So another unscheduled Saturday off then with the game away to Nottingham Forest moved to Monday night for live SKY coverage, not that it's worth a moan about the media exposure and financial recompense we'll get for that one though. I had a replacement all planned out already mind, that being a quick trip down to Morecambe, accompanied by my mother and her indoors hitting the shops, for the scheduled United youth team fixture down there on Saturday morning. Unlike the A-Team though the cigar fell straight out of George Peppard's mouth when the plan didn't come together after I heard the news that the match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. I've never known a winter like it this season for games biting the dust, both the reserve team and youth team will be playing their fixtures at the end of this season as their pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2008-09 campaign the way things are going at the moment. What do you do with no a match on a Saturday then? I'm not a great one for shopping at the best of times as anyone who has seen the contents of my wardrobe will testify, and it's far too cold and horrible for golfing during the winter. I don't mind the cold out on the course, but the rain is another matter, although as regular golfers will agree, howling gales do at least give a Taylor-Made (get it?) excuse for shots disappearing away into the undergrowth. All that left me with then was a trip to somewhere else that had a football match on and a reasonable array of shops to entertain my fellow travellers. A quick scan of the fixture list revealed that Queen of the South were at home to Hamilton Academicals, and with Queens fourth and the Accies top of the table it looked to be a promising clash. Fortunately, despite the rail problems going south last weekend all was clear heading up to Dumfries on our epic, erm, 35 minute train journey. After an hour or so of the shops, fortunately I didn't get hit by her indoors with the killer "does my bum look big in this?" question, I walked (huffed and puffed) my way up the hill to Palmerston Park to sneak a pint or two in while the boss was away bargain hunting. Making my way around the ice rink to get round to the main stand bar I really did think I was going to find yet another game postponed, as, despite it being 1.45 pm, there was no music on the tannoy and hardly a soul wandering about outside the ground. I was in Scotland now though, so there were plenty of punters holed up in the main stand bar watching the Hibs v Celtic game. Some people complain about the price of beer at Brunton Park at £2.20 for a pint of bitter, well it's £2.30 a pint up at Queens, and at £15 to stand up too I'd hardly say that was particularly good either. Especially, with respect, the football being at a lower standard than League One level where you can watch the Blues for £14 if you buy your ticket two days before the match. The grub was cheap mind, £2.50 for a Scotch pie and chips before half-time to soak up the ale, although the poor old pie had been cooked to within an inch of it's life. I'd been chatting to a couple of blokes in the bar for a good 30 minutes before the match, poor buggers, so I was stood with them for the game, my first point made after kick-off being that it is so much easier when you have squad numbers to mark out who is who. It was certainly an entertaining game though, with Accies taking the lead through ex-Gretna man James Grady before a quick Stephen Dobbie brace put Queens 2-1 up at the break. The three points looking safe right up until injury time at the end of the match when the visitors equalised thanks to a close-range from strike from highly-rated 17-year old James McCarthy. Another former Gretna man in Steve Tosh seeing red for a second yellow card after the goal as he protested about what he thought was a foul in the build-up. Rolling back down the hill to the railway station South West Sound, with riveting reports on Stranraer and Ayr, was all I could find on the mp4 player. Infact it wasn't until I forced a quick pint down in the Waverley Bar before the train home that I could find out the day's results on their televisions. Still it had been a nice little afternoon out, with, all around the club at Queens, very welcoming to an offcumden, and a Sassenach one at that. |