SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 22/3/25.

So that’s it, then. The failure to win this means the utterly remote possibility of finishing even in ninth place has now vanished.

That fifteen point deduction was the real killer.

So it’s Tier 4 football again next season.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 16/11/24.

A much needed win after a nothing first half in which the only things of note were a great Brett Long sideways leap to prevent QoS’s first away league goal this season, a QoS defender’s attempt to score into his own empty net with a header which their goalie just scrambled off the line and a Michael Ruth effort that just squeezed past. It seemed his (bad) luck in front of goal still continued.

The second half was much better with Sons doing most of the attacking. Jinky Hilton hit the bar and the keeper was lucky it fell into his arms when it came down again after rebounding off the ground. Then Michael Ruth was shoved in the back in the area but it wasn’t given – despite the ref flinging yellow cards about like they were confetti.

Ruthie got his reward about 70 minutes in. That rarity, an early Kalvin Orsi cross, found Finlay Gray whose strike was blocked but fell for Ruthie to bury it. I’m pleased for him. His overall wrok-rate is simply brilliant but I think his rcent lackd of goals had been getting to him.

Then they were awarded a free kick a few yards outside our penalty area. As he lined it up I thought Brett Long  had got his positioning all wrong. So it proved. The up and over duly found the opposite bottom area of the goal. QoS’s first away goal of the league season and to watch them you could understand that stat.

The lads’ heads could have gone down after that but they kept plugging away and we git a series of unfruitful corners as time -up loomed. From the aftermath of one of them Mark Durnan got his foot in the way of the defender’s and the ball and was kicked. So: penalty. From where I sat I hadn’t realised it was in the are until the ref pointed at the spot.

Sub Tony Wallace duly dispatched it, to much rejoicing in the stands.

I hope the win does the boys ‘ confidence some good; our next two games are tough. Both against Alloa, at their place next Saturday in the league then at ours the following Friday in the Cup.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 10/3/18.

Well, this is becoming depressing.

Another home game, another 1-0 defeat. No leage goal since Boxing Day (and none in the two games before that.)

And it seems we missed a penalty.

If we didn’t have a Cup final to look forward to things would be bleak indeed.

And it seems Froxy is unavailable for that due to a Cyprus call-up. Gloom all round.

There is only one football team named in the bible.

Such is the claim anyway.

The relevant quote comes from Matthew 12.42:-

“The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it:”

Notch one up for Dumfries’s finest.

In my present reading, Walter Scott’s The Heart of Mid-Lothian (which itself by way of a dance hall provided the name for another football team,) there is much talk of religion and quotation from the Bible. An explanatory note had this reference from Proverbs 17.3 which casts doubt on the declaration in the first paragraph of this post:-

“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but the Lord trieth the hearts.”

Granted the relevant noun would need to be capitalised to make the abbreviation truly apposite but then so does the QoS one. At any rate I’m sure many Jambos (see nicknames in the link’s sidebar) would concur with the sentiment.