| Stirling Albion 1 Queen's Park 0 ( O'Brien ) |
| The officiating in the third division has often come under scrutiny on this site, but referee Steven Duff set a new standard of sheer incompetence. The whistler in charge of this drab encounter at Forthbank was guilty of missing simple incidents, and, most importantly, the foul on Mark Cairns which resulted in Stirling's only goal of the game. As I said, this game was nothing special. Stirling Albion showed that they are team of painful mediocrity and Queen's were simply unlucky. Johnny Whelan, holidaying in France, was absent and Ross Clark took his place. Alan Dunning made a return, but started and finished on the bench. Queen's started the game well with David McCallum and Stuart Kettlewell connecting like life time partners in midfield. The youngster fought well down the right and gained a corner in the opening stages, but nothing came of the resulting cross. Aside a Paul Hay effort which went far and wide of the target, Stirling had nothing to shout about. John Gemmell was winning everything in the air, and had a shot go over the bar on 15 minutes. QP could have taken the lead four minutes later. James Allan ran down the right and his cross was punched by Myles Hogarth, but only as far as Kettlewell who blasted the ball straight at the goalkeeper, who was luckily standing directly in-front of the shot. Stirling did show that can play some neat football in the middle of the park, but were desperately lacking in front of goal. Mallan hit a low cross to O'Brien who hit straight at Cairns. The Spiders came even closer to opening the scoring after a long ball played by Stuart Kettlewell. John Gemmell, not known for his great pace, cruised past George Rowe, and lobbed his shot over the head of Hogarth, only to see the ball crash back off the bar. The game had been relatively trouble free up until half-time where referee Duff felt like stamping his authority. Willie Martin went into a 50-50 challenge with Smith and was unfairly booked. The Stirling man rolled about for a while before getting back to his feet moments later. Ross Clark saw yellow, too, for a reason that we have still to hear about. At half-time the teams were tied. McCallum came the closest to scoring on 48 minutes. He delicately flighted a free-kick over the wall and Hogarth, but Queen's were once again denied by the woodwork. Queen's had to be aware of the counter-attack and Stirling nearly drew first blood minutes later. Dunn passed to O'Brien whose shot was well saved by Cairns. McCallum must have been left wondering, like all Queen's fan, what it would take to open the scoring. The ex-Thistle man struck an almost indentical free-kick to the one he hit a few minutes earlier, but was again denied, this time by the desperate palm of Hogarth. Kenny Brannigan brought off Stuart Kettlewell, who had battled hard in midfield, for Paddy Gallagher. There was nothing, however, the sub could do to stop the only goal of the game. Stirling broke away up the field after a failed Queen's attack and a high ball was played into the penalty area. Nicholas went up to challenge Cairns for the ball, but the goalkeeper got ahead of him and punched away. Nicholas, however, fell on top of the goalkeeper, obstructing his view and preventing him from making a save, and O'Brien prodded the ball into the net. Duff gave the goal, and both teams and fans were stunned that it was actually allowed. Cairns had been blatantly impeded, but the referee, who got no help from his assistants all night, pointed to the centre circle. Queen's were rightly ticked off and moreso at the antics of Mark Crilly, the lucky number six. Crilly had already been booked by Duff, and was really chancing his arm at this point. More on him later. Steven Fallon, Queen's best player on the night, was doing brilliantly well down the left hand side with Allan in a more central role. Allan didn't last much longer, though, and was replaced by Chris Fisher on 72 minutes. McCallum was booked after a challenge on Crilly that was followed by some more acting on the part of Stirling. Funny how that magic spray always seems to work, even if it means healing potential broken legs. Crilly should have gone seconds later. Duff watched as he bursted through the middle of the park, miraculously cured, but took his eyes of the man when he released the ball out to the left. The moment the ball was passed, McCallum went down clutching his face. It appeared as though McCallum had been struck off the ball, but nothing was done as the assistants turned another blind eye. Both Gallagher and Martin were unlucky in the dying stages not to equalise, but Queen's were getting no breaks from both Lady Luck and Mr. Duff. To cap the night off with a recurring theme. Nicholas ran through on goal with Agostini chasing back and instead of picking his spot, he fell, as though shot, and correctly nothing was given. Such blatant cheating, however, should be punished with a card, don't you think? It must have been a heart-breaking game for KB to watch as Queen's should really have taken all three points. Stirling can forget about going up if they are going to play like that every week because although they got away with cheating on Wednesday night, there will be referees in future who won't buy into their scams. Now where did I put Willie Young's phone number... Stirling Albion: Hogarth, P. Nugent, Hay, Smith, Rowe, Crilly, Dunn, Mallan, Morris ( Kerrigan ), Nicholas ( Wilson ), O'Brien. Substitutes not used: McNally, McGeown, A. Nugent. Booked: Crilly. Goal: O'Brien 63. Queen's Park: Cairns, Ferry, McCallum, Sinclair, Agostini, Fallon, Kettlewell ( Gallagher ), Clark, Gemmell, Martin, Allan ( Fisher ). Substitutes not used: White, Dunning, Mitchell. Booked: Martin, Clark, McCallum. Attendance: 465. |