Weekend Roundup 8/22 - 8/26

Colorado Rapids - With their defensive self-destruction on Saturday the Rapids have fallen to 5th in the West and in a 3 way tie with Toronto and New England for 7th in the league. If the playoffs started today they would claim the final playoff spot ahead of Toronto. They are tied with Columbus and DC for the best offense in the league but tied with FSL and Chicago for the 7th worst defense.

Queen of the South - Saturday Queens hosted Partick Thistle still looking for their first league win of the season. Thistle pushed QoS through most of the first half but the defense held strong and the teams went to the locker rooms scoreless. The second half was more evenly split but as the game entered its final minutes the score was still deadlocked. In the 79th minute David Weatherston was subbed into the game and had an immediate impact. in the 83rd minute Weatherston picked up a through ball from Holmes and rove in on goal and beat the Partick keeper from close range to give the Doonhamers a 1-0 win. That moved Queens up to 5th in the table, 1 point behind leaders Dunfermline.

On Tuesday the Doonhamers traveled to Partick Thistle to face them in the 2nd Round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup, the current name of the League Cup. Early on Queens controlled play but in the 30th minute Thistle was given a fre kick outside the box and made it count with a goal directly from the kick. They turned that into continuing control for the rest of the first half and into the second half. Manager Gordon Chisholm had seen enough and subbed Saturday hero David Weatherston into the game in the 60th minute and once again it paid immediate dividends. 3 minutes later he got onto the end of a Paul Burns cross to level the score. The game was an end-to-end affair for the last 25 minutes and it looked destined for extra time until somebody punched the rewind button and queued up Saturday's match. In stoppage time Weatherston got onto another through ball and pushed it under the Partick keeper to give QoS the win! With the victory Queens moves on tot he Round of 16 where the big guns of the SPL join the competition.

Blackburn Rovers - Rovers traveled to Sunderland on Saturday for their first game of a 3 game road trip. Blackburn had control early and turned it into a 1-0 lead off a Gael Givet goal in the 21st minute. Unfortunately as we've seen far too often the Rovers couldn't turn their domination on the field into domination on the scoreboard. 1 minutes later Sunderland leveled the score with their only significant chance of the half. 9 minutes after half Sunderland would take the lead and while Rovers would push for the equalizer it was not to be. After 2 games Blackburn is still looking for its first points of the campaign. West Ham comes into Ewood Park on Saturday, which should be a winnable game.

On Wednesday Blackburn traveled to Gillingham for the second round of the League Cup. 6 minutes in David Dunn put Rovers up 1-0. Gillingham pushed for a goal most of the first half but the defense held up and Blackburn took the advantage into the locker room. Seconds after Rovers kicked off to start the second half they had doubled their lead on a Junior Hoilett header. Gillingham got one back from the spot but Pederson sealed the deal with a goal in the 75th minute. With the win Blackburn moves into the 3rd Round.

Kildare County - County had a touch task ahead of them as they played at the home of First Division leaders Shelbourne. Unfortunately while they controlled much of the game they couldn't convert their chances. Shelbourne scored twice in the last 15 minutes to take the 3 points. Kildare is 9 points from safety with 11 games to play, more than double their current total. They are pretty much looking at a playoff to avoid relegation at this point.