AYR FRUSTRATE QUEENS AT SOMERSET
Last updated : 04 January 2004 By Duke Of Galloway
Queens paid the penalty for several missed chances and at the end of the day had to settle for a share of the spoils with an enthusiastic Ayr side who never gave up. The game kicked off in front of a rather disappointing turnout of only 2303 of which about over 800 were Queens fans. In fact a quarter of an hour before kick-off the home end was almost empty but filled up once the Old Firm fans had emptied out of the local pubs. Queens dictated right from the start with Ayr struggling against Bowey and Co. Burke had the most awful miss early on when he blasted over from almost underneath the bar. O'Connor also brought out the best in Roy with a powerful shot on the turn. Somehow the early goal eluded Queens until the 20 minutes when
Bowey turned in a shot after a Burke free-kick had rebounded off the post. The away end greeted the goal with a crescendo of bagpipe music and party songs as Queens went for the jugular. The elusive second goal just would not come and Ayr gradually crept back into the game and nearly shocked Queens with an equaliser shortly before half-time when a tremendous free-kick rebounded off the bar much to the relief of Dodds in the Queens goal. Queens were quite happy to finish the half a goal up but everyone knew it would not be enough as the young Ayr side had shown enough to suggest that the Doonhamers were in for an uncomfortable second half.
Half-Time - Ayr United 0 Queen of the South 1
Much to Ayr's delight a stiff breeze in their favour greeted the teams for the start of the second half. The home side exploited the wind to their advantage and bomborded the Queens defence with high crosses and inswinging corners which had Dodds in all sorts of trouble. The young keeper however kept his cool and had several wonderful saves keeping Ayr at bay. Queens were also very dangerous on the break and had several chances to kill Ayr off but somehow O'Connor,Wood and Co. just could not find the net. Paton was making several openings but the Queens forwards seemed to be trying to walk the ball into the net and were unwilling to trust their shooting. It was curious to note that Roy in the Ayr goal hardly had a shot to handle as most of the Queens efforts were off target. As the game reached the last 10 minutes it looked as if Queens would hold out for a narrow win when
Ferguson tried a speculative lob which fell behind the unlucky Dodds. Queens were shocked and tore into Ayr in the last 10 minutes and almost snatched victory when Burns blasted just over. The referee brought things to a close when he blew 3 minutes EARLY for the final whistle. I think Queens did enough to earn a victory and the players will not be happy at missing so many chances which on another day perhaps they would have put away. Anyway we have not lost much ground and we are nicely tucked into third place. We have a rest from the league next week when we head for Methil on Cup business. So here's hoping for a good day out and hopefully a few goals. A word of comfort for the Drummer Boy who was refused entry with his Drums by the police. What a lot of spoilsport twats they are !
LARGE TURNOUT OF DOONHAMERS AT AYR
SOME EARLY ACTION AT SOMERSET
| BOWSER PUTS QUEENS 1-0 UP |
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