After Saturday's warm sunshine it was a dark wet night for this, our second game in three days. New injuries to Matt McManus, Paul McDonald, Paddy Donnelly and Tony Tumelty stretched the squad to the limit.
Our incredible run of injuries continued with goalkeeper Gerard Duff and DJ Canavan having to be replaced in the first 25 minutes by Michael Hingston and Stuart Harper. Knockbreda dominated the early play with Miguel Chimes causing trouble with his pace. Chimes had the ball in the net after 15 minutes but a linesman's flag ruled it out, looked a very close decision. Stuart Harper's introduction brought some much needed composure to the Queen's defence and from David Magee's perfect in swinging corner Paul Kennedy gave Queen's the lead with a powerful header after 27 minutes. The momentum had swung and Knockbreda were lucky not to fall further behind as James Lavery went close twice when his goalbound shots were deflected away for corners. From a cross following a short corner Stuart Harper ran on to the ball and headed it into the net only to be denied by the linesman's flag. This was harsh, Harper was clearly not offside. David Magee burst into the box on the left side and his well struck shot was well saved by Knockbreda keeper Paul Mateer
Queen's dominated a very entertaining second half in the gathering gloom. They made numerous chances but couldn't find the net. Knockbreda's Mateer kept his team in the game with a number of good saves. In the final minute in near total darkness referee Davey awarded Knockbreda a dubious free kick which Queen's scrambled away for a corner. Chimes swung over a great cross to the far post where Tony O'Rourke rose unchallenged to head a powerful equaliser. In added time Knockbreda had two further chances and would have won but for two great saves by Michael Hingston.
After the exertions and injuries from Saturday's game this was a very good performance which deserved a better outcome. We are in joint second place, a win would have put us on top of the league. Having used 20 players in just three games. we will have a welcome break now until 4th September, hopefully some of the injuries will have cleared up by then.
Teams: -
Queen's:
G. Duff, R. Budden, DJ Canavan, P. Smyth, D. Tumilty, M. Allison, K. Briggs, G. Higgins, D. Magee, J. Lavery, P. Kennedy
Subs: P. McGuickin, S. Harper, M. Hingston, E. Black.
Knockbreda: