Queen of the South 3 - 3 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, November 17th, 2018, 3:00 PM at Palmerston Park
Attendance: 1,233
Referee: Greg Aitken
Queen of the South Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Lyndon Dykes (31)
Stephen Dobbie (51)
Josh Todd (61)
Jamie McCart (71)
Nathan Austin (74)
Sean Welsh (pen.) (81)

Team Managers
Gary Naismith John Robertson

Starting Eleven
Jack Leighfield
Jordan Marshall
Callum Fordyce
Michael Doyle
Callum Semple
Andy Stirling
Kyle Jacobs
Josh Todd
Gary Harkins
Stephen Dobbie
Lyndon Dykes
Mark Ridgers
Coll Donaldson
Brad Mckay
Jamie McCart
Joe Chalmers
Charlie Trafford
Tom Walsh
Sean Welsh
Aaron Doran
Liam Polworth
George Oakley

Bench
David Norman
Daniel Irving
Connor Murray
Owen Bell
Adam Frizzell
Scott Mercer
Ryan Gibson
Daniel Hoban
Cameron Harper
Roddy MacGregor
Nathan Austin
Jordan White

Substitutions
David Norman -> Andrew Stirling (82)
Connor Murray -> Gary Harkins (86)
Jordan White for Charlie Trafford (57)
Nathan Austin for George Oakley (58)
Roddy MacGregor for Aaron Doran (87)

Bookings
Andrew Stirling (79) Charlie Trafford (42)
Sean Welsh (65)
Coll Donaldson (79)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Ridgers (GK) 62 apps -
Joe Chalmers 63 apps5 goals
Coll Donaldson 50 apps1 goal
Jamie McCart 18 apps1 goal
Brad Mckay 92 apps4 goals
Liam Polworth 179 apps16 goals
Aaron Doran 213 apps29 goals
Charlie Trafford 38 apps -
Tom Walsh 19 apps3 goals
Sean Welsh 14 apps3 goals
George Oakley 56 apps16 goals
Roddy MacGregor (sub) 1 app (debut) -
Jordan White (sub) 19 apps5 goals
Nathan Austin (sub) 25 apps10 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Jamie McCart (21 years 155 days)
Oldest Player:Sean Welsh (28 years 254 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 37 days
Domestic Players:8 (72.73 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Roddy MacGregor (16 years 335 days)
Oldest Player:Sean Welsh (28 years 254 days)
Average Player Age:23 years 326 days
Domestic Players:12 (75.00 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts
Roddy MacGregor(Signed May 20th, 2018)

Milestones
Coll Donaldson played his 50th major competitive game for the Club.
Jamie McCart scored his first goal for the Club.
Nathan Austin reached 10 goals for the Club.

Comeback keeps the run going: If Carlsberg did draws, they would probably do them like this................

Inverness left it late and were almost beaten by a Doonhamers side who were three up before we woke up. Lyndon Dykes bundled home on the half hour to give Queen of the South the lead at the interval. They doubled their advantage early in the second half when Dykes fed Stephen Dobbie in on goal for the striker to round Ridgers and slide the ball home. Josh Todd added a third, curling a shot wide of Ridgers as Inverness capitulated. A late fight back saw Jamie McCart and Nathan Austin (or maybe Tom Walsh) score and Sean Welsh converted a late penalty. We almost had the audacity to win the game but Austin was thwarted in the box, and it ended all square at 3-3.

Inverness went with the same starting line-up that won all three points at Firhill with George Oakley spearheading the attack, Jordan White was on the bench. No Daniel Mackay to be seen, so we still only had five on the bench including young Roddy MacGregor.

Queens had Alan Martin out with young Jack Leighfield replacing the experienced keeper. Stephen Dobbie and Lybdon Dykes were the attacking threat with last weeks goalscorer Connor Murray starting on the bench.

As per norm, RIG was in attendance............

As has already been said we only showed up for the last 30 minutes with the game seemingly out of sight. A lot of our players were claiming handball for the first goal with Ridgers seeming to suggest that Dykes bundled it over the line with his hand. Whilst it would be a shame if that's what happened our defending was so abysmal leading up to that goal we probably deserved to concede a goal anyway. The second strike wasn't much better from our point of view. Trafford (I think) lost the ball in the middle and it was quickly launched forward to Dobbie who stole into a massive gap at the back with our players out of position. Ridgers half came, half stayed and Dobbie took advantage of his indecision to slide the ball past him and it was three not long after as we again failed at defending and couldn't clear the ball which was picked up by Todd and he dispatched a beautiful curling shot past Ridgers. Game over as far as I was concerned.

But seemingly from nowhere we got back into it when McCart rose highest to head home a free kick and this was followed not long after by Walsh who sent a ball into the box which evaded everyone and nestled in the net. The Queens keeper, having barely been tested all game, was looking exceptionally suspect. The third duly arrived via a Welsh spot kick after he himself had been brought down. Not sure what it was awarded for but the fact that very few QotS players challenged the decision suggests it was a fair decision. We almost won it with perhaps the move of the match as we quickly broke from the back, Welsh, Polworth, MacGregor and White linked to play in Austin but his toepoke of a shot was well saved by Leighfield, his first act of competent keeping at a crucial time in the game.

The change to 4-4-2 saw us make much more use of the wings and removing the possession haemorrhage that was Trafford in the middle left us with a much more effective partnership in the form of Polworth and Welsh. Queens should have been out of sight truth being told but we did exceptionally well to battle back to grab a point. Made the journey home a lot more bearable.

Alt Maryhill enjoyed his day out............

That was good crack.

Got to admit that I assumed that our chickens were coming home to roost after a few decent results despite dodgy performances recently. We were clearly second best against Dundee Utd, Alloa and in the first half against Partick, and yesterday Queens again played the better football in the first half, and then absolutely tore us apart for about 20 mins at the start of the second. Up until he scored, Dykes didn't impress me all that much, but after that I thought he was superb. When Dobbie finally got his goal against us, I assumed that the unbeaten run was coming to an end, and deservedly so. Ridgers, uncharacteristically, looked shaky, Charlie Trafford's touch and distribution in the middle of the park were miles off (again) and the team as a whole looked like it was scared of taking any risks. It only changed once Trafford and Oakley went off and we went to 4-4-2, and when Walsh and Polworth seemed to start playing without fear after it went to 3-0. Both were superb, and hopefully they'll take that into the Falkirk and Ayr games, as we can't keep starting games so hesitantly and still expect to get results. Great to see young Roddy MacGregor get a run at the end, and he almost helped to set up a winner for Austin at the death after some superb interplay with Polworth cutting through Queens in the middle of the park. Definitely looks a player.

Match report written by tm4tj/RIG



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Ayr United 14 9 3 2 25 12 13 30
2. Ross County 13 7 4 2 24 9 15 25
3. Dundee Utd 13 7 3 3 20 16 4 24
4. Inverness CT 14 4 10 0 19 13 6 22
5. Morton 14 5 5 4 18 21 -3 20
6. Queen of the South 14 4 6 4 24 18 6 18
7. Dunfermline 13 4 3 6 12 19 -7 15
8. Stirling Albion 13 2 5 6 9 17 -8 11
9. Partick Thistle 14 3 1 10 12 25 -13 10
10. Falkirk 14 2 2 10 8 21 -13 8