Old Boys

Old Boys Match 2004

First XI 5	4 Baker J. select XI
Nagle 48	Barker 30
Baker P. 51,63	Kishishev (pen) 41
Pearson 70	Hukins 68
Ben 75	Schilling 80

Old Boys Match 2003: First XI v Condron select XI

2000/2001: The Welshy championship

Queen’s Reign Supreme In Division 1

Queen’s College 3 Brasenose College 2

Tuesday 8th week

In a pulsating game Queen’s overcame Brasenose to clinch promotion thanks to a superbly taken hat trick by striker Neil Condron. This was both teams’ final fixture of the season and both knew a defeat would destroy any hopes of Premier Division football next year.

Bizarrely, the two sides had met only 24 hours earlier in a game where Brasenose had been the better side, deservedly winning 2-0 and breaking Queen’s’ 13 match unbeaten run in the process. Consequently, Queen’s entered the game seeking revenge and knowing they had to play to their potential if they wanted the maximum three points. However, Queen’s captain John Welsh had players missing and was forced to put centreback David Traynor in goal.

The game started slowly with Welsh and Stefan Sadnicki contesting a hard-fought midfield battle with Neil Evans and Patrick Wrigley. Brasenose had the better of the first 20 minutes but it was the home team that created the better chances in a goal-less first half, with Peter Baker spurning two opportunities to give Queen’s the lead.

The breakthrough came not long after the restart. Condron latched on to a throughball from Graham Murdoch and calmly placed his shot to the side of the keeper to put Queen’s 1-0 up. However the lead did not last long when a mix-up in defence led to a freak own goal. Following a Brasenose corner, John Dignan’s attempted clearance rebounded off the back of Stuart Hunter and a helpless Traynor could only watch the ball trickle into the net.

Condron put Queen’s back in front capitalising on some confusion in the ‘Nose defense but with 25 minutes still to play the game was by no means safe.

Dave Webster#s side piled the pressure on the Queen’s defence where Mark Pentland and Alex Smith had their hands full trying to contain a lively Dave Matheson. The visitors again drew level when some sloppy marking at a corner allowed ‘Nose to head into the back of the net.

The 60 or so spectators (including a few Hertford players hoping for a Queen’s slip-up) were making themselves heard. In a tense final quarter of an hour screams of encouragement came whenever either side mounted a decent attack. Welsh brought on Gareth Marsh to replace a tired James Nelson who had given a commited performance on the left-hand side.

However the last word belonged to Queen’s and especially Condron who completed his first hat trick in his last game for the college. Baker broke down the right-hand side before picking out Condron with a superb cross. The center-forward clinically volleyed home first-time before being embraced by an ecstatic Queen’s team.

Only a last minute penalty box scramble remained before the ref blew his whistle to end a remarkable game. Queen’s celebrated promotion and better news was to follow with Hertford drawing at home to Johns the following day. This result crowned Queen’s champions and gave them a well-deserved title to take with them next year into the Premier Division.