Partick 1 Queens 1

I woke on Saturday morning with a feeling of confidence about todays game. Where that confidence came from I don’t know ! Certainly after last weeks effort at Clyde it looked on paper that we would need a miracle to take something from todays game.

Got a lift into town and joined everybody outside the New Bazaar and we were soon on the bus and heading North. The rain was torrential at times but as we neared Glasgow it brightened up a bit. The banter on the bus was good as usual and Captain Blackadder was soon selling his raffle tickets and score prediction sheets as well as the draw for the first goalscorer. By the time I got off the bus I was a few pounds�lighter! The money raised is all for the cause of Queen of the South FC.

We arrived in Glasgow and went to a pub called the Pewter Pot for a few pre match beers and a bite of lunch. It seemed no time until we were heading for the turnstyles at Firhill. I always like to get a match programme and to get one today we had to walk all the way down to the other side of the main stand.

As the teams came out onto the pitch and lined up for kick off it was good to see that the 3-5-2 formation had been ditched in favour of a more conventional 4-4-2 line up.

In goals was Craig Hinchcliffe who is with us until the end of the year on loan from St.Mirren where he has found it hard to get back into the side following injury.

We then lined up with a back four of Paton, Laughlin, Thomson and Swift with a midfield of? Gibson,Scally,O’Neill and Robertson and Weir and Barrowman up front. On the bench was Colin Scott along with Barry Callaghan, Warren Moon, Andy Thomson and Murray Henderson.

Queens started very brightly attacking the open end at Firhill? and after 7 minutes Barrowman was sent through towards the keeper but his shot went wide of the post. Scott Robertson settled well today and was involved in a lot of the play and after 18 mins he sent a decent ball across the face of the goal but no Queens striker could get on the end of it. It was only in the final 10 mins of the half that Thistle put us under a little pressure but they never threatened to score. Then just before the break Queens squandered a gilt edge chance. Good work by the hard working Andy Barrowman seen the ball played through to Neill Scally who with only the keeper to beat put the ball wide.

The other main talking point of the first half came after 25 mins when Brian Kelly was told by an Officer of Strathclyde constabulary? to sit down and stop waving his rattle about so much !!

The second half got underway? with Queens continuing to hold the upper hand. Scott Robertson had a shot over the top then after 60 mins the impressive Scally played a good ball into the box and it was met in the air by Jim Thomson? but he headed over the top.

After 66 mins Ian McCall brought on Barry Callaghan in place of Willie Gibson. Ive not seen a lot of this player but he has showed some decent form in the rare chances he has had to play. Then after 73 mins Graham Weir made way for Andy Thomson and in 79 mins our final sub came on when Warren Moon replaced the tiring Scott Robertson.

Queens continued to look the more likely side to score and it came after 83 mins. It all came following a foul on Andy Thomson out on the right. Warren Moon then put a perfect free kick into the danger area and up rose big Jim to head it home. The travelling support went wild and I honestly felt there was no way back for Thistle and this would be our first away league win of the season. But I was wrong , we only held the lead for about 3 mins when Thistle were awarded a free kick just outside the box and up stepped ex Celtic player Simon Donnelly to hit an unstoppable shot high into the net. The worry was that we would now cave in and concede a second goal and Thistle did give us a fright at the end but fortunately the danger was cleared by Eric Paton.

Before kick off I would have been happy with a point but as we left the ground I was slightly disappointed that it was not all three. It was an excellent team effort with all the players giving 100%. There were no failures today and even before he scored our goal, my man of the match was Jim Thomson. Neil Scally, back in the side after suspension made us tick today and we really need him in the side every week. Craig Hinchcliffe is a good, dependable keeper and will do a fine job for the next three matches thus giving Colin Scott time to recover from his thigh strain problem.

The journey back to Dumfries was a happy one with plenty of singing on the bus and we now look forward to two home games against Hamilton and Airdrie. If we take six points out of the two games we should find ourselves getting clear of bottom spot. So its onwards and upwards.