Wood park in Armadale was the venue for this important league fixture for both sides, Queensferry sitting top were looking to grab a three points which would have put them in pole position for promotion whilst Armadale knew a win would reignite there promotion hopes going into the final 4 league games of the season. Queensferry welcomed back Andy Summers from suspension whilst Daniel Burns was unavailable with Norman Dunnett replacing him up front and Scott Houston moved to right midfield.

The opening 20 minutes were played at a frantic pace with Queensferry winning the midfield battle with Summer’s and Hobb dictating play in the centre of midfield whilst Houston and Gemmell were looking dangerous on the right and left wing. The ferry came close to an early lead when McAnulty manoeuvred well on 8 minutes after a pass from Gemmell and his effort from 20 yards was well saved by the Armadale keeper.

Armadale were struggling to deal with the energy of the Ferry midfield whilst Kieran Haldane’s accurate cross field balls were giving Gemmell the opportunity to run at the Armadale defence. The ferry got there reward for their dominance on 18 minutes when a superb 60 yard pass from Haldane fell to the feet of Gemmell who controlled well then passed to Dunnett 20 yards from goal, he turned the defender skilfully before superbly curling the ball past the helpless Armadale keeper into the top left corner of the net.

Armadale responded well to losing the goal and there impressive left midfielder was causing problems for Houston and K.Haldane however they, along with Bann and Jaimeson ,stood firm and restricted the home side to long rage efforts which failed to trouble S.Haldane or hit the target. The difficult playing surface was making it an even contest as the half went on, both teams were seeing several passes and long balls lack the quality to cause either defence any problems. Queensferry were however inches away from a deserved second goal on 42 minutes when McAnulty raced through on goal only to see his powerful effort go narrowly wide of the post.

HT: Armadale 0: 1 Queensferry Athletic

The second half began in the same frantic pace with Armadale starting to dominate possession and being able to find there wide men who were putting large amounts of pressure on the ferry defence however Bann and Jaimeson along with Haldane in goals were dealing with everything thrown at them in the opening 10 minutes of the 2nd half. Armadales dominance continued and they nearly equalised on 59 minutes when a curling cross-come shot landed right on top of Haldane who did well to tip it over the bar for a corner.

Queensferry were not being allowed to play the same football that saw them dominate the first half and Haldane and David Miller at left and right back were working tirelessly to stop the barrage of cross balls and with 65 minutes on the clock it looked like Queensferry were at last starting to regain control of the game. Armadale got a deserved equaliser on 67 minutes, a free kick 25 yards from goal was drilled into the box and the oncoming Armadale striker found himself unmarked 12 yards from goal and he bulleted a header into the corner of the net past the diving Haldane.

This gave Armadale the confidence to push for the winner and when K.Haldane lost possession mid-way inside his own half the Armadale left midfielder played a superb cross ball into the striker’s feet, Bann and Jaimeson were unable to intercept him and he stroked the ball through the legs of the oncoming S.Haldane to put the home side in front with 75 minutes on the clock.

Queensferry pushed hard late on for a deserved equaliser and Houston saw his ambitious effort head only inches wide, McAnulty was forced off with an injury on 67 minutes and with limited attacking options on the bench Queensferry failed to create any real clear cut chances and Armadale held on for a big 3 points leaving a ferry side who had gave 100% empty handed.

Overall a hard defeat to take especially as we played so well for long spells + the work rate and spirit was superb however credit to Armadale who made life extremely difficult for us in the second half and took their chances well. It’s still all to play for with a massive home league game against Balerno tomorrow night and if the lads apply themselves like they did on Saturday we are confident we will pick up a big 3 points.

Queensferry Athletic AFC

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