From The Other Side

Craig Anderson talked exclusively to experienced Queen of the South defender Jamie McQuilken for www.clydefc.co.uk, ahead of his side’s trip to face The Bully Wee on Saturday …

Clyde v Queen of the South (30/11/2007)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMIE McQUILKEN reckons league tables don’t lie – and that’s why he believes this Saturday’s match with Clyde is the biggest match of the season.

The Queen of the South full-back doesn’t buy into theory that his side sit in a false position of third bottom in a tight Division One. Now he wants his side to kick on and spark their campaign into life, but knows that Clyde are in a similar position and will harbour the same objectives.

McQuilken said: “We’ve been playing reasonably well, but we’re just not getting results and it’s at the stage of the season where you must start picking up points. Clyde, like many of the other teams in our position, will know how important how the next few games are going to be. Every team, barring the top three, are going to start fighting to push themselves up the table and that’s why this week’s game at Broadwood is an important one.

“Consistency seems to be the main problem among the teams in the lower places in the table and I think if a team like us, or Clyde, can string a couple of results together we could get ourselves of it.”

Both teams come into Saturday’s game on the back of victories in the Scottish Cup, with Clyde’s 2-0 win over Montrose matched and more by Queens’ 5-0 romp at Peterhead. Gordon Chisholm’s side will be looking for only their second away league win of the season, but more worryingly their third victory in their 16th visit to Broadwood, stretching back over the last ten years. 

However McQuilken knows about the strengths that Clyde will have when both teams lock horns on Saturday and highlighted their spirit, which he fully expects. He added: “Their never-say-die attitude makes them a tough nut to crack and their squad is full of young players who play for each other. They never give up and never know when they are beaten and that result against Dundee shows the sort of character Colin Hendry has moulded.

“Their results over the last two games will give them extra confidence and there’s no doubt they’ll be boosted by those wins over Montrose and Dundee.”

Queens and Clyde have met twice already this season, with the record so far standing as a win for Clyde and a draw. Steven Masterton’s winner separated the two sides in August’s Challenge Cup match in August, while Stephen Dobbie’s penalty for Queens was cancelled out by Neil McGregor in a 1-1 league draw at Palmerston in September.

Incidentally it was a Dobbie penalty that sealed Queens last win at Broadwood in March this year, when the Doonhamers, managed by Ian McCall at the time, left with a 1-0 win.

But this season it’s two different managers with two different ideas and with the league situation as close as it is even the bookies would find it hard to separate these two teams. It should make for an interesting afternoon at Broadwood on Saturday then…