A trip to The city Stadium on the south side of Glasgow rounded off our Premier Sports League Cup campaign as we faced Queens Park in the final round of fixtures in Group A.

With the manager picking up a knock in the game against Aberdeen in midweek, there was one change to the starting line-up with Benji Luissint coming in to replace Nicky Clark. With no recognised strikers available other than the under 19s players, Ben Johnstone had the unusual position upfront for this one.

It was the hosts who got things underway and took the lead after just eight minutes when Caleb Goldie brought down Michael Ruth inside the box and the striker got up to take the spot kick himself. Deniz Mehmet guessed correctly and dived to his left but the ball was at a decent height and near the post.

The home side were on top and as Liam Smith lost the ball in the middle of the park, Ross McLean made a break but Goldie and Jack Hannah got back to cover.

It was pretty much one way traffic and midway through the half, McLean crossed the ball for the unmarked Tyrece McDonnell who forced a good save from Mehmet, with the ball still in play Scott Martin fired well over the crossbar.

However, the pressure paid off with half an hour gone when they doubled their lead. Aiden McCallion did well to lift the ball over the defence and O’Donnell made a good run to get on the end of it, he was under pressure from Mehmet and Goldie but he managed to scramble it into the net. Hannah did hook it away but the ball had already crossed the line.

Two down Queens needed to do something and ten minutes before the break Jack Wills made a good block with his right foot to deny Jack Stott. It was an improvement from Queens and Smith played the back from the by-line for Taylor Charters but his shot lacked power and was easily cleared.

As Goldie over stretched for the ball he was unable to continue and was replaced by a trialist who took over from Zander Mackenzie in midfield as he dropped back to right-back.

In added on time at the end of the first half, Johnstone made his mark as a striker when Stott won the ball in his own half and made a great run forward before picking out Ben who kept his composure and fired a brilliant left foot finish past Wills for his first competitive goal for the club.

HALF TIME: Queens Park 2 Queens 1

As the second half got underway, there was an early chance for O’Donnell before Stott played a short free-kick into the path of Charters, the defender picked his spot and tried to curl the ball into the top corner but cleared the bar.

The Spiders hit back and Lewis Stewart fired the ball across goal but there were no takers and Mackenzie cleared as O’Donnell played the ball into the six-yard area.

It was definitely better from Queens after the break as they carried more of a threat and Johnstone had a chance to grab a second when Charter’s effort was cleared and the ball fell to him outside the box, he didn’t realise he had as much time and couldn’t match his first half strike as he hit the ball over.

McLean then had his effort blocked before Ben Brannan fired across goal.

Into the final twenty minutes and Stott won a free-kick, 25-yards from goal as he kept the ball low it was heading for the bottom corner before being deflected away. It was a decent spell for the visitors and as Mackenzie delivered the ball into the box, it was cleared ahead of Johnstone.

Young substitute, Josh Kelly showed maturity as he aimed for the top corner but his effort was just too high.

As the game entered its final stages, Matthew Sheils who had only just come off the bench minutes before got on the end of a great pass from fellow sub, Zebedee Lawson to calmly fire a left foot shot past Mehmet to round-off the scoring with a minute of the game to go.

FULL TIME: Queens Park 3 Queens 1

Teams:

Queens Park: Wills, Mackenzie, Murray, Lamie, Martin (Lawson 79), Ruth (Hamilton 59), Stewart (Sheils 85), McDonnell (Smith 59), McLean, McCallion (Longridge 59) & Brannan. Subs not used: Sliwinski, Pigmatiello, Carrick & Fisher.

Queens: Mehmet, Goldie (Trialist 41), Charters, Stott, McQueen (Kelly 64), Hannah, Smith, Rogerson, Johnstone, Mackenzie & Luissint (Morton 85). Subs not used: Petry, Thomson & Gray.

Ref: Alastair Grieve

Crowd: 685

As the squad continues to take shape Deniz Mehmet has signed a one-year deal.

The 33-year-old goalkeeper started his career down south at youth ranks then moved to Turkey for four years, where he was capped for the national team at every level from U16 to U19. He is no stranger to Palmerston as he had a brief spell with us in 2019 when he was at Dundee United. After leaving Tannadice, he moved to Dunfermline where he won the League One title and was named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year.

Deniz has played as a trialist in our last three Premier Sports League cup group matches.

The Gaffer said “I’m delighted to have secured Deniz, he is someone who I know really well having played with him previously. When we received the news that Trevor Carson was going to retire, we needed to look elsewhere and Deniz has come in and been excellent. He is a big physical presence, a great keeper and a brilliant person to have around the place. He is an experienced keeper who I believe will do well for us.”

Deniz himself added “I’m pleased to be back at Queens; it was only a short time I was here before but it’s a good place to be and it’s a club with a lot of potential. I have played with Nicky so know what he is like as a footballer and I’m looking forward to working with him now he has moved into management.”

A trip to Glasgow awaits us tomorrow as we round off our Premier Sports League Cup fixtures. Whilst qualify for the knockout stages is out of range, there is still plenty to play for against Queens Park, with second place up for grabs.

The Dons are in pole position with three wins from three, including a victory over the Spiders as well as ourselves on Wednesday. Having beat Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers, Queens Park are second on six points, but a win over Kelty for Aberdeen and an outright victory for us at The city Stadium would see us finish runners-up in the group.

Looking ahead to the game, manager Nicky Clark said “We will be taking it seriously that’s for sure. We were frustrated by the result against Kelty but the Brora game was a big one for us, we had to go up there with the correct mindset or we could easily have got done, but they did everything that we asked and followed that up with a good performance against Aberdeen, especially the first half, we did tire in the second half but there’s a lot of good things that we can take from both those games and we need to keep that going.”

Supporters Information

Queens supporters will be located in Blocks 6 & 7 and tickets for the game are now on sale via Queens Park’s website or by using the link below:

https://tickets.queensparkfc.co.uk/packages/LZEmOKzmpW/e/NMeamqRaV5?show=away

Tickets are priced at:

Adults: £15
Concessions (65+): £10

Students & U18s: £10

U12s: £5

For those driving to the match, access for vehicles will be limited on Letherby Drive with no parking available in the blue car park due to Barclays Hampden concert preparations. Therefore, supporters should access the Hampden campus via Aikenhead Road and use the main car park at the national stadium.

Address: The city Stadium, Mount Florida, Glasgow, G42 9BA

Bar 1867 in the JB McAlpine will be open to both sets of supporters from 12.30pm and again post-match.

Kick-off: 3pm

The under 19s continued their pre-season friendly matches this evening as they faced Walsall under 18s at Palmerston.

The visitors took the lead midway through the first half before Alfie Copland levelled eight minutes after the break. Only for Walsall to restore their advantage and ultimately win the game with a second after 72 minutes.

Full Time: QOS U19s 1 Walsall U18s 2

Coach Eddie Warwick said “Overall it was a very good game against a full time professional youth set up.  But the first half was disappointing from our point of view and we asked for improvement in the second half which we got as we played with much more purpose and at a higher tempo and had more about us. We forced their goalkeeper into making two or three good saves so we are disappointed not to at least draw the game.”

“It was a useful match as it gave us the opportunity to give 18 players good time and minutes in their legs which was pleasing. So, more positives as we continue to buildup to the start of the season.”

The boys finish their warm-up games on Saturday with a home game against Stranraer reserves. Kick-off 1pm.

We can confirm that Kai Kennedy has left the club with immediate effect.

As many will be aware we have been dealing with an ongoing issue internally. It is a private matter that club officials and management have worked tirelessly to resolve whilst trying to protect the interests of the club.

Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach a suitable resolution and the situation has become untenable. We therefore feel it is time to draw a line under the matter and in the best interest of Queens we have mutually agreed to terminate Kai's contract.

We can now move on and let the manager continue to build his squad as it is crucial we have the players prepared to give their all for Queen of the South FC.

The club would like to extend our sincere thanks to The Barflies for their incredible and continued support of our Youth Academy Apprentices.

The funding provided by The Barflies plays a vital role in covering the wages of our Academy Apprentices, enabling these talented young players to continue their development while training full-time with our First Team.

This investment is about far more than financial support it provides local young footballers with the opportunity to pursue a professional pathway at Queen of the South. By helping fund our apprentices, The Barflies are directly contributing to the development of the next generation of Doonhamers, giving them the opportunity to learn from our senior players and coaching staff every single day.

Developing players through our own Academy has always been a cornerstone of Queen of the South, and the support of The Barflies ensures we can continue to provide these opportunities for talented young players across Dumfries and Galloway.

Everyone associated with Queen of the South Football Club would like to thank The Barflies for their outstanding commitment to the future of our club. Their generosity is making a real difference, helping to nurture young talent and strengthen the pathway from our Academy to the First Team.

It has been a busy spell for our Under 19 side as they continue their pre-season games.

After an impressive draw at Motherwell the boys faced a tough challenge against a very good experienced senior Penrith team. Billy Gray scored seven minutes before half time but the hosts held a 3-1 lead at the interval. The coaches made several changes at the break to give others game time but it was the Cumbrian side who went on to secure a comfortable victory.

While some of the youngsters travelled with the first team to the far north to face Brora Rangers, the others played host to Gartcairn at Palmerston.

Laith Aldulemy scored after 13 minutes to put the boys one up but the visitors levelled on the half hour mark to make it all square at the break.

Gartcairn scored again in the 77th minute to edge ahead but their lead lasted just three minutes until William Salfenmoser levelled.

Coach Eddie Warwick said “The Penrith game was tough and it was mixed against Gartcairn as we were good in spells and poor in other parts. But the boys showed character to come back after going a goal down against an aggressive side. It’s pre-season so there were a lot of changes made and it became a bit disjointed and it was hard to build any momentum. It was an improvement after the Penrith game, two different games that have offered different challenges for the boys.”

The pre-season matches continue tonight at Palmerston as the 19s face Walsall under 18s. Kick-off is 7.30 pm with the usual pay at the gate £3 entry.

After the long trip to Brora at the weekend it was back home in the Premier Sports league as we welcomed the group’s top seeds Aberdeen. With Kurtis Guthrie carrying an injury from the weekend, the manager made one change to the starting line-up with Ben Johnstone playing in place of the big striker.

Queens made their intentions clear from kick-off as they took the game to the visitors but it was the Dons who had the first real attempt on goal when the trialist keeper came out to collect at the feet of Tony Yogane inside the first five minutes.

It was fairly even and end-to-end and it was the hosts who took the lead after fourteen minutes when Liam Smith made a brilliant run and jinxed his way into the box. He was brought down but as the game played on the ball fell nicely to Nicky Clark and he smashed a right foot shot high into the net for his third goal in three games.

Midway through the half, Jack Hannah made an exceptional tackle out wide to halt the run of Yogane and two minutes later, Johnstone caught it on the volley as he hit a snap shot that Marius Muller got down to collect.

As the half progressed, Aberdeen forced a few corners but Queens were defending well and the league one side were giving the Premiership team a run for their money. It was a decent contest but with ten minutes of the first half remaining a lapse in concentration saw Niall Rogerson give away a penalty as Lewis Smith went down inside the box and Lloyd Wilson had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. The keeper guessed the wrong way as Kevin Nisbet fired the ball low into the bottom corner from the penalty spot to level.

Boosted by the goal, Yogane worked his way along the byline before he was challenged and the ball was cleared for a corner at the front post.

It was Queens who had the final chance of the first half when Rogerson won a free-kick outside the area. As Smith floated in the set-piece, Rogerson got his head on the delivery but couldn’t direct the ball towards the target.

HALF TIME: Queens 1 Aberdeen 1

It had been a decent encounter in the first half but as they brought on fresh legs the visitors had the upper hand after the break with substitute Olu Olusanya causing a few problems.

were holding out and as they hit on the counter, Smith did do well to keep the ball in the middle of the park before finding Caleb Goldie on the wing but as he crossed there was no one on hand to take advantage.

More Aberdeen changes followed and with Queens starting to tire so did the goals. Midway through the second half, the keeper made a save to stop a close-range effort from crossing the line but as the resulting corner was played in, Nisbet grabbed his second of the night with a header into the bottom corner.

And it was game over, three minutes later when Nisbet got on the end of a cross from the left to fire a left foot shot low into the corner to completed his hat-trick.

The visitors maintained the pressure and the keeper came out to make an important block from Ayoub Mouloua. But the Dons added a fourth when from the corner, Brad Lyons scored with a glancing header at the front post.

It was a tough test for Queens but a game where they can take a lot of positives from as they prepare for their final group game away at Queens Park on Saturday.

FULL TIME: Queens 1 Aberdeen 4

Teams:

Queens: Trialist, Goldie, Charters, Stott, McQueen, Hannah, Smith, Rogerson, Johnstone (Luissint 87), Clark (Gray 87) & Mackenzie. Subs not used: Petry, Kelly, Thomson, Morton & Trialist.

Aberdeen: Muller, Yogane (Mar Kjartansson 65), Lyons, Briedl (Armstong 65), Smith (Olusanya 46), Nisbet (Mouloua 73), Molloy (Guinness-Walker 46), Mayo, Ronan, Happe & Aremu. Subs not used: Mitov, Lobban, Milne & Marshall.

Ref: Lloyd Wilson

Crowd: 1607