VENUE #38 QUEEN OF THE SOUTH Palmerston Road

IRN-BRU DIVISION
             TWO

Queen of the South... 2
Stranraer... 0

Saturday 13th April 2013

 @ Palmerston Road                   Stadium, Dumfries


     A month after my first visit and I'm back in Dumfries but this time to the actual town and not just the county of Dumfries and Galloway.  There are great scenes here also, walking along the white sands pathway that runs in between the river Nith and Brewery street, it was time to take my camera out again and capture some of this Scottish beauty.
   

Robbie Burns Mausoleum

 Having, once more, a little time I found myself at St. Michael's churchyard to visit the grave and mausoleum of Robbie Burns the ploughman poet and Scotland's favourite son.
     I eventually made my way to Palmerston Park for this afternoon's game between Queen of the South and Stranraer.  I have a bit of a soft spot for Stranraer and toyed with the idea of sitting with their fans but  as this is an adventure of experiencing every league ground in the top ten divisions of the UK excluding Northern Ireland I thought it only right to make it a complete experience and so opted for the home stand.

     Queen of the South's last game was last Sunday when they took on division one league leaders Partick Thistle at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium, Livingston, in the Ramsden cup final.  The game finished 1-1 after extra time and

Plaque on Robbie Burns house

so went to penalties in which Queens beat Thistle 6-5.  The home side had already secured the league title and so manager Allan Johnston rests five players from that gruelling ordeal of last weekend, Chris Mitchell, Chris Higgins, Marc Fitzpatrick, Stephen McKenna and Derek Lyle and taking their places are Ryan McGuffie, Stephen Black, Kevin Holt, Patrick Slattery and Paul Burns.  Stranraer got a 1-1 draw with East Fife and are five points clear from the second from bottom fifers in the league and are not quite safe from the relegation play off spot yet.
     A sporting gesture from the Stranraer team as Queens came out the tunnel they formed a guard of honour as the division two champions came onto the pitch.
   

Upstream View of river Nith

 It was a very tentative start from both sides Queens finding it hard to find their feet with so many changes to the side from last weekend and a very cautious looking Stranraer as the border side had a 100 per cent record against them so far this season.  But it wasn't long though before Queens took up the pace and started to threaten the Stranraer goal with a 25 yard shot from Patrick Slattery which went wide of the visitors post.  Queens as expected now were taking control of the game and had several chances before their opening goal in the 31st minute, the ball broke for Derek Young inside the blue's penalty area and he slipped a pass through to Kevin Holt who's cross rebounded back to him off a defender and he fired the ball into the back of the net for his very first goal for QotS.

     1-0 at half time and Queens fans could complain that it should be more considering opposition

Downstream View

and the fact that they were starting to dominate the game since the goal and when the second half started things continued in the same vein but queens couldn't seem to break down a dogged Stranraer defence to put this game to bed.  In fact we had to wait until the 76th minute for them to increase their lead, Nicky Clark out paced a Stranraer defender on the left and hit a shot from 12 yards that went in off David Mitchell's near side post.
     And so it finished 2-0, it wasn't a great performance but it didn't need to be they had already won the league and the Ramsden cup which they paraded around the pitch with a lap of honour.

   

Stanraer guard of honour for Queens

 Palmerston Park has a capacity of 7,620 of which just under half of the capacity are seated.  I watched the game from the Dumfries and Galloway Standard stand which to me seemed a bit old and tired and a might uncomfortable.  The stand has a small terraced area in front and straddles the centre circle.
     On the other side of the pitch is the Galloway News stand, this is a fairly new build and runs the full length of the pitch with a small portion to the right as you look at it allocated to away fans.
     Behind the goal to the left of the Dumfries and Galloway Standard stand is the Portland Drive terrace which is a fairly big structure partially covered at the rear.
     At the other end of the ground is the Terregles Street End which is an uncovered terrace that is, at the time of writing, not in use but I am told that it will undergo some repair work and should be open again for next season.
     The club shop is situated outside the ground opposite the turnstiles of the Dumfries and Galloway Standard stand next to the ticket office.  Tickets must be bought for as at Annan money cannot be taken at the turnstiles.

                                                            Match Details