Queen of the South 0 - 2 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, March 9th, 2019, 3:00 PM at Palmerston Park, Dumfries
Attendance: 1,066
Referee: David Munro
Queen of the South Inverness CT

Goalscorers
None. Aaron Doran (7)
Brad Mckay (20)

Team Managers
Gary Naismith John Robertson

Starting Eleven
Alan Martin
Scott Mercer
Callum Fordyce
Darren Brownlie
Iain Wilson
Fraser Aird (43)
Kyle Jacobs
Michael Doyle
Andrew Stirling
Stephen Dobbie (c)
Lyndon Dykes
Mark Ridgers
Coll Donaldson
Carl Tremarco
Brad Mckay
Jamie McCart
Joe Chalmers
Charlie Trafford
Sean Welsh
Aaron Doran
Liam Polworth
Jordan White

Bench
Ian McGrath
Callum Williams
Connor Murray
Jack Leighfield
Barry Maguire
Cameron Mackay
Millar Gamble
Shaun Rooney
Darren McCauley
Fraser Russell
Nathan Austin

Substitutions
Jack Leighfield -> Alan Martin (45)
Ian McGrath -> Iain Wilson (76)
Connor Murray -> Fraser Aird (76)
Darren McCauley for Aaron Doran (82)
Shaun Rooney for Charlie Trafford (85)

Bookings
Fraser Aird (43)
Iain Wilson (76)
Michael Doyle (83)
None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Ridgers (GK) 78 apps -
Brad Mckay 110 apps6 goals
Joe Chalmers 82 apps6 goals
Coll Donaldson 65 apps1 goal
Carl Tremarco 164 apps13 goals
Jamie McCart 36 apps1 goal
Liam Polworth 197 apps18 goals
Charlie Trafford 53 apps -
Aaron Doran 229 apps36 goals
Sean Welsh 32 apps3 goals
Jordan White 38 apps13 goals
Shaun Rooney (sub) 33 apps5 goals
Darren McCauley (sub) 9 apps1 goal

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Jamie McCart (21 years 267 days)
Oldest Player:Carl Tremarco (33 years 157 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 267 days
Domestic Players:8 (72.73 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Cameron Mackay (19 years 95 days)
Oldest Player:Fraser Russell (2020 years 224 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 342 days
Domestic Players:12 (70.59 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Doonhamers Hammered Doon: John Robertson was without the injured Tom Walsh, Anthony McDonald and Kevin McHattie. The bench was thin, with youngsters Millar Gamble and Fraser Russell in the squad. A win for Inverness could put us back into the top four. Queen of the South went into this one on the back of six straight Championship defeats, and that was reflected in the poor crowd and you could see why they had been struggling of late. They fell behind after only seven minutes when Aaron Doran intercepted and scored. B Mckay muscled in at a corner to get the second goal after twenty minutes.

Queens had a go after the break and Mark Ridgers had to be at his best to deny Dobbie and Dykes as the hosts threatened to get back into the game. The big keeper pulled off a hatful of brilliant saves to keep Queens at bay as we seemed content to hold what we had. Jordan White almost made it three but was denied by Leighfield in goal with five minutes left and the game just ran away from Queens as it finished 0-2 for Inverness.

With Dunfermline also winning, we remain fifth in the league.


RIG was in the away day crowd and here are his thoughts on the game............

Easy win yesterday. Despite Queens being on a bad run I still expected us to stumble a bit here so it was a nice surprise to see us easily secure the three points save for a pretty shoddy opening to the second half.

Very well taken goal by Doran to open the scoring. I see some reports have stated it was a poor backpass but I thought it was an overhit through ball from one of our players (clearly I wasn't paying that much attention). Anyway, Doran did well to get onto it and round the keeper before finishing well from a pretty tight angle. I thought he might have taken it too wide but he did well to squeeze it in (ooooer).

Mckay got the second when he met a corner and found the net via a big deflection off his marker. We should have had a third goal when Polworth saw his shot turned wide and then from his corner McCart (I think) headed against the bar and White shot over.

Queens seldom threatened but they were much better after the break and we were fortunate not to concede at least one goal with Ridgers denying Dobbie, Dykes and then Dobbie again as we struggled to get going again. Gone was the nice crisp passing play replaced by hurried balls lumped forward to no one in particular. Only Doran seemed to have the intelligence to try and get the ball down on the ground and start knocking it about again. Once we did that we started to gain a foothold and should have extended our lead when Welsh and the Polworth again shot wide from distance.

Great performances from the likes of Doran, Polworth, McCart and Tremarco. Ridgers didn't have too much to do in the first half but made three terrific saves to maintain our two goal lead in the second. Had one of those gone in who knows what might have happened.

Caley Stan pretty much agreed with RIG..............

That was very comfortable in the end, a strange feeling. We came flying out of the blocks and maintained a really high intensity for the whole of the first half - Queens had chances on the break but we could easily have put the game to bed before half time. They had a period of pressure after half-time, Dobbie got a few shots away and Ridgers made a number of decent saves. Then came the most pleasing aspect of the performance, the thing that's been missing from our season - we kept the head and saw the game out calmly.

Some more positives:

- Doran, Polworth and Welsh really trust each other with the ball, they're happy to play it to each other in difficult areas and we're so much more creative as a result.

- Trafford and White, two of our most maligned players, are looking increasingly comfortable in their roles, they're playing out of their skins and the fans are responding. Trafford actually looks alright next to Welsh's calming influence.

- Rooney came on and played where Chalmers was - it's clear that he's an option up there.

Match report written by tm4tj/RIG



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Ross County 26 16 6 4 48 25 23 54
2. Dundee Utd 27 13 7 7 37 34 3 46
3. Ayr United 27 12 7 8 42 28 14 43
4. Dunfermline 28 11 7 10 30 30 0 40
5. Inverness CT 27 9 12 6 36 30 6 39
6. Morton 28 8 10 10 27 36 -9 34
7. Queen of the South 28 7 9 12 35 35 0 30
8. Falkirk 27 7 8 12 29 37 -8 29
9. Partick Thistle 27 8 4 15 29 44 -15 28
10. Stirling Albion 27 6 8 13 27 41 -14 26