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Queen of the South	2 - 2	Newcastle United
Half time:	0 - 1
Score Sheet:
O'Neil (pen) (61) Hogg (67)		Bernard (24) Green (pen) (47)
	Teams
Jamie Campbell Alan Gray Paddy Atkinson Derek Allan Jim Thomson John Crawford John O'Neill Warren Hawke Peter Weatherson Jonathan Sunderland Andy Aitken		Jon Brain Andy Griffin Olivier Bernard Marcelino Steve Caldwell Jamie McClen Diego Gavilan Mark Boyd Lomana LuaLua Colin McMenamin Stuart Green
Substitutes:
Gareth McGhie for Hawke (28) Alan Hogg for O'Neill (65) Des McKeown for Sunderland (70) Stuart Connolly for Weatherson (72) Stephen Pickering for Aitken (77) Mark Patterson for Atkinson (82)		Coppinger for McMenamin (46) Ryan McGuffie for Griffin (65) Pedro Dimas for McClen (72) David Cowan for Boyd (77)
Subs not used:
Colin Scott
Bookings:
n/a		n/a
Referee: Dougie Smith - two justifiable penalty awards.
Attendance: 750, spread across the two stands and one open standing end.

24 mins After Solano's solo special in Munich earlier in the week, it was the turn of Olivier Bernard to submit his entry for goal of the season. The Frenchman took the ball from keeper Brain, ran down the left flank, turned inside his marker and then beat four more defenders before putting the ball past the keeper from inside the box. Shades of Mark McGhee against Bradford at St. James' in 1990. 1-0
 
47 mins Having been on the pitch barely two minutes Coppinger went down in the box under a heavy challenge from Jim Thomson and the referee correctly pointed to the penalty spot. Midfielder Stuart Green blasted home without difficulty. 2-0

Half time: Queen of the South 0 Newcastle Reserves 2

61 mins With Marcelino seemingly rooted to the spot, Steve Caldwell lunged at O'Neill in the area in a desperate attempt to get the ball. He caught the Queens player and another penalty was rightly awarded. Brain made things easier for O'Neill to score, as he dived out of the way only to see the ball hit straight and true down the centre and into the middle of the goal. 1-2

67 mins  Toon fan Peter Weatherson evaded the attempted tackle of Bernard out on the right and swept over an inviting cross for Hogg to bullet home a close-range header. 2-2

Full time: Queen of the South 2 Newcastle Reserves 2

To follow

Queens begin their Scottish Division Two campaign at Hamilton Accies next week in good heart, following this deserved draw against a United side who cost in excess of £12m to assemble.

After beginning well, Newcastle looked to be coasting to victory shortly after the break when Stuart Green struck his first goal of the season from the penalty spot. However, they were then guilty of some slipshod defending, especially from the Spanish contingent and allowed Queens to draw level.

Further upfield things weren't altogether marvellous, and against a sprinkling of players who had been playing non-league football in the North East only a season or so ago, one or two of our star names failed to make any impression.

LuaLua certainly had his football switch set to the "off" position, and scarcely found a man all afternoon, while failing to mesmerize the Queens defence with his individual attempts to pressurise the home goal. Similarly Diego Gavilan seemed to have no desire to get involved in the game at all, and drifted around to no great effect. When he did decide to play, his service to the front men was of variable quality and nothing he did was remotely comparable to the cross from Weatherson that brought about a Queens leveller. Perhaps Diego thought the absence of regular reserve watcher Bobby Robson from the stands meant he could take it easy...

Up front, the prolific McMenamin seemed to have used up his goal quota for the week at Alnwick. He hovered dangerously on 8 minutes as the Queens 'keeper threatened to drop a Boyd effort, and screwed a shot wide on 19 minutes. However, he was subbed at the interval and replaced by Jamie Coppinger who had a quiet 45 minutes aside from winning the penalty.

With the scores at 2-2, Newcastle looked intent on throwing the game away totally, but the inevitable rash of substitutions robbed the home side of their impetus and the game drifted towards stalemate.

So, the unbeaten pre-season record slipped away, and on a forgettable day for most of the players, only the wonder goal from Bernard will live in the memory. Shame that uncle Bobby wasn't there to see his stand-in left winger hit the target, preferring to spend the day convincing Laurent Robert to join us and fill the vacancy on that flank.  

PS - Thanks must go to the friendly and hospitable staff that were on hand at Palmerston, especially the foul-mouthed old woman who kindly provided the thirsty Toon contingent outside the social club with a steady flow of sandwiches and pies. We're still waiting for the sweet trolley though....

PPS - My carnivorous travelling companions were well impressed by said pies, of the scotch variety, "succulent" being one description. Possibly from the same source as those at nearby Annan, the advantage of Dumfries was that when a second round was agreed upon, the "sold out" signs hadn't been posted.

Do we finally have a rival to the West Midlands balti concoction in the coveted NUFC.com pie of the year competition? 

Biffa 

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