Fresh from their front-page heroics of last week the stage was set for Queen’s to continue their headline news with an anticipated win over lower placed Hamilton only for the opposition to rewrite the headlines with a 2-1 victory to take all three points back to New Douglas Park.
Queen’s made one change to the starting eleven that made history last week with Adam Montgomery replacing the injured Josh Scott at left back and match winner, Seb Drozd taking his place on the bench. If Queen’s thought their Scottish Cup tie was a tough fixture, then conceding a goal in the opening 4 minutes presented a different type of challenge to overcome.
A harmless long ball from deep inside the Hamilton half was allowed to reach striker Shaw who took a touch, held off his defender and flicked it over the advancing Ferrie with the ball rebounding off the left hand post for the inrushing Scott Robinson to convert into an empty net to put Hamilton 1-0 up.
Queen’s response was to establish their passing game in the middle of the park whilst Hamilton’s approach relied on a more direct approach. A quick interchange of passes found Queen’s Duncan take a shot at goal only for Hamilton keeper Lyness to parry round the post for a corner to Queen’s. Queen’s pressed for an equaliser and from a corner on the right, Longridge played a set piece move to Turner on the edge of the box whose first time right footed shot narrowly missed the Hamilton goal.
Queen’s were beginning to get over the shock of conceding an early goal when they conceded another in 12 minutes. A Hamilton corner from the left was met perfectly by the inrushing Lamie who directed his angled header across goal and off the far post into the Queen’s net. Advantage Hamilton 2-0 up.
Spooked by the early goals Queen’s were beginning to dominate territory in part helped by Hamilton’s low block forcing Queen’s attacks to go down the flanks rather than through the middle. A couple of corners followed in quick succession, but the Hamilton defence stood firm and cleared any danger.
In 32 minutes, the best chance of the match fell to Queen’s Rudden. A perfect through ball on the right flank from Mauchin exposed the Hamilton defence and found Rudden’s early run into the Hamilton box and his attempted shot from 12 yards was dragged wide of the left-hand post. A glorious chance for Queen’s to reduce the deficit before half time.
Half Time: Queen’s Park 0 Hamilton 2
The opening exchanges of the second half continued in the same vein as the first half with Queen’s sticking to their passing game and Hamilton preferring to play long down the flanks. For all of Queen’s territorial dominance there was no cutting edge in the final third to their build up play evidenced by Hamilton keeper Lyness having no saves to make in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
This was to change in the 60 minute where perseverance from Queen’s brought reward with a goal from Queen’s Welsh to halve the deficit and put Queen’s back in the game. A run from Mauchin down the right channel was fed to Turner who crossed for Rudden only to have his effort blocked and cleared to the edge of the box where Welsh unleashed a powerful right foot shot passed keeper Lyness off the post into the bottom corner of the Hamilton net.
Queen’s sensed the momentum of the game was in their favour and put on an additional forward for a defender with last week’s hero Drozd replacing Queen’s Mauchin in a bid to drive home their grip on the game.
Queen’s pressed for an equaliser but their play in the final third did not match their midfield dominance. The impetus of the goal began to wear off with Hamilton achieving some success with their forwards running the channels to gain territory in the Queen’s half. On a counterattack Hamilton’s Shaw tested Queen’s keeper Ferrie from the left of the box and brought out a great one handed save to keep the scoreline the same.
Queen’s thought they had created the perfect opportunity to level the scores on 69 minutes. A recycled ball from Welsh saw him chip a deft pass to Rudden inside the Hamilton box who then crossed low into the path of the inrushing Hurst and from 8 yards made contact only to have his shot partially blocked and saved by Keeper Lyness low down to his left. A chance missed.
Roles were reversed in 72 minutes with Queen’s Hurst turning provider with a low cross across goal from the left wing for the sliding Rudden who narrowly missed making contact as the ball fizzed across the Hamilton 6-yard box to safety. Queen’s introduced more subs with Montgomery being replaced by new loan signing Raymond making his debut, and Hinds replacing Hurst.
Queen’s continued to press but gaps were beginning to appear as the game became stretched. A Hamilton counter-attack saw McKinstry progressing down Queen’s right flank into the penalty box and his cross cum shot was touched behind by Ferrie for a Hamilton corner.
In the 85 minute a cross from the left by Queen’s Duncan picked our Rudden who neatly set up Welsh at the edge of the box for a shot on goal only for a lack of composure from the midfielder as his effort flew wide of the Hamilton goal. In a final attempt to grab an equaliser Queen’s Turner was replaced by Evans but the dying minutes of the game presented an excellent opportunity for Hamilton to put the game to bed. Hamilton’s Robinson found himself unmarked and from the halfway line ran unchallenged towards the Queen’s goal one on one with keeper Ferrie only to be foiled by a save by the Queen’s keeper.
Full time: Queen’s Park 1 Hamilton 2
Queen’s Park: Calum Ferrie (C), Zach Mauchin (Seb Drozd 61 mins), Nikola Ujdur, Will Tizzard, Adam Montgomery (Jaydan Raymond 75mins), Jack Turner (Reece Evans 87 mins), Louis Longridge, Sean Welsh, Ryan Duncan, Kyle Hurst (Josh Hinds 75 mins), Zak Rudden.
Unused Substitutes: J. Wills, M. Thomson, B. Jackson, R. Hickey- Fugaccia, J. Smith
Hamilton Academical: Dean Lyness, Sean McGinty, Steven Bradley (Kevin O’ Hara 76 mins), Connor Smith, Barry McGuire, Ricki Lamie, Kyle MacDonald (Jamie Barjonas 88 mins), Scott Robinson, Nikolay Todorov (Stuart McKinstry 65 mins), Oliver Shaw (Euan Henderson 88 mins), Tony Gallacher (Stephen Hendrie 65 mins).
Unused Substitutes: C. Albinson, J. Longridge, D. McGowan, R. Tumilty
Referee: Colin Steven
Starting Eleven
