There was a somewhat surreal feel to the atmosphere in the Kirkcaldy clubhouse when we arrived to find the bar area packed with football supporters going to the  Raith Rovers v Dundee local derby being entertained by a country western duo.

The game had been brought forward an hour at the home team's request as their captain was being married and numerous members of the team were going to the evening reception.

 The CQP team showed three enforced changes from the previous week due to unavailability, namely vice captain Andy Scott  David Goudie and Ossie BurkeThis allowed Tony Nyangweso to return from injury with Irishman Wayne Burrows also reappearing after his Uni break and Fraser McKinnon also came back in after a holiday absence. Pole Michael Pllich made his first start. There was little or no wind and the game got underway with Ms A Pratt of Watsonians officiating. Kirkcaldy took an early lead when prop Ross Girdler who has surprising pace for a big man burst through after only five minutes to score a good try from a Kirkcaldy perspective. At this point it looked as though it might be a very long afternoon for CQP but they rallied and got a break when Ross Gilmour intercepted a wayward Kirkcaldy pass well inside his own half and demonstrated fitness and self belief when he completed a long run in to the Kirkcaldy line. Andi Black slotted the conversion and CQP took the lead and generally controlled the remainder of the first half. Andi Black subsequently added a penalty and then a bit of magic from Andy Noble saw the winger jink his way round and under numerous Kirkcaldy attempts to tackle him and score CQP's second try which Andi again converted.Prior to that Andi had failed narrowly with a penalty attempt when the ball hit the outside of the upright and went wide.

Half time Kirkcaldy 5 Cartha Queen's Park 17

CQP's half time lead was fully deserved but with Kirkcaldy sitting in top spot in the league a second half fightback was to be expected. It did not take long for this to materialise as a good kick off by the homsters saw them gather the ball and force a penalty which the ever competent Quentin Sanft duly converted to reduce the leeway to 17-8. With only eight minutes on the clock Kirkcaldy reduced the leeway still further when Sanft gathered the ball from a scrum and made space for Iain Gillies to score their second try which Sanft converted to cut the CQP lead to two points with a lot of time left

As the game progressed CQP found themselves increasingly on the wrong side of the referees decisions and were finding it difficult to generate any real momentum. Generally Kirkcaldy were now on top and the game was largely being played in the CQP half. If another score was to come it looked highly likely that it would be to Kirkcaldy. A feature of the game was the number of free kicks being awarded. It was very difficdult from the touchline to adjudge exactly what offence was being penalised.

With only four minutes of time left on the clock Kirkcaldy finally got the breakthrough they had been seeking and scored a try which was easily converted to give them a five point lead which is where the match finished.

Final Score Kirkcaldy 22 Cartha Queen's Park 17

In the second half the woodwork had come to Kirkcaldy's aid when an Andi Black penalty attempt again hit the upright.

The principal problem for CQP in the second half apart from the fact that Kirkcaldy upped their game was that CQP had great difficulty in gaining any momentum as almost on every occasion when they secured good ball they were penalised. This was a a game which CQP might have won and means that Kirkcaldy have now beaten CQP in all of the five games that they have played . The five point margin is the smallest victory to date for Kirkcaldy and it is reasonable to hope that their run will come to an end when they travel to Glasgow later in the season. Kirkcaldy probably have the heaviest front row in the division but the CQP front row were a match for them on the day.

CQP team15 Black14 Ross Gilmour 13 Nyangweso 12 McInnes 11 Noble 10 Burrows 9 Davidson 8 Gillies 7 Dickson 6 Hollier 5 Nellany 4 Williamson ( CAPT )  3 Harvey 2 Pllich 1 McKinnon subs Greg Gilmour, Chris Docherty, Adam Stuart and Steven Murray        

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