Both sides were aware of the possibility of making a significant move up the league table taking account of the other games taking place. Unfortunately from a CQP point of view Ross Gillies and Andy Scott were unavailable due in one case to holidays and in the other a wedding. In addition neither Fraser McKinnon nor Iain Cook were able to play The CQP pack was therefore somewhat underpowered compared to their first choice selection. It transpired that apart from the absence of the Dumfries captain they were more or less at full strength. Prior to this game Dumfries had only dropped points in two games both away. They had lost their opener against GHA and then drawn with league leaders Kirkcaldy.CQP for their part were coming off a big home win from the previous week.

CQP opened brightly and after only three minutes Ross Gilmour appeared to have opened the scoring but the try was disallowed apparently because the ref felt the ball had not been properly grounded. This was a view not shared by the CQP bench who were close to the action.

With six minutes played Dumfries took the lead from a successful penalty struck by Gemmell.

A few minutes later saw Michael Nellaney needing attention for a knock.

With thirteen minutes played Rob May put in a fine downfield kick to gain some fifty metres of territory but three minutes later saw Dumfries add a second successful penalty by Gemmell.

With a quarter of the game played Dumfries scored their first try which was converted to move the score to 13-0'

Soon after this Big G charged down an attempted Dumfries clearance gathered the ball and headed for the line only to drop the ball while trying to ground it.

With twenty-seven minutes played CQP opened their account with a Wayne Burrows penalty and only three minutes later the same player added a second successful penalty to move the score to 13-6

Shortly after this Andy Noble started a move which saw CQP move well into the Dumfries half only to see the move peter out when Calum Dickson was adjudged to have failed to release the ball in the tackle.…

Rob May then put in a clever upfield kick which gained CQP some 50 metres and before half-time Wayne Burrows reduced the leeway to four points with yet another successful penalty to leave the half-time score as 13-9 to Dumfries and everything to play for in the second half.

Only four minutes of the second half had been played when Dumfries prop McColl found a gap in the CQP defence to score the second Dumfries try which went unconverted.

Lamont and Docherty then came on for Harvey and Dickson.

With half the second half gone Andy Noble wrested the ball from a Dumfries attacker and then tried to kick clear only to see the ball land in Dumfries hands leading to a third try to Dumfries. By this stage it was clear from the side that Dumfries were outmuscling the CQP pack in the tight making it difficult for Tam Davidson to get good set piece ball behind the scrum.

 Andy Black then came on for Wayne Burrows and before the game ended Ally McKinnon ex Linlithgow made his first team debut.

With twenty-seven minutes of the second half Dumfries got their try bonus when they breached a tiring CQP defence for an unconverted try to push the score to 30-9. CQP kept trying however and with thirty-seven minutes played Rob May burst out of the CQP twenty-two and streaked down the right touchline managing to avoid the Dumfries pursuers to score s fine individual try which Andy Black converted. This was the final score in a game in which the better team won. CQP for their part made too many unforced errors and ball retention and gathering on the day was aproblem.

Few teams will succeed in taking any points when they visit this Dumfries team at Park Farm. Dumfries are a well drilled fit bunch with height and weight in their team which they used to good effect. It will be interesting to see what happens at Dumbreck when they make the return trip. when hopefully CQP will have at least some of the bigger forwards back.

Post match the CQP mood improved a little when word came through that the CQP twos had won 41-0 at Old Anniesland to move into second spot in their league with a game in hand over the leaders.

Interestingly one of the Dumfries supporters thought that our physio Eilidh was our man of the match.

As a result of their five point win Dumfries have now moved into second spot in premier three and CQP have dropped back to seventh place..

The referee for this match was Colin Brett.

Final Score Dumfries 30 Cartha Queen's Park 16 9 Pointage 5-0...  

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