Angry boss to make changes

Dec 30 2008 by Our Correspondent, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

ANGRY Queens boss Gordon Chisholm slated his players for their woeful showing against a Dundee side that has now leap-frogged them from second bottom place in the table. He described their first half performance as the worst 45 minutes he has seen.

The furious boss said: “I’m not accepting that, it’s not the standard I’m looking for here.”

He conceded that they were without players of the calibre of Stevie Tosh, Bob Harris, Gary Arbuckle and Craig Barr, but said: “That’s no excuse. They didn’t roll up their sleeves and get stuck in and that’s all I’m asking for.

“The second half at least they showed a little bit more spirit, but in that first 45 minutes there was nothing there – there was no push forward no-one taking responsibility and effort was totally lacking.”

And he added: “I am hopeful I will have a few players back for Saturday because I will change that team and during the next two or three weeks I hope to have a couple of players brought in.”

Dundee had shown from the off that they were up for it and were first to threaten when Freddie Daquin showed his marker a clear pair of heels and got in a cross which forced defender Jim Thomson to sweep for a corner.

Both sides showed a touch of nerves in the early stages only too well aware of the importance of the points.

But Dundee gradually shook off the lethargy and Daquin was again the threat when he cracked in a tremendous drive from 30 yards which just blazed over the bar.

And then it was only two fine saves from the Dumfries keeper that denied Daquin and Andrew Shinnie with close-range shots.

And the Dumfries men had a lucky escape when Thomson headed narrowly past his own goal following a corner.

The Dumfries goal seemed to bear a charmed life before Dundee broke the deadlock on the half hour.

Daquin swept in the ball from the right and Chris Posniak slammed a shot goalwards to see keeper Bryn Halliwell parry the shot but former Dumfries schoolboy Colin McMenamin was on the spot to slip it home.

Queens only shot of note came just before the break from Stephen Dobbie with a 20-yard drive which was easily held by keeper Rab Douglas and the statistics alone showed just how one-way the half had been with Dundee notching nine corners to Queens’ none.

Chisholm pushed on two subs after a roasting during the break and his side showed some real effort for the first time.

They had the Dundee defenders scrambling when Sean O’Conner had a shot blocked and then Stephen Dobbie saw an effort deflected with a Dundee defender throwing himself headfirst across the goal line to ensure it went outside the post.

Dundee though should have had it tied up on the hour mark when a break from midfield left Shinnie with just the keeper to beat but he slipped it past the post.

Queens put in a much more spirited showing in the later stages but could find no way through the Dundee defence though keeper Rab Douglas did have to make a fine save to stop Stewart Kean grabbing what would have been an undeserved equaliser.

Teams

Queen of the South: Halliwell, Parratt, McQuilken, Reid, Thomson, MacFarlane, McGowan (Kean 46 ), Simmons, Kinniburgh (Robertson 46 ), O’Connor (Weatherston 70), Dobbie. Subs not used: Aitken, Scally.

Dundee: Douglas, Paton, Malone, Cowan, McKeown, Lauchlan, Shinnie, Posniak, Daquin (McHale 76), O’Brien, McMenamin (Gilhaney 89).Subs: Williams, Deasley, Roy.

Referee: Mr E Smith.

Attendance: 2,616.