Queens and Ayr shared the spoils in this afternoons Championship clash at Palmerston as Queens ended 2018 the same way as they began the year by taking a point. This certainly was a point gained for Queens as for long periods of the game they were very clearly second best as league leaders Ayr looked to end an impressive year for them by winning for the 11th time this season.
Queens were boosted by the return of Stephen Dobbie who started for the first time since limping out of the game against Partick, and with both David Norman, and Gary Harkins having left the club, once again Queens were only able to field 5 substitutes.
VIPs today
The visitors - who were well beaten on their last visit - started well and dominated the early spells of possession and the divisions leading scorer, Lawrence Shankland forced the first save of the game, but Alan Martin was well positioned and saved the striker`s low shot comfortably. Most of Ayr`s early attacks came down their right with the speed of McDaid causing all sorts of problems for Queens, but Jordan Marshall, and the two Callum`s, Semple and Fordyce kept the door firmly shut as the visitors were unable to profit from their early dominance.
Queens first sight of the visitors goal came on 11 minutes. Good tracking back by Kyle Jacobs saw him win possession and play the ball forward for Dobbie and as the striker tried to cut inside to work himself a shooting opportunity he came under pressure and as the ball bounced into the path of Jacobs who had continued his run, the midfielder was unlucky to see a first time shot fly just wide of the target. The away team responded with a flowing move that ended with former Queens loanee, Murdoch shooting well over.
With Queens continuing to sit back and hoping to hit on the counter, the away side were clearly having the majority of possession and another crisp, incisive move full of first time passing created a chance for McDaid who saw his low shot from the left well gathered by Alan Martin.
The Queens `keeper did well again minutes later as this time he stood his ground to block Moffat`s shot as the Ayr man got past two defenders before attempting to flick the ball inside the near post. A quick response from Queens almost yielded the breakthrough when a long kick from Martin was flicked on by Dobbie into the path of Lyndon Dykes but his shot was smothered by Ayr `keeper Doolan. The opening goal was only delayed by a matter of minutes though when on 29 minutes - and slightly against the run of play - Queens took the lead. An intelligent switch of play saw Callum Semple deliver a sublime long ball that picked out the run of Andy Stirling down the right, and after a superb first touch that gave him the chance to set himself for a cross, Stirling`s delivery was met by Josh Todd who crashed the ball home from 10-yards out. The goal certainly boosted Queens and they enjoyed their spell of the half during the next 10 minutes or so although they failed to put the visitors defence under any serious pressure. Murdoch became the first of 5 players to be booked when he was penalised for dragging back Michael Doyle, and then Kyle Jacobs was extremely fortunate not to follow him into the book minutes later when his fairly robust challenge on halfway was allowed to go unpunished - a decision that enraged Ayr boss, Ian McCall who showed his frustration towards both referee and the near-side assistant. That frustration was soon lifted though as four minutes before the break, his team drew level. Jacobs was penalised for a foul on Crawford and when the ball eventually fell for Harvie to hit, Martin produced an excellent diving save to push the ball for a corner. However, after failing to clear the resulting set-piece effectively, Queens were punished when Moffat nodded home from close range to score only his 3rd league goal of the season. The visitors went very close to completing a first half turnaround just before half-time when they broke following a Queens free-kick, but although Moffat`s cross fell nicely for Crawford he was unable to produce the correct finish to his curling effort and the chance went begging.
Todd celebrates his strike
Marshall fails to stop the effort from Moffat equalising the scores
HALF-TIME QUEENS 1-1 AYR UTD
The first half pattern continued at the start of the second period as the away side again began well, and shots from both Docherty, and then Harvie, were not far away from finding the target. As Ayr continued on the front foot Jordan Marshall was caught in possession and that allowed McDaid to take control of the ball and when he slipped a pass inside to the unmarked Shankland it looked as though he was about to add to his impressive goal haul, but he got his shot all wrong and lifted his effort way over the bar.
It was clear to see that Stephen Dobbie was working his way back to full match fitness as on a few occasions his usually impressive first touch just eluded him, but he might well have marked his return to the team with yet another goal in Queens colours after 55 minutes but his effort was just a bit too close to Doohan who got down well to save.
Dobbie dances through the Ayr defence and is only foiled by a good save from Doohan
It seemed as though Kyle Jacobs had his heart set on being booked in this game as after escaping a caution on more than one occasion in the opening half, his luck ran out on 67 minutes when referee Newlands had no other option than to hand Jacobs his 5th yellow card of the campaign. The resulting free-kick was in a good position for Ayr, but Docherty drove his shot into the Queens defensive wall, and Shankland followed up by hitting the rebound well off target.
Stephen Dobbie`s return was over after 70 minutes and he was replaced by Connor Murray, and the next action saw Scott Mercer find his way into the referee`s notebook for a foul on the right-hand touchline. Some crucial defending by Callum Semple prevented Moffat from getting a shot away, and as the game moved towards it`s final knockings, both sides had presentable chances to win the game. Crawford should have done better after drifting past three defenders before shooting wide, and a close range header from Rose might have been more threatening had it had a bit more pace on it. Andy Stirling became the 3rd Queens player to be booked and shortly after that he was replaced by Adam Frizzell for the final few minutes.
The big chance to win the game for Queens with almost the last kick of the game. A long ball was chased down by Lyndon Dykes and in putting Rose under pressure he forced the Ayr defender into conceding a free-kick 20-yards out and in a central position. Substitute Connor Murray - who rescued a point for Queens in the 1-1 draw at Somerset Park after coming off the bench - lined up his effort, and although he got his shot up and over the wall and beat `keeper Doohan, the ball flashed just a few inches wide of the target.
The free kick from Murray beats Doohan but flashes past the upright
So Queens finish 2018 with a point and are now on a run of just 1 league win from their last 9 Championship games, but that does include 3 draws against the top two teams who have so far, not been able to beat Queens. Next up is a tough away trip to the Highlands before we welcome Ross County as our `first footers` back at Palmerston on January 12th.
Until then, Happy New Year to all, and all the best for 2019.