| Threave Rovers |
| 2 |
| ( ) |
| Queen's Park U-19s |
| 2 |
| ( ) |
| You could be forgiven for thinking that the closed-door game between Queen's Park and Dumbarton was the only match being played on Saturday, but thanks to the mirracle that is Ceefax it was discovered that there was also a friendly being played at Castle Douglas between Threave Rovers and a Queen's Park side. My decision to go was taken at half past one on the Saturday morning, and a lunchtime phonecall to the QP offices established that it was an Under-19 team which was being sent down to Threave. A couple of hours drive and a panic over finding the ground later, and we were there. Meadow Park is fairly small, and is an all-standing ground, which suited me fine. The pitch itself was a little bumpy, but no more so than the likes of Links Park or even Raydale. The crowd was fairly small, and for the most part were pretty quiet, save for cheering the Threave goals. The dog however was pretty lively, but I'll talk about that later. Queen's, playing in the "Irn-Bru" strips (Threave being black and white stripes), made a good start to the game, and seemed keen to make an impression early on, forcing a corner within the first minute. The first chance of the match came five minutes later, when Steve Gibson was brought down just outside the Rovers area, but [No. 7] shot straight into the wall. Threave's first chance came five minutes after this, but Ross Campbell did well to block the forward's shot. The ball fell to a second forward, but his shot went wide. The next ten minutes saw several goalscoring chances passed up. First, Queen's broke quickly after a failed Threave corner, but [No. 9] couldn't direct his volley from Gibsons cross. Then, a high ball beat Jamie Daily, leaving the Threave number 8 one-on-one with Paul Gibbons, but he too volleyed wide. Later, it was Steve Gibson's turn to nearly score. He received the ball unmarked on the left side of goal, but his low shot flew just past the far post. Threave put together the best passing move of the match shortly before half time, but the shot was blocked on the edge of the penalty area. This should only have postponed the goal though, as, with four minutes to go to half time, the Threave number 8 passed up another great chance. The number 10 made a good run down the right, and played a low cross into the area, but somehow the forward failed to tap the ball in. Half time saw a few substitutions, with Threave bringing on 3 fresh players, and Queen's making a change of goalkeeper. The first real action of the second half saw Stevie Gibson stretching to keep the ball in on the touch line, before nearly landing on top of a dog and half-tripping over it's lead. The referee, who so far had had a fairly good game, and seemed keen on letting play flow, saw nothing wrong with this incident. Four minutes later and the dog, later found to be called Kerry, was in the thick of the action again, this time trying to eat my sandwiches. Fortunately, no damage was done. Back to the action then, and Threave seemed to be getting stronger. On fifty three minutes, skipper Daily did well to block a shot a yard off the line, and within a minute the Queen's number two was forced to clear a cut-back ball out of the danger area. A few minutes later and the Threave number 10 hit the side netting after a counter attack. After all this home pressure, it was perhaps against the run of play that Queen's opened the scoring. A long ball was chased by the Queen's number 6, who headed it left to the number 11, who then flicked the ball over the keeper as he came off his line. A minute later and it was 2-0 - Steve Gibson's run down the left wing was spotted, and after being given the ball he finished well from what looked like a tight angle. With 25 minutes to go, both sides made changes - Threave made a change at the back, while Queen's took off both Campbell and Daily for [No. 12 & No. 14], while [No.11], the goalscorer was also replaced. The defensive changes seemed to upset Queen's a little, and the subs had little time to play themselves in before Threave launched another attack, forcing a save with the feet by the sub-keeper. A minute later though and Threave pulled a goal back - after a corner, the Threave number 16 got the ball round about the penalty spot, and through a packed box he curled the ball just inside the keeper's left post, leaving the keeper no chance. The next fifteen minutes saw a couple more Threave shots off target, before, with 8 mintues to go, Queen's got another chance. The number 6 made a good run on the right and cut inside, but a flying interception stopped the ball reaching Steve Gibson on the edge of the area. With four minutes to go, the Queen's number 7 made a clumsy challenge on the Threave 17 25 yards out. The ref gave the foul, but had to have words with the pair after the Threave man (who looked old enough to know better) reacted angrily. Perhaps to prevent the chance of any retaliation taking place, the number 7 was withdrawn, with Ross Campbell returning to the pitch, taking up a place in midfield. With three minutes to go, Threave looked to have equalised. The Queens keeper couldn't hold a powerful long-range drive, but was up quickly to block an equally powerfull follow-up. A minute later, Threave had another chance, this time the number 12 firing across the face of goal. Just as it looked as if Queen's would hold out, the Threave number 10 out-sprinted the defence to latch onto a long ball, and the goalie could only watch as he was lobbed as he sprinted off his line. A draw was probably a fair result here, the two sides looked fairly evenly matched, both showing some good play and, for the most part, it was a very clean game. Well worth the trip! (I had contacted both the Threave secretary and one of the U-19 coaches regarding line-ups, but nobody's got back to me yet! I'll put them in should anyone get back to me.) |