Details now of the weekend matches against Lancaster and Gretna. On Friday, Queen's took on Lancaster at the Giant Axe and went down 3-1- their second loss to the Unibond side in a year. It was a reasonable attacking performance, but losing by a 2 goal margin to a team of this standard 2 years running is not really acceptable. Chris Fisher scored in 75 minutes to make it 2-1, but Lancaster secured the win a minute later. On Sunday at Gretna, the SFL new-boys were confidently despatched by another 3-1 scoreline. A good result for Queen's, and a boost, given that Gretna will face Queen's again in just over a week. Scorers and line-ups for both games on Match Reports and Results page.
28 July One win, one loss on pre-season jaunt
Queen's defeated Gretna 3-1 on Sunday thanks to goals from Willie Martin, Tony Quinn and John Gemmell. On Friday, they lost to Lancaster 3-1; Chris Fisher the scorer.
The Spiders meet Gretna at Hampden in the Bell's Cup in just over a week, this time at Hampden. More details on these pre-season games to come.
24 July Comfortable win for Everton at Hampden in friendly
Queen's Park were last night beaten 6-0 by Everton at Hampden, in a game watched by Queen's largest home crowd since the New Year 2001 game with Partick Thistle: 1,588. Young striker Wayne Rooney grabbed a hat-trick for the visitors, who were in total control of the game. But Queen's gained experience from playing against a top-flight English side, with Moffat playing well at the back. Stewart Thomson was again used as a substitute, and made a save from Tal late on. To read a full report of the match, click here.
22 July Three players added to squad
The club have confirmed the signings of James Allan, Steven Moffat and Karl Lejman. Their arrivals take the number of new signings made to ten, with the arrival of Patrick Gallagher also a definite. Queen's now have a total of twenty-seven signed players at present. Allan used to play for Cowdenbeath, and was with East Fife last season. He impressed in the Hibs and Annan games. Moffat was on the books at Ipswich Town before moving to Arbroath last season. Originally, it looked as if he would be staying with the Red Lichties, but for financial reasons they could not offer him a new contract, therefore his signing represents a bit of a coup for McCormack. Lejman is a 22 year old midfielder, who was last with Sauchie and was previously on the books at Stenhousemuir. Cowboy is also looking to bring in a new goalkeeper, and has had both Jay Henderson and Stewart Thomson at Hampden on trial. At present, he only has Tony Mitchell for the position, so cover is required.
Allan Dunning will see a specialist about a knee injury. He looks set to miss the start of the season, as does David Menelaws, recovering from his broken leg. Paul Borland has undergone his operation, and will be out for six to eight weeks.
21 July Annan friendly finishes all-square
1-1 was the final outcome in the friendly with Annan yesterday. A goal from John Gemmell in the 63rd minute, after lovely work from James Allan, gave QP a share of the spoils. Annan had opened the scoring 8 minutes earlier with a deflected effort by Smith. They previously missed from the spot, Mitchell saving from Sloan. Incidentally, Kevin Proudfoot was playing for the home side- he had a spell at Hampden last season, scoring on his home debut against East Fife. A rather shaky defensive performance leaves McCormack with some thinking to do- the departure of Neil Collins seemed to be felt almost immediately. The game was played in a low-key fashion, with the liberal use of substitutes by both sides characterising this. Queen's fielded a substitute trialist goalkeeper, Stewart Thomson, previously of Hamilton Accies. James Allan was particularly impressive, but we are not sure at this stage if we will be part of the squad for the new season. Details on any confirmed signings will be posted here as soon as we have them. Queen's now look forward to a match against Everton at Hampden on Tuesday. Kick-off 7.30 pm.
Annan Athletic: Johnstone, Allan, Frazier, Proudfoot, Laurie, Irons, Irvine, Jardine, Armstrong, McMenamin, Sloan. Substitutes: McWilliam, McCulloch, Leslie, Little, Smith, Tuchewicz, Ferrie. Goal: Smith 55.
Queen's Park: Mitchell ( Thomson ), Sinclair ( Ferry ), J. Gallagher ( White ), Bruce ( Agostini ), Moffat, Lappin, Jack, Magee ( Fisher ), P. Gallagher ( Gemmell ), Ferry ( Quinn ), Allan. Goal: Gemmell 63.
19 July Collins leaves for newly-promoted Sons
18 year-old defender Neil Collins has agreed a 2-year contract with Dumbarton after impressing new Sons boss David Winnie in a recent closed-doors friendly. The news is an obvious blow to John McCormack as he prepares for the imminent start of the new league campaign, but, as he said, it will give someone else their chance in the centre of defence. Collins made his full debut for Queen's in the crucial 2-0 defeat by Forfar in the penultimate game of 2000/01 after two earlier substitute appearances. Last season he started 28 league matches. Hopefully he will make a real success out of his career, even though no more of it, presumably, will be spent at Hampden. He certainly has much potential.
17 July Defeat by Hibs in first pre-season game
Queen's last night were beaten 2-0 by SPL side Hibs. A goal in each half, from Arpinon and Laursen, gave Hibs a comfortable win. Match report
Queen's fielded Karl Lejman and Jay Henderson, both previously with Sauchie Juniors. The Daily Record reported on Tuesday that both of these players had been signed- however there has been no official word from the club. Also fielded were Steven Moffat and James Allan, previously of Arbroath and East Fife respectively. We will have to wait and see if John McCormack will sign up these players.
Paddy Gallagher, it would appear, has signed for Queen's- he left to join Stranraer last November but made no impact. He joins David Menelaws, Gordon Lappin, Stuart Jack, Damiano Agostini, Darren Magee and John Gallagher as a new signing. Alistair MacNiven has been promoted from the under-18s.
We can confirm that Mark Gallagher, John Cunningham and Kevin Proudfoot have all parted company with the club.
Meanwhile, John McCormack has been forced to accept part-time terms for this season due to the unstable financial position. Clearly, Queen's are not immune from the problems faced by all clubs in Scotland. Let's hope that Cowboy's switch does not adversely affect the team.