We head into the second quarter of the season on Saturday as we pay a first visit in four years to Somerset Park, home of Ayr United.
The Opposition
Our Ayrshire neighbours currently sit 7th in the Championship on 11 points. The "Honest Men" returned to the second tier of Scottish football this season after a four year absence following their relegation via the play-offs in 12/13 - the same year we finished bottom. It was also the play-offs that brought them back up with a dramatic penalty shoot out victory over Stranraer.
The man responsible for the play-off win is, of course, Ian McCall, who needs no introduction to Queens fans. Not only is Ian a previous manager, taking charge for almost two years in 2005, but a Doonhamer as well, having been born in Dumfries, and attended Palmerston as a boy. Another familiar face in the Ayr dugout is Neil Scally, who spent 5 years with us, between 2006 and 2011, as a very popular player.
The Ayr squad also features a couple of ex Queens players. Brian Gilmour, was part of the squad that reached the cup final in 2008, although that turned out to be his only season with us. Jamie Adams, on the other hand, enjoyed four different loan spells with the club before injury put a promising career on hold. We know everyone connected with the club, particularly those who saw him play for us, will be glad to see him playing regularly again and wish him well for the future – apart from when he faces us of course!
On the other side of the pitch, we have one ex Ayr player in the squad, Darren Brownlie, who made a dozen or so appearances for the Honest Men when he was just 18.
The Game
This Ladbrokes Championship match kicks off at 3pm on Saturday 22nd October at Somerset Park, Ayr.
Live updates will be available on the website and on Twitter and Facebook. We will also publish pictures through the day on our new Instagram Channel
The Fans
Away fans at Somerset Park are housed in the west end section of the main stand and the Railway End terracing.
Prices for the match are :
Adults - £17
Concessions - £10
U16s - £5
Supporter's buses should park in Craigie Park.
Ayr United have asked us to let them have names of any wheelchair users who we know are attending so, if possible, Queens fans are asked to contact the office on 01387 254853 or [email protected] before 2pm on Friday
The Dressing Room
"Without stating the obvious, last weekend was really disappointing. We're not going to make any excuses, as a group we weren't at it. I'm not going to take anything away from Morton, but as much as they were good on the day, we were poor.
I can tell you, the players and myself are hurting as much as the supporters, but we want to focus on the positives, and that's that it was our first league defeat of the season and we finish the first quarter with 18 points from nine games. There was also a debut for youngster Ross Fergusson who is part of our youth system, in fact around half of the 18 players stripped on Saturday have all come through our own youth set up.
We've dusted ourselves down and cleared our heads and are now looking to come out with all guns blazing for our local derby this weekend.
Ayr are a good side on a good run of form, but we are a good side and have already shown that we have the determination and hunger and for us the game cant come quick enough."
The Team
For an update on the current injuries, see our First Quarter Review.
Matchday update : Jacobs returns to the side but Hammil misses out with a strain picked up last week.
We will be wearing our red away kit for this match.
The Officials
Referee : John Beaton
Assistant 1 : Brian Templeton
Assistant 2 : David McKniff
Referee John Beaton has officiated 7 of our games in the past, including two home victories last season. We have won 3 of those 7 games, drawn 1 and lost 3
The Stats
The head to heads over the years could barely be closer, with 35 Ayr wins to 34 in all competitions, although we are ahead 31 to 25 in league wins. The league games at Somerset Park are even tighter, with 13 wins a piece and 7 draws. There's little between the clubs in terms of league goals at Somerset either, with Ayr just ahead on 49 to 47.
Recent league meetings favour the home side, including a 4-1 win at Palmerston earlier this season, apart from the 12/13 season in the old Division 2 where we won 12 points out of 12, scoring 13 goals, on the way to winning the league. Prior to that, you have to go back to 2009 for the last away win, a 1-0 win for us at Somerset.
There have been very few cup meetings between the two sides in recent times – its 1982 since we last met in the League Cup and 1979 since the last Scottish Cup tie. The Challenge Cup, however, has seen four ties since 1990 and Ayr have been victorious every time. This includes a narrow 3-2 semi final win in 1991 which took Ayr to their second final in a row. Unfortunately, they lost 1-0 to Hamilton having also lost narrowly, 3-2 after extra time, to Dundee the previous year. Dundees 3 goals were all scored by Billy Dodds who, of course, went on to coach at Palmerston and was part of the Cup final season coaching staff