from Stenhousemuir.

Turning out to be a competitive League with every team capable of getting a result on the day. Back home next week after a fortnight on the road with East Fife up North. Looking forward to it already. E FIFE HOSPITALITY EVENT