Saints managed the first chance of the game when Allan Russell crossed only for Ricky Gillies to either miss the ball completely., or have the worst header since Jason Lee was a star on Fantasy Football. A decent chance and one we should have taken. Just minutes later John O'Neill had to be taken off having picked up an injury, and he was replaced by Robert Dunn.
Saints next good chance fell to Barry Lavety, and the big striker really should have done better. Giving himself a clear shot at goal, after shurgging off a few defenders, he could only shoot wide of the post. And soon after, Queen of the South had the lead.
Laurie Ellis lost the ball, only to regain it and give it to Dunn, who promptly passed it back to Hinchcliffe. However, Hinchcliffe wasn't going to get near the ball in a million years, and a QoS player squared it for some other Qos player to tap in.
Saints should have levelled soon after, when Lavety once again missed a good chance, this time his header going past the post.
Into injury time and it was 2-0, when Alex Burke found himself with a clear run and finished well. Saints managed to get a goal back before half time when Ricky Gillies was barged down in the penalty area and scored the kick himself.
In the second half sod all happened. QoS could have had some more goals, Lavety missed another good chance and Mark Crilly got himself sent off for a stupid second booking. Kevin Twaddle also made an appearance, which was nice.
The referee was poor, in that fouls by Saints players saw bookings, whilst similar fouls from QoS players saw nothing. I'm also interested in how the Doonhammers had fitter looking players, despite Saints having a fitness coach and only three part time players, whilst most of the QoS squad is part time!
However, Coughlin really has to take a look at himself as he has no one to blame now but himself. It is his squad and the starting 11 was an extremely strong one, only weakned by O'Neill going off. However, one change like that can not be used as the reason for the lack of effort and poor performance which was present today, and has been seen in some games until we are a goal or two down.
Something needs to be done, and the opinion of the fans is its time for yet another managerial change.