Captain fantastic Matty hits hat-trick!

HAT-TRICK hero Matty Douglas admits it’s hard to think of a better moment in his career than netting three against Hamilton Accies. And the skipper became the first centre back to achieve that accomplishment since 1996 when George Rowe scored three against Stranraer. Douglas netted twice in the first-half before heading home his third in the early stages of the second half in Queens’ 4-1 demolition job over the Accies. And when he was interviewed, whilst in possession of the match ball, nothing could wipe the smile off Douglas’ face. He said: “This was the first time I scored two goals in a game – never mind three! “It is a bit overwhelming to be honest. I never ever thought I would get this feeling in football, I never thought I’d score a hat-trick. “It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced. “The second one bounced nicely for me and I put my head down and hit it into the bottom corner. We always say 2-0 is a horrible scoreline when you’re in front. To score that early in the second half, it lifts us. “It was a great time to get our third as Hamilton scored five minutes earlier. It settled us down into the second half. “I won’t celebrate the hat-trick too much, it will be a quiet one for me. “I’ll get home and have a takeaway. I’ll watch the football or the new Stranger Things episodes and perhaps have a few drinks to celebrate.” Another man who was buzzing for Douglas, is his long-term manager Peter Murphy. They’ve worked together since signing for Annan Athletic in 2019 and Douglas was one of Murphy’s first signings after arriving at Palmerston nearly two years ago. And Murphy told how Douglas laughed off his half-time plea of finding the back of the net for a third time. Murphy said: “I’m delighted for Matty. He’s our captain and is a leader. I’ve had him with me for a good few years and I can always rely on him. He’s got the match ball now to take home, it’s a memory he’ll always have. “You take a step back as a manager and just take in how brilliant of a moment that was with all the fans cheering. “I actually said to him at half time about stepping up and get a hat-trick. He scoffed at that but then he goes out and does it. I’m really pleased for him.” It was an outstanding performance from the Doonhamers last Saturday. Queens climbed up to third in League One with the victory and are incredibly only two points off table toppers Inverness Caley Thistle. And Douglas admits Queens’ form in December has been brilliant but has stemmed from being walloped by ICT in November. “The Inverness match was a massive wake-up call for the whole team. That was the standard we have to set and since that defeat we’ve looked one way and we’ve been a different class to a man every game. “Personally I’ve had a poor patch, especially against Inverness: I was absolutely horrendous. I said sorry to the fans that night after that because I was awful. “The last four or five games I feel I’m back to my best. “We’re only just over the half way mark in the league and there’s a lot of football to be played. “We need to focus on ourselves and go into each game with confidence. We’ll not be far off if we can keep up what we’ve been doing. “We’ve had a good first half to the season but did have an iffy spell in there but we’ve came through that. “I think every team in the league will go through a poor patch. It’s about how quickly you can get out of it.”