| The last few months have been like purgatory for Queen's Park. We weren't bad enough to go to hell but we weren't good enough to gain entry to heaven either. But just when we thought the trap door of the firey pit was about to open and all of us were going to go tumbling into the flames, we beat Gretna and then we nearly beat Montrose. An improvement or just a fluke? Sadly we'll have to wait. We've had our hopes dashed quite a lot this season, with good, small runs crushed by much bigger droughts. We still can't score for toffee but at least our forwards are getting the ball and trying shots on goal. We couldn't say that three weeks ago. Still, at the half-way stage of the season the stats show that we've only scored 20 goals, a record dwarfed by rugby outfit Elgin City. The Shire aren't too far behind either. Kenny Brannigan said that he would be looking to bring in new strikers but we've yet to see anyone around Hampden so far. His inclusion of Derek Carcary has been wise however. The kid is a remarkable player and has the potential to be the best in the Division. Frankie Carroll has also come out of nowhere and put in the shift of his life against Gretna and did the same against Montrose. Ally Graham, though, may be approaching the end of his career. As silly as that sounds, I was hoping he'd be able to give us another year, but the hips might not last much longer. It's a good idea to have a target man in attack, someone who'll win things in the air and intimidate the opposition's defence. We sadly used Graham as a crutch for too long but we look to be turning the corner with the inclusion of Carcary and Carroll. If only Derek had another growth spurt in him, he could maybe gain a few more inches. Somehow I don't see that happening (!) We lost three vital players last season in Jimmy Allan, Willie Martin and John Gemmell. Despite their importance to us, the only guy who seems to be going places is young Gemmell and even he was shipped off to Hamilton. Jimmy Allan said at Gretna two weeks ago that things were going "alright". When asked if he would be in the squad, he said no. Willie Martin is the only footballer of use at Elgin, a team on the other end of a hiding against Stranraer. If only we could get these three guys back, eh? But we can't look back and wonder what if. Yet, recent months have made us do so, because we've realised how lucky we were last season with these players even though we'll likely finish up roughly in the same position as last season. I think it's a shame that we'll be buoyed up this season despite out failings by two teams who'll do well to double their points tally come the end of the season. Shire and Elgin will almost certainly finish below us and keep us from slipping, but I reckon we should be looking at aiming our targets a little higher. Are we better on our day than Rovers? Yes. Are we better than Montrose? Yes. We all know that we shouldn't be hovering precariously over 7th place then. We are better than Shire, Elgin, Montrose and Rovers. It's time we did something about it. Kenny Brannigan will be with us for another season, whether we like it or not. I hope Kenny can get the tactics sorted out and put players in the position with which they are most comfortable instead of chopping and changing and short-changing the fans who want to see a contest and not a pre-season experimentation campaign. I can't say I have total confidence in him because that would be lying. Most others would be telling porkies too if they said the same. All we can do now is back Kenny and hope he gets us back on the road and use the resources we have to better effect. Get the passion back, get the football back and get the fans who deserve it back up there on a high where they belong. I didn't expect the championship or promotion at the beginning of the season because I knew that we weren't going to be consistent enough to do that. I did expect, however, to see an improvement in performances and results. We've seen glimmers, but not a whole lot more. If people are to have more confidence in Mr Brannigan we'll need to play better football and show more heart than we have done. Against Montrose, the final result didn't bother me too much because I knew that we had played well and that we deserved to take all three points. Against Gretna we battled hard and would have deserved to take a point. As it happened we got a goal and it seems to have caused a bit of a turn-around. Next we have Shire. If the snow stays in the sky, Saturday should see a good win. If we do win we shouldn't read too much into it. Shire are terrible and we simply must beat them. If we don't, then we can assume that we are simply not ready yet to start a good run and climb the table. But let's get a good headstart. I don't care if we score 1 or 5. Just get the points on the table so we can get a bit of confidence back. We can do it. Ratings: Scrimgour 7, Ferry 9, Stewart 7, Clark 7, Agostini 7, Fallon 7, Harvey 7 (Kettlewell 7), Reilly 7, Carroll 8 (Gallagher 6), Whelan 8, Carcary 8. Man of the Match: Danny Ferry (didn't put a foot wrong) Match Rating: *** |
| ALLEZ LES HOOPS |