Jed grab victory with only five minutes left to play

Cartha Queen's Park v Jed-Forest 19th Jan. 2019

CQP went into this game buoyed up by their victory at Dundee the previous week. The belief was that although it wouldn't be easy they might just cause an upset against second top Jed. In a game which swung one way and then the other CQP came very close indeed to causing that upset. In the end they had to settle for a try bonus having been robbed of a losing bonus in the last play by a converted Jed try.

The match took place on the 4G pitch at the police ground at Lochinch. Jed opened the scoring with an unconverted try and CQP responded a few minutes later with an unconverted try scored by Jake Graham. With twenty minutes played CQP took the lead with a try by Calum Dickson. On the thirty first minute Jed scored their second try which was converted to give them a 12-10 lead. With halftime approaching CQP pressure saw Jed attempting to clear from their in goal area. Chris Wicks was on hand to charge the kick down and get CQP's third try Wayne Burrows converted to give CQP a 17-12 lead at the break.

This lead increased to 20-12 when Wayne converted a penalty after seven minutes of play. Jed fought back and the score moved to 20-19 when they scored a converted try after seventeen minutes of second half play. Halfway through the second half after forward pressure Istok Totic scored CQP's fourth try to move the score to 27-19 but only four minutes later Jed responded with their fourth try which went unconverted. With Wayne Burrows off, the kicking duty was passed on to Gregor Davidson who had moved up from full back to stand off and with eight minutes left Gregor converted a penalty and CQP now lead 30-24. Using their fast paced backs to the full Jed then pulled out all the stops and scored two late tries the last being in the last play.

Full time CQP 30 Jed 38.

Given that Jed scored six tries to four it would have be said that they deserved their victory but finishing without a losing bonus was hard to take given the huge effort put in by a CQP team which surely would not have been sitting so low in the league as they are if they had played as well as they did both in this game and at Dundee. Lying in second top spot one point behind Marr Jed look favourites to finish in that spot giving them a play off spot for the second year running.

Next up for CQP is Musselburgh away. This is never an easy place to visit but there is no reason why CQP should not travel with hope if they continue to play the way they are at present. As a result of their four try bonus CQP now lie in second bottom spot above Kirkcaldy and two points below Dundee. With five games left to play CQP now have to pull out all the stops in the hope that they can stay ahead of Kirkcaldy and move above Dundee.