Tense Draw at Dumfries

A big game for both teams with only three points separating the sides at kick-off, and at the end it was still three points that separated them. Peter Murphy went with an unchanged side from the one that thrashed East Fife last week with danger coming at us on a few fronts. Kai Kennedy, Jack Stott, Kurtis Guthrie to name a few. Scott Kellacher made more changes again with Chanka Zimba and Alfie Bavidge getting the nod and Alfie Stewart the driving force in midfield.

The points were shared like this. Liam Sole opened the scoring inside ten minutes but Kai Kennedy squared matters ten minutes later. Just after the restart Jordan Alonge headed Inverness in front but Mikey Hewitt levelled with ten minutes left and despite a tense finish, that's how it ended.

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Early pressure from the visitors with Alfie Bavidge driving forward before being taken out by Hewitt who was booked for his trouble. Could easily have seen red for that! Jordan Alonge's free kick hit the wall and his next opportunity was saved by Ross Stewart. We were rewarded for our bright start with Liam Sole's deflected effort from the edge of the box wrongfooting the keeper to put the Caley Jags ahead, flying into the opposite corner. Queens looked to hit back immediately and Kurtis Guthrie went close with a header. Alonge did the same at the other end, glancing just wide. It was now an open game and Queens drew level through Kai Kennedy with twenty minutes gone, shooting home a 'cross' from outside the box, probably unintentional, but the ball was in the back of the net and that's all that mattered. Kennedy was always going to be a handful and he shot over after half an hour. However chances were at a premium in a tight game as the interval beckoned and it remained all square with all to play for.

HALF TIME: 1-1

Brennan Dickenson replaced Reece Lyon as the second forty-five got underway. Five minutes into the second period and Jordan Alonge put the visitors back in front, superbly heading home a cross from Sole after a good break forward on both flanks. Hannah took a sore one and was replaced by Rogerson. With half an hour still to play, it was a precarious lead for the visitors and Ross Munro kept our noses in front saving from Dickenson as the keeper pushed his low deflected effort round the post for a corner with around twenty minutes remaining. We were pegged back a second time when Mikey Hewitt scored into the bottom of the net from inside the six yard box from a good cut back on the left by Dickenson. In a tense ending to the game, the visitors had to settle for a point after leading twice, but this was always going to be a tough one.

FULL TIME: 2-2

Mantis saw it like this:

A point is fine now the dust has settled but a topsy-turvy afternoon with the score changing 4 times along with the news from Ochilview. I said that i’d be happy if we were still top at 5pm.

Both goals in the first half were a bit fluky - Sole’s shot took a deflection and wrong-footed the keeper. We were well on top until Kennedy’s free hit floated past everybody and sneaked in at the far post. He let us know about it. This fired Queens into life and they probably had the best of it till half time.

I thought we were the better side in the second half and Alonge scored with a magnificent header. Bav had a chance to tie it up but tripped over the ball. Guthrie had a fine battle with Remi till he was subbed late on and sub Dickenson was to have his say…

Queens led the booking count by 3-0 but we overtook them with 4 in the last half hour (edit- Kel got carded too). One of them was Adam Mackinnon who was not having a great day and was replaced by Paul Allan. We had a lot of intricate passes around the box as usual without making the breakthrough and Queens defended well. Queens had a flurry of corners but nothing to trouble Munro although he made a magnificent save at one point. We weren’t exactly hanging on but Dickenson got behind us for once and gave Hewitt a tap-in.

A much improved Queens today and great to see a game where the other team was actually trying to win unlike most weeks 🚌

Highlights from Palmerston>>>

Kells bemoaning ignored Penalty shout>>>

Honest appraisal from Peter Murphy>>>

Date:  31/01/2026  Venue: Palmerston Park Attendance: 1938 Referee: Jamie Wilkie 
 
Queen of the South: 2

• Manager: Peter Murphy

• Lineup:  Stewart; Hewitt (MacKenzie 83), Douglas, Hannah (Rogerson 54), Charters,

• Lyon (Dickenson 46), Luissint, Smith, Stott, Kennedy, Guthrie (Allan 83)

• Subs (not used):  Green; Armour, Johnstone, Ross

• Scorers: Kennedy (20), Hewitt (79)

• Booked: Hewitt (6), Kennedy (38), Douglas (52)

• Sent Off: none

Inverness CT: 2

• Manager: Scott Kellacher

• Lineup: Munro; MacLeod, Devine, Savage, MacIntyre, Sole, Alonge, Stewart (Allan 72),

• MacKinnon, Bavidge (Longstaff 68), Zimba

• Subs (not used): Ross; Davidson, Robertson, Chalmers, Wotherspoon, Willox, B Mckay

• Scorers: Sole (9)

• Booked: Stewart (58), MacKinnon (65), Alonge (82), Zimba (83)

• Sent Off: none