Congratulations to our Community Trust team who were recognised for their hard work when they were crowned winners of the Scottish FA Grassroots Award for “Best Community Football for All Project”.

The award was for their Dougie’s Day project that saw them engage with more than 4,500 children in the area within Dumfries and the wider region. The aim was to help children get more active and involved in sport by providing free football sessions in schools, tournaments and activities for young people to take part in.

From schools across the region to one big celebration of football, the project was all about making football accessible, inclusive and fun for everyone.

Dougie couldn’t make it along to the awards in person, but coaches Ali and Kieran travelled to Ayr for the South West Region Awards and picked up the trophy.

Kieran said “It is fantastic to see the work we do within our community recognised in this way. A huge thank you to all the schools, teachers, coaches, volunteers, players and everyone who helped make Dougie’s Day possible. This award is for all of you.”

Queens made the long trip North for their rearranged league one match against Ross County. Manager Nicky Clark made one change to the starting eleven from Saturday as Ruari Ellis replaced Aaron David who dropped to the bench.

Queens had an early chance when Ross Docherty wiped out Liam Smith on the wing and as Zander MacKenzie floated in the free-kick, Ellis header was saved by Brad Foster.

However, within a minute County took the lead, as they pushed forward quickly, Adam Emslie crossed into the box and Chris Hamilton was in space to fire the ball past Deniz Mehmet. 

From the restart, The Staggies were again rapid on the attack and this time it was Lewis Strapp who played the ball from the left to Brian Graham on the right hand side of the box and the prolific striker rifled a shot into the net to give County a two goal lead with just eight minutes played.

They kept up the pressure and as Hamilton hit a free kick low from 25-yards, it took a deflection on the way through but Mehmet got down low to save at the base of his right hand post to push it out for a corner.

The chances were flowing and Emslie’s cross from the right was headed over by Hamilton from close range.  As Queens tried to break, Smith kept his cross low but it was blocked.  Taylor Charters then played a free-kick in from the left but again the hosts cleared.

A lot had already happened in the opening nineteen minutes and County were again quick on the counter as Graham started the move, he played it through for Emslie who in turn played it forward for Kieran Phillips, the offside flag was up when he curled a right foot shot off the outside of the post.

Midway through the half Mehmet pulled off a brilliant save to punch clear as Emslie’s strike was destined for the top corner. Emslie was a constant threat and as he got away from Caleb Goldie his cross into the box found Graham but he couldn’t connect properly and his header was off target. 

With half an hour gone, Charters tried a cross come shot but Foster collected easily.

Back at the other end, Strapp got away from Cole Coughlin who had switched sides and as he laid it back for Ross Docherty, he drilled a powerful shot low but the wrong side of the post. 

In the closing stages of the half, Hamilton picked up a booking as he made a challenge on Smith and from the free-kick, Connor Young was way too high with his shot.

It was better from Queens and with the final chance of the first half, Coughlin played the ball across the box but it was out of Young’s reach and then Mackenzie cleared the bar with his right foot effort.

It had been a tough half for the visitors as the home side sprayed the ball around the park with pace and were solid and hard to breakdown at the back.

HALF TIME: Ross County 2 Queens 0

Already two goals down the half time message would be keep it tight and make a positive start, that went out the window after just thirty-seconds when County hit on the counter using the pace of Emslie and as he raced down the left wing his cross into the six-yard box was missed by Graham but came back out to Hamilton who fired the ball high into the net for his second and County’s third.

With the game gone, Queens heads went too, they did win a free-kick but Young was again too high.  And then as Mackenzie pushed forward, he played in the striker but his shot was blocked, as the ball broke to Smith his effort was also blocked.

County looked like they could score at any point and when the ball was played against Goldie inside the box, referee Jordan Curran pointed to the spot.  Graham hit the penalty with power to covert and make it four.

Queens brought on Brodie Dair and Davis and within minutes the latter made a terrible pass back to Mehmet and Phillips nipped in to fire home number five.  Two minutes later, the goal-scorer turned provider as he delivered a cross from the right but substitute, Ricco Diack missed the chance to make it six as he kicked fresh air. 

The visitors were broken and as the home side piled on the pressure, Phillips fired the ball over the bar before knocking it round Mehmet, the keeper was beaten but Niall Rogerson managed to clear.  The chances were plentiful and as Connor Randall crossed, Chris McQueen cleared ahead of Phillips.

In a rare break up the park, Goldie played in a good ball that Coughlin knocked on for Rocco McColm but the youngest who was inside the six-yard box couldn’t take advantage.

Things went from bad to worse when the hosts scored another three goals in the final ten minutes.  Phillips was at the front post to get on the end of a cross from the left to beat Mehmet with a glancing header.  Sixty seconds later the ball was played in from the other side and this time Richard Chin beat the keeper with a spectacular volley to make it seven. And in the final minute Jamie Lindsay hooked the ball home from close range to make it eight.

In added on time, Coughlin had a shot deflected for a corner but Mackenzie’s inswinger was too high for Rogerson to get his head on the end of it.

FULL TIME: Ross County 8 Queens 0

Teams:

Ross County: Foster, Strapp (J Reid 67), Wright, L Reid, Randall, Graham (Diack 67), Phillips, Hamilton (Turner 57), McCarvel (Chin 57), Emslie & Docherty (Lindsay 57).  Subs not used: Wade, Forrester, Smith & Williamson.

Queens: Mehmet, Goldie, Charters, Smith (McColm 69), Mackenzie, Young (Gray 69), Want (McQueen 69), Johnstone (Dair 63), Rogerson, Coughlin & Ellis (Davis 63).  Subs not used: Petry & Kelly.

Ref: Jordan Curran

Crowd: 2176

The academy sides take a break from their respective leagues this week as the SFA Youth Cup for U18s takes place. We have a home tie on Friday night when a mixture of our youngest u19s and some of our u17s will take on Darvel.  Kick-off at Palmerston 7.30pm.

Our league one fixtures continue tomorrow night (15^th Sept) when we make the long journey north to face Ross County in our rescheduled game that was postponed last month due to the Premier Sports Cup.

The hosts were again involved in the quarter-finals of the competition at the weekend so have two games in hand to most of the sides in the league.  Their other outstanding fixture is against leaders Hamilton, who they currently trail by three points.  The Staggies sit second in the table after their opening five games with 13 points and remain unbeaten. 

We go into the game on the back of one all draw with East Fife, while Stuart Kettlewell’s side will be looking to bounce back after losing their Premier Sports Cup game 3-0 at home to Hibernian.

Ahead of the game, Queens boss, Nicky Clark said “We know it’s going to be a really hard game but the boys have confidence and the positivity around the place is really good. That comes with good performances and good results and we need to keep that going, hopefully we can go there and put in another good performance.  I think everybody can see the progression that the team's making. The players that we have added have been big for us, there is still a long way to go, but we can see a lot of progression over the last few weeks.” 

Supporters Information

For those making the trip North on Tuesday night, tickets are now on sale via County’s website.

https://www.rosscountyfootballclub.co.uk/home-match-tickets

Tickets are priced as follows:

Adults: £20
Concessions (Over 65/Students): £10
U18s: £5

Address:

Global Energy Stadium

Victoria Park

Dingwall

IV15 9QZ

Kick-off: 7.45pm

We can confirm that Shaun Want has been named the club captain. 

The 29-year-old defender who joined from Ayr United at the end of last month has taken over the armband for this season.

Manager, Nicky Clark said “Shaun will be captain. I have been waiting until things settled down and we got most of the boys that we want into the building. With Shaun’s experience and leadership, we felt he was the best way to go. We haven’t yet decided on a vice-captain, Jack Stott and Taylor Charters have both been captain so far this season and Deniz Mehmet could do it to, so there are a few who could take on that role but I’ve just been focusing on getting the captain in place.”

As we returned to league action we welcomed East Fife to Palmerston.  Having made six changes to the side for the cup game at Edinburgh City, manager, Nicky Clark made five for this one. Liam Smith, Zander Mackenzie, Connor Young, Shaun Want and Niall Rogerson all made a return to the line-up while Brodie Dair, Chris McQueen, Ruari Ellis, Billy Gray and Rocco McColm dropped to the bench.

Looking to keep building the momentum from recent performances, Queens had the first real chance in the opening five minutes when Mackenzie played in a corner and Taylor Charters was at the centre of the six-yard line but couldn’t get enough on it to have a decent shot and Mamadou Bah cleared.

Five minutes later, new club captain, Want made a well-timed tackle at the edge of the area to bring Nathan Austin’s attack to an end.  It was a good period for the visitors and sixty-seconds later, Austin got away and went to play the ball around Deniz Mehmet but the keeper made himself big and blocked.

Austin was a threat and Want showed some strong defending to usher him away from goal to win a goal-kick.

Back at the other end, Young played a good ball across but it was just too high for Cole Coughlin to get his head to. Charters tried to play it back in from the other side only for Andy Munro to get his body behind it to clear.

After quarter of an hour, Smith floated in a corner that Rogerson got on the end of but his header was just off target. Three minutes later, some terrific play by Smith saw him cut the ball back from the byline for Ben Johnstone who had a great chance to open the scoring but he hit it straight to the keeper.

With half an hour played, Smith and Young combined well and the latter played a back-heel pass back to the former but the final cross into the area was cleared.

Nine minutes before the break Smith was in a good position at the edge of the area but he delayed his shot and Bah managed to clear.  Two minutes later, Coughlin hit a low drive from the edge of the box as he aimed for the far corner but Derek Gaston got down to collect

On the stroke of half-time, Charters won a corner, Mackenzie played it short to Smith who retuned the pass and as Mackenzie crossed, Coughlin got his head on it but Gaston again got down to save.  From the resulting corner played in by Smith, Gaston blocked with his foot to keep it goal-less at the break.

HALF TIME: Queens 0 East Fife 0

Seven minutes after the restart, Coughlin and Young linked up well but the attack was halted by the visitors. A minute later as the two combined again, they brought Smith into the mix and as they played their way into the box, Coughlin’s low shot was stopped by Gaston at the near post.

Queens had been a threat and the pressure paid off nine minutes after the restart, when Smith played the ball into the path of Young and he took a touch to control before firing a right foot shot low past Gaston to open the scoring.

However, the lead didn’t last long as East Fife levelled almost straight away.  Queens gave away a needless free-kick out on the wing that they cleared for a corner, as Reis Peggie played that to the back-post, Munro rose highest to head home the equaliser.

Back in it the visitors had the next opportunity when Queens gave away the ball and Austin worked to open up the chance for Brian Easton who hit a powerful right foot shot towards goal but Mehmet blocked with his foot to clear.  As the home side broke, Young cut the ball across but it was cleared as Charters went to pull the trigger. Young was then inside the box and kept the ball well but as he tried to create an opening, Bah hooked it away. 

Queens were pushing for a second and Smith played the ball in from the left for Coughlin who did well to break but Ewan McLeod got the ball away.  Johnstone tried to get in back in to the danger zone but it was again knocked out.

Charters then had his shot smash off the back of Hamid Seisay. Charters took the corner himself and Johnstone played it across but it bounced about and Young couldn’t get the shot away.

With fifteen minutes remaining, Johnstone hit a right foot shot from 25-yards that flew just the wrong side of Gaston’s left-hand post.  Nine minutes later, Mehmet made a terrific save when he used his right hand to punch the ball clear after Connor Dow was in space. As the corner was played in Easton hit it from close range and protested as the ball was cleared.

Into the dying embers and substitute Dair was being held but kept control and played the ball to Young, he kept his shot low but it was wide of the upright.

The final chance came with minutes remaining when Olu Joseph floated in a corner but it was an easy take for Mehmet.

FULL TIME:  Queens 1 East Fife 1

Teams:

Queens: Mehmet, Goldie, Charters, Smith, Mackenzie, Young, Want, Johnstone, Rogerson, Coughlin (Dair 84) & Davis (Ellis 83).  Subs not used: Petry, McQueen, Gary, Morton, Kelly & McColm.

East Fife: Gaston, Millar, Easton, Peggie (Newton 76), Austin (Gaffney 76), Ross (Dow 76), Milne (Seisay 62), Munro, Bah, McLeod (Joseph 72) & Ballantyne. Subs not used: Rollo, Healy, Hamilton & Fairley.

Ref: Iain Sneddon

Crowd: 792

Over the past few months, we have been actively seeking a Supporter’s Liaison Officer (SLO) and we are delighted to announce that our current Disabled Access Officers (DAO), Tom King and Stephen Richards have offered to combine the two roles.  They will work alongside the club and will be the point of contact for supporter and accessibility related queries.

A year ago, Stephen and Tom were appointed to the role of DAO for the club and during that time they have been working closely with Dan and we are pleased to say that they have now found our feet.

They went on to say “Earlier this year, as part of our duties as DAOs, we attending a meeting with our peers at McDiarmid Park in Perth where we picked up some really good information regarding accessible access to stadiums. 

We have now shared a few ideas with Queens, including the possibility of erected a wheelchair shelter.

Fundraising has been strong with a number of people including the Queens Trust, Queen of the South Community Trust, Neil Robson, Pat Geddes and a multitude of others, we sit at over £5000 as we look to target £10,000 and match funding can then be sought after.

We are also about to launch an accessible document; this will contain information on how to access Palmerston and to share awareness of the accessible facilities we have.  It will also include an accessible survey to give people the opportunity to suggest ways that we can improve match day experience for disabled fans. 

Also, the club have already secured funding to change the current accessible toilet into a changing places unit. This will happen in the near future and will give fans a suitable area to provide personal care for any supporters who require it.  

During discussions we’ve had with the club regarding accessibility, the vacant SLO position came up and we have agreed with Dan that we will fill the role and combine it with our current duties. 

Therefore, if anyone would like to contact us regarding supporter or accessible issues, please send us an email to [email protected] and we will reply as soon as possible with an answer. Or alternatively, one of us will always be on hand at all home games and can be contacted by approaching your nearest steward.   

In the meantime, we hope to see as many of you as possible at Palmerston during the season to support Nicky and the players.

Best wishes, 

Tom and Stephen