| Albion Rovers |
| Queen's Park |
| 3 |
| 1 |
| ( McManus 2, Reilly own goal ) |
| We had such high hopes for this game, and you're always living dangerously when that's the case. For the second time this season Queen's went down 3-1 at Cliftonhill, though the performance on this occasion was certainly an improvement. And while yes, the defence was a bit nervous and yes, the midfield didn't support the strikers well enough and so on, what played the most part in our defeat was simply bad luck; borne out of injuries and garbage refereeing. Martin Sproule hasn't exactly smelt of roses when in charge of games involving us previously, but today he positively stank. Showing total contempt for the laws of the game, in relation to both passbacks and timewasting, and crediting himself with superhuman vision for the Whelan sending-off, his decisions ensured that Queen's were bound to fail. Had Whelan been on the field during the second-half, I am pretty sure Queen's would have scored an equaliser, such was their level of possession even with ten men. That's conjecture - the fact is we have just lost what may turn out to be our last ever fixture at Cliftonhill, and no amount of alcohol can unsober that thought. Around 200 fans made the short journey to Coatbridge, and as expected neither Ally Graham nor Paul Harvey was passed fit to start, leaving the same team that beat Elgin to take the field. With this line-up, Queen's do appear more cohesive, and recent results have been proof that we do need to use wide players to get the best out of the resources we have available. Allan Dunning and David McCallum again took their places on the right and left wings, and as well as improving the balance of the team, this has allowed Ross Clark to take the central midfield role he is so much more suited to. Queen's struggled to leave their own half in the first few minutes, but Rovers didn't manage to create anything of their own until Martin Sproule decided to lend them a hand. Six minutes had passed when Agostini ended a Rovers' attack by playing the ball back to Scrimgour off his thigh, a slightly awkward passback but one which Scrimgour had no trouble in gathering with his hands. Now, this is perfectly within the rules, but you wouldn't have expected a Third Division referee to know that would you? Sproule blew for a passback, and suddenly Rovers had a chance less than 15 yards out to take the lead. Scrimgour was booked for protesting, and when all was said and done the original 'culprit' Agostini blocked the ball on the line. Having escaped, Queen's proceeded to open the scoring within a mInute. Derek Carcary chased a loose ball down the right flank, managing to beat Stirling to the ball before cutting inside beautifully and turning it back for Frankie Carroll. Carroll sidefooted the ball, not getting full contact on it perhaps but doing enough to slip it home at Bennett's right hand post. The celebrations that followed were predictably mental. We were shaping up for a fine contest, and Scott Crabbe wasn't too far away from pulling Rovers level when his bending free-kick fell just wide of the right-hand post. Then Carcary, relishing the chance to torment the bulky home defence, strode through before lashing a volley past the post. Queen's looked confident going forward but Rovers own attacking was ominous, and it took a wonderful sliding tackle from Steven Reilly to prevent Bradford from getting a clear path to goal in 14 minutes. Sadly there was nothing of that quality around to stop Rovers equalising a minute later, courtesy of astonishingly slack defending from Queen's. McCallum was beaten by a flick-on into the penalty area, and McManus found himself with acres of space to slip the ball beyond an exposed Scrimgour. Presumably the intention was to catch McManus offside, but if so, it failed, and too many players had been stationary. A high, looping header from Whelan almost caught Bennett unawares, with the goalkeeper forced to carry the ball over his goal-line to give Queen's a corner which was wasted. McCallum's crossing lacked variation and tended to swing too far out from where any damage could be done. But like the rest of the team, his effort could not be faulted; Queen's chased and fought for everything and its a relief to see that the team appears to be battling for Kenny Brannigan again. In 32 minutes Damiano Agostini was forced to leave the pitch with an apparent injury, David Stewart - barely recovered from a strain himself - coming on to take his place at the back. The last time we had been to Cliftonhill in August, an Agostini-less side had gone down 3-1. Sadly, history was fated to repeat itself. Queen's should have regained the lead 6 minutes from the break when Clark's perseverance saw him latch onto a loose ball and race clear into the area, shrugging off a defender in the process, but instead of passing to the unmarked Carroll who had a clear sight of goal, Ross chose to go it alone and rolled the ball inches wide of the right-hand post. Queen's paid for that miss shortly after. Stewart's headed clearance was gathered by Jordan Smith on the edge of the box, and while his lashed shot was heading off-target, Steven Reilly happened to be in the way and unsure of what to do, sent the ball flying past the helpless Scrimgour off the side of his head. Suddenly it had all gone wrong. And things were to get even worse before half-time. Mercer had just hit the post with a fine bender from the left wing which Scringour looked distinctly uncomfortable in dealing with, and Mark Yardley's overhead-kick had dribbled past, when Jonny Whelan found himself involved in an incident with Sweeney of Albion Rovers near the halfway line. Your reporter saw nothing of what happened, or didn't happen, and seemingly neither did the referee. But a little matter such as that was never going to stop the irrepressible Mr. Sproule from laying down the law: Whelan was shown the red card, and Queen's hopes lay in tatters. Kenny Brannigan could have done little more at half-time than try to keep morale up, and going by the way Queen's competed throughout the second half he succeeded. Queen's had been playing reasonably well in the first half, had let themselves down defensively, but on the whole did not deserve to be trailing. Could the ten men claim a famous result? Well, we have Derek Carcary so anything is possible, but without enough service Carcary's threat was diminished. Having found room on the edge of the area in 47 minutes, he blazed his effort well over the bar. Queen's continued to do most of the attacking but their delivery into the area was not good enough to allow chances to be made, and too much of the passing went astray. Then, after an hour, the visiting fans were sent apoplectic by another controversial decision from Sproule, his refusal to award a penalty kick for a handball by Stirling which blocked Carroll's cross provoking rage amongst a section of the support. What made matters worse was that in the first place he seemed to signal for a penalty, then chose to consult the standside linesman and altered his award to a free-kick on the edge of the area. That a handball offence had been committed was not in doubt, though Stirling escaped a booking, but any advantage brought about by the free-kick was promptly squandered by a poor pass from McCallum to Clark. Stuart Kettlewell came on for Allan Dunning with 23 minutes to go and Queen's attacks were becoming increasingly hopeful, and less encouraging. There were half-chances, but the failure to carve out anything tangible was disappointing, though Carroll came agonisingly close in the 77th minute when his chipped cross from the right almost slipped in at the far post and went past by little more than a hair's breadth. Kettlewell then sent a header over as Queen's kept on commanding most of the play. But with increasing numbers of men committed upfield, including substitute Martin Bonnar, and being a man short in any case, a Rovers goal began to look likely, albeit against the run of play, and of course it happened with only a minute remaining. The home side had been taking as long as possible to restart play following every stoppage, much to the disinterest of Mr. Sproule, and while those tactics are far from admirable they certainly did the trick in seeing off Queen's. Allied to them was this third goal, which was netted by McManus following a breakaway which had seen him beat a couple of defenders and draw Scrimgour several yards from his line before burying the ball clean past him. It felt bad, it felt awful in fact. The game ended not long after, and with it our dreams of a lengthy run of form harking back to the days of the championship and leading the Second Division. Trust Albion Rovers to be the ones to spoil the party. Albion Rovers: Neil Bennett, Andy Paterson, Jered Stirling, Sean Sweeney, Jordan Smith, Peter Cormack, John Bradford ( Chris Kerr 83 ), Scott Crabbe, Mark Yardley ( Tony Low 83 ), Paul McManus, Jim Mercer. Substitutes not used: John McCaig, Andrew Selkirk, Matthew Carr. Goals: Paul McManus 15, 89, Danny Ferry own goal 41. Queen's Park: Derek Scrimgour, Danny Ferry, David McCallum, Allan Dunning ( Stuart Kettlewell 67 ), Damiano Agostini ( David Stewart 32 ), Ross Clark ( Martin Bonnar 78 ), Steven Canning, Steven Reilly, Frankie Carroll, Jonny Whelan, Derek Carcary. Substitutes not used: David Weatherston, Brian McCue. Booked: Scrimgour. Sent-off: Whelan ( 45 - violent conduct ). Goal: Frankie Carroll 7. Attendance: 491. |
| ( Carroll ) |