Always Hard Work at Queens

Ayr United first visited Palmerston Park, Dumfries to play Queen of the South was on 7th November 1925 when a 3-1 victory for the Honest Men was recorded and the win was repeated the following season on 5th February 1927 - this time by 2-1. Ayr's sequence of second division wins at Palmerston when a 4-2 win gave them their third win in a row on 28th January 1928. A spell in the first division for Ayr meant that the next match there was a friendly on 1st April 1933 which Queens won 5-4. This was a pre-cursor to Queens' promotion to the first division but nevertheless United maintained their sequence of league wins helping themselves to another 4-2 win on 9th September 1933 in the first ever first division encounter between the two clubs.

The next encounter was a different affair with Queens winning by 7-1 against a hapless United side. Ayr's next win was another first division clash on 11th September 1937 after they had a season in division two but the big scores were still going to the home side who won 6-1 on 2nd January 1939. There was no doubting the 'derby' feel to this game as both clubs relished the tussle with close neighbours. Encounters, however, were infrequent during this period because of Queens maintaining their first division status, something which Ayr could not. Nevertheless, the Queens succumbed and the meeting on 17th March 1951 was a 'B' division affair which the homesters won 2-1. 5-1 was the score for Queens in the new year game of 1957 in Ayr's infrequent forays to the first division although when the two met on 2nd January 1962 they were both firmly planted in division two, a 2-1 win for Queen of the South being recorded.

With the two teams yo-yo'ing between divisions the next meeting was a second division match on - again on the 2nd January 1968 and again Queens won by a handsome score - 4-0. Although Queens won the next two years matches the latter on 18th August 1969 was a league cup match and fortunes for the two clubs were about to change with Ayr playing more football in the higher division. The next match between the two at Palmerston was a, therefore, a Scottish Cup replay on 18th February 1976 after a 2-2 draw at Somerset Park. The game was a marathon and went into extra time only and an eventual 5-4 win for Queen of the South. 

Queens finally struggled to division one to win the encounter on 19th August 1978 by 1-0 but Ayr at last won a match there for the first time since 1937 on 30th December 1978 - a first division match. Despite relegation for Queens they met two seasons later in a league cup match which Ayr won 2-1. Ayr had definitely found the winning formula at Dumfries and won the first division game on 19th September 1981 by 2-1 and again the following season in the league cup by 4-1 on 1st September 1982. Again the two missed each other until the first division match of 15th April 1989 which again the Honest Men won, this time by 2-1.

The two did not meet again until the 7th October 1995 second division match when a 0-0 draw - the first at Palmerston - was recorded and this was quickly followed by the second draw, 2-2 on 20th January 1996. The next season, on 21st September 1996 Ayr again reasserted their ascendancy in modern times with a 2-1 win followed by a 3-1 win in the later fixture on 5th February 1997. It was season 2002/03 before Queen of the South once again joined Ayr in the first division and again it was a 2-1 win for the Honest Men in the August fixture and 1-1 in the New Year derby match.

Another 0-0 draw was all that could be achieved by Ayr on 27th March 2004 in their relegation season.

The clubs next met at Palmerston Park for a Challenge Cup match on 30th August 2006 when second division Ayr won a penalty shoot out by 5-4 after a 2-2 draw against their first division opponents.
 

A superb 4-1 League Cup win