QOS U15 Blues’ picked up three points on Saturday without kicking a ball.  Their game against East Kilbride was cancelled due to the Lanarkshire side being unable to raise a team, as a result of which the three points were awarded to Queens.

To keep the team’s momentum going, a friendly was arranged against Glasgow Girls, generally one of the stronger clubs at this age group, with the game being played at Dumfries High School. The game was very even with chances at both ends, Queens maybe having slightly the better of the play. Cairn Houliston saw her side footed effort come back off the post as Queens came close to taking the lead, but at the break the score-sheet remained blank. Into the second half and with eight changes to the line up to ensure that the entire squad got game time, Queens continued to create chances against a well organised City defence. Somewhat against the run of play City took the lead with a breakaway, but Queens continued to press, with Freya Brown levelling the game five minutes from time with a powerful strike over the keeper. An excellent performance by Queens and demonstrated the quality of the current squad.

Next week’s league fixture sees Queens U15 Blues make the journey to Stranraer to defend their 100% league record when they play Millennium. The game will be played on Sunday at Stranraer Academy, kick of time tbc.

Meanwhile, the QOS U15 Whites travelled to Lanark Racecourse to take on a very strong Hamilton Girls U15 side. The first half started well with Queens first to everything in the early exchanges. As the game went on Hamilton created a number of opportunities but Player of the match Demi kept them at bay. The defence stayed strong with the rest of the team working extremely hard to create a number of half chances. No score at half time and Queens were still very much in the game. However the early kick off, a strong wind, snow blizzards and fitness started to play their part and towards the end of the second half the girls were running out of steam with Hamilton starting to take control of the game. Queens’ work rate remained outstanding despite Hamilton winning plenty of corners and being awarded several free kick opportunities. Queens managed to hang on until the final whistle, with the game ending in a 0-0 draw. The coaches were very pleased with the result as Hamilton look likely to be competing at the top end of the league table this season. The Queens U15 Whites are improving rapidly as they get used to the significant step up from 7 a side to 11 a side football.

Queens U13 Girls’ game at home to Kilmarnock in the Kim Little league was postponed due to the pitch being unplayable.

Reports from Alastair Barron