Queens Park take down unbeaten league leaders
Paddy Murphy has no hesitation labelling Saturday as one of his best in terms of days being involved in football.
The Queens Park coach has every right to be a happy and proud man as he reflects on a special 90 minutes on Saturday.
His side produced one of the more impressive performances by a Southland football team in defeating Dunedin City Royals 3-2 in Dunedin.
The Royals headed into the game unbeaten in the Southern Premier League through 12 games and hot favourites to take out the league.
Before the match Queens Park sat in eighth spot and when the two teams met earlier in the season, the Royals dished out a 5-0 thumping in Invercargill.
When the Royals went 1-0 up after 15 minutes on Saturday, the fixture appeared to be following the same script.
But belief remained in the plucky Queens Park camp.
‘‘To be fair we had a plan that we had worked on all week, and the boys went and executed it perfectly,’’ Murphy said.
Anton Fitzgerald levelled the scores at 1-1 at the 36-minute mark before the Royals pushed it out to 2-1 early in the second half.
An own goal levelled the scores at 2-2 before Fitzgerald scored again late in the contest to snatch the remarkable win.
‘‘We believed we could get something out of it, [but] I don’t think anyone else did judging by the amount of messages and phone calls I’ve had,’’ Murphy said.
Queens Park won back-to-back Donald Gray Cup titles in Southland in 2020 and 2021 before deciding this year to enter a team in the Southern Premier League.
Saturday provided yet another statement that Queens Park belong in that competition.
They lost their first five games but have since won four of their last seven outings to sit seventh in the 10-team league.
‘‘I think it shows just how far we’ve come. We’ve definitely turned a corner,’’ Murphy said.