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QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 0 : 3 GRETNA 27th August 2006
Scott
Rating: 5.43
Lauchlan
Rating: 5.73
Mackenzie
Rating: 5.74
Henderson
Rating: 5.85
Paton
Rating: 5.63
Burns
Rating: 6.06
O'Neill
Rating: 5.59
Scally
Rating: 6.03
S2
Gibson
Rating: 4.49
S1
Weir
Rating: 4.66
S3
O'Connor
Rating: 5.15
SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 18
A Thomson
Rating: 4.55
S2 - 55
Henry
Rating: 4.95
S3 - 58
Mullen
Rating: 4.44
McCaffrey
Corr
SUBMIT YOUR mom RATINGS
Members of the Internet Fan Club can award players marks out of ten for their performance today. The player with the most points awarded in the two days following a match will be the IFC Man of the Match. All of the points will then be added to a running total for each player and the results published in the mom League Table.

Name or IFC No.
MATCH SUMMARY
A massive crowd of almost 5,500 turned up at Palmerston today in perfect weather conditions for the hugely anticipated first meeting between Gretna and Queens. The team from the township brought an amazing number of fans with them, indeed the place must have resembled something of a ghost town today, they came in such numbers that the little used southern enclosure had to be opened for them and even at that they managed to spill onto the disused Terregles Street end, the last time it had seen action was in the filming of 'The Cup' many moons ago. The home fans too turned out in great number and were in superb voice throughout with a mix of both traditional and appropriate contemporary songs being sung all match long.

However it was to be the visitors who would leave the happier side with all three points from a solid if not dynamic display, a toothless Queens side squandering what chances they made whilst Gretna made the most of theirs with some quality forwards in their line up. A disappointing result for Queens made much much worse by injuries to both Graham Weir in just 15 minutes following a clash of heads with his team mate Sean O'Connor and then late on to Sean O'Connor himself who went over badly on his ankle in a sight that every Queens fan dreads to see, the big man looked initially to have suffered the same injury that has seen him miss seasons before now - hopefully with the early diagnosis being a potentially broken ankle it may not be season long.

To the line up and Ian McCall settled for the same side that had played so well against Killie last week, the only change being the inclusion of new signing Dermott McCaffrey on the bench in place of Barry Callaghan.

Both sides started quite brightly with Queens looking for an early opening and almost getting one in just three minutes as a John O'Neill cross was knocked back by Graham Weir for Sean O'Connor to shoot over the bar. Gretna too desired that early goal and Gavin Skelton teed himself up for a long range effort from outside the box in eight minutes that was blocked away to safety. Sean O'Connor almost benefitted from some great wing play from Eric Paton a minute later but as the ball bounced toward the striker it struck his hand.

With a quarter hour of the match on the clock Sean O'Connor and Graham Weir managed to collide along with a Gretna defender on the edge of the box, the result was a free kick to Queens but what looked like a serious injury to a very dazed looking Graham Weir as he left the park to be replaced by Andy Thomson. Shortly afterwards Queens won their first corner of the match.

Both sides were giving as good as they got at this stage, and a mix up in the Gretna defence almost allowed John O'Neill a chance to open the scoring but the ball just wouldn't fall to him to give him sight of goal. Whilst at the other end Colin Mcmenamin couldn't get enough power on a header with only Colin Scott to beat and the 'keeper collected comfortably.

However with only six minutes of the half remaining Colin Mcmenamin found himself clean through on goal and with only Colin Scott to beat the former Shrewsbury striker rounded Scott and cooly slipped the ball into the back of the net to send the visiting fans wild.

Mcmenamin slots home the opener for the visitors
It was bad enough to lose one goal so close to half time but when Gretna were awarded what appeared to be an extremely soft free kick on the right side of the box with almost no time left on the first half clock alarms bells began to ring. And so they should have as a daisy cutter of a free kick from ex-Brechin City loan star Danny Grainger slipped under the wall and either caught Colin Scott sleeping or unsighted as the ball ended up in the far corner and Gretna couldn't believe their luck.

Scott leaves late as the ball slides by him from a Gretna free kick
The last kick of the half however went to Queens as Andy Thomson forced the 'keeper into an acrobatic reverse save to deny him a goal on the stroke of half time.

The second half was less evenly contested as Queens seemed to be content to play in damage limitation mode. With just ten minutes gone Ian McCall had seen enough and put on playmaker John Henry in place of Willie Gibson with a midfield reshuffle seeing Eric Paton swap wings to wide left and Paul Burns move wider right. Two minutes later and Sean O'Connor went down in a challenge whilst claiming a corner, he didn't get one but did get what early reports would suggest is a broken ankle for his troubles. The final change was made immediately with Michael Mullen coming on for Sean.

gretna were enjoying more of the pressure now and only the backside of Murray Henderson prevented the visitors from extending their lead as David Graham drew Colin Scott to the edge of his box before shooting against the back of the rapidly retreating Henderson.

Captain Jim shouts 'OUT'
It was a bit desperate for Queens at this stage and this was more than amply demonstrated when Eric Paton elected to shoot for goal from a free-kick at least forty yards out, needless to say his effort flew high and wide and onto the Portland Drive terracing.

Whilst Colin Scott may have been at fault for the free-kick that was scored he more than made up for it with a superb double save from David Graham with only minutes left and then for a great block from a header from a corner, although the block made by Scott fell for Mcmenamin and he was only too happy to nod home his second of the afternoon to wrap up the game at 3-0 for the visitors.

The final goal for Gretna see's Scott beaten at the second attempt
So Queens ended up point-less, main striker-less and bottom of the league in front of their third highest crowd in four years - a disaster is putting it mildly!


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