| Albion Rovers |
| Queen's Park |
| 1 |
| 1 |
| (Savage) |
| (Weatherston) |
| Queen's repeated their errors of the recent past at Cliftonhill by conceding a late goal and dropping two points to an unimpressive Albion Rovers. It's impossible to be critical of the team, since it was only last Tuesday that they transported us to unknown planes of ecstasy, but they appeared jaded even in the first half and didn't really play well at all during the whole game. The obvious cause is the number of games we're playing at the moment, and while Billy Stark made a few changes for this game, I wouldn't be surprised to see him alter things again for Tuesday's match against St. Johnstone. No doubt Queen's will raise their game again for that one. Still, yesterday's game would still have been won had it not been for a lack of concentration at a last minute Rovers corner. The home side had broken up the park to force the kick, and Savage headed home after the taker had originally played the ball short before receiving it again. Queen's didn't close Rovers down effectively enough on that occasion; Rovers had offered very little ever since we took the lead through Weatherston's fortunate 54th minute strike. Our own corners were more likely to lead to a Rovers goal than any for ourselves and the passing let us down too often. With Richard Sinclair injured, Jonny Whelan was in the team for his first league start of the season in Coatbridge, while Alan Trouten and Tony Quinn replaced Robert Dunn and Steven Canning, Clearly Billy Stark had few qualms over meddling with our best-ever side (right, that was gratuitous hyperbole), and the changes didn't seem to work during the first half. It took an age for either side to click, with Queen's's basic 4-4-2 formation lacking fluidity and Rovers looking as untutored as always. It took until the 22nd minute for a flowing move, and rather surprisingly it came from the home side. Felvus found space on the right after neat interchanging, and he stroked the ball to the angle of the 6-yard box where Chaplain was waiting to fork the ball into the sidenetting. He'd had space, and had been unaware of it. Six minutes later a poor touch from Quinn in midfield let Chaplain steal possession. He reversed the ball to Savage, who measured up a shot which curled narrowly past Cairns's right hand post. The veteran hadn't even bothered to move: why waste energy when your judgment's that good? The first hint of building from Queen's arrived a minute later, when Ronald's little nod put Trouten in, but his drilled ball across the box evaded Ferry. Then Kettlewell sent Weatherston away at the second attempt after his first pass was charged down, but Davie's first touch was poor and Rovers got a corner out of it. Cairns was alert to Doyle's drive in the 41st minute, fisting the ball out, and within a minute Queen's went even closer. Trouten sized up a shot 25 yards from goal and bent the ball narrowly wide of target. Right on half-time, Agostini was booked for a high and rash tackle on midfielder Chaplain at the edge of the box, Queen's had improved in the minutes before the break, with Weatherston in particular looking livelier, with plenty of running into the box in his trademark fashion. If we were to keep feeding him after the break, a goal would surely come. It did too, nine minutes after the restart. Queen's were looking more purposeful but the goal itself came from nowhere. Weatherston swung over a cross from the left, and the ball looped straight over the head of a startled Ewings and kissed the net. It was about time, after all, that Queen's enjoyed a bit of luck at Scotland's Finest Stadium. We looked comfortable now for long periods of the game, and Rovers's intention seemed to be to kick our players and to hell with the ball. McGhee was lucky to stay on the park beyond the 62nd minute after a terrible lunge at Trouten, and Doyle and Chaplain would also pick up bookings much later in the game. Rovers did have a case for a passback in the 64th minute when the ball was sliced back to Cairns as Queen's defended a free-kick; Cairns gathered but the referee ruled, correctly, that the pass hadn't been intentional. Queen's nearly paid for their woeful corner-kick taking a minute later when McBride thrust forward after receiving the clearance, but Savage's shot from outside of the box was held by Cairns at his near post. Then Ferry missed a good shooting chance, trundling Weatherston's cut-back pitifully wide. Billy Stark threw on Robert Dunn for Paul Ronald in the 69th minute, and the striker was quickly involved. He collected cleverly 30 yards from goal, laid the ball off to Trouten, who knocked it back for Quinn, and Quinn's shot was deflected high. Another weak shot from Ferry with 10 minutes left followed poor delivery from McBride of Rovers just when they seemed to be in a good position for a change. Rovers stuck on a couple of subs in the closing stages, but Queen's really did look fine as the minutes ticked away. Something about this old place causes us to falter so often though- it's as if we're so glad it's all nearly over and we can get out of the godforsaken place, we jump the gun and stop playing a couple of minutes early. When Rovers equaliser arrived, Queen's had only just been up the other end shortly before, with Quinn making a tackle on the goalkeeper as he tried to clear shakily from outside his box. Rovers managed to drag the ball up the pitch, and Whelan had to be sharp to see the ball out for a corner. This was taken short, but Queen's were static as the cross came over and Savage rose unchallenged to bullet his header above Cairns. There was almost no time left, but Trouten did manage to waste an opportunity by squaring the ball across the area instead of shooting when he'd managed to find room on the right of the area. The final whistle went soon after, and two points had been thrown to the Coatbridge winds. Still, with some crazy results in the Third Division so far this season, the league will be highly competitive and this draw does keep Queen's well up there. OK, so I have been critical (making nonsense of what I said about that being impossible) of the team's performance. It's incredibly hard to be sentimental in football, even for just 4 days. And it's difficult not to feel let down when your team beat Aberdeen then can't beat Albion Rovers less than a week later; that's two teams who have nothing in common but that they're the first two teams in Scotland when you list them all alphabetically. I say with all my might, however, that the team deserve nothing but our gratitude for how they somehow knocked Aberdeen out, and the 5-game winning run was great while it lasted; it's still great. We're still unbeaten in 6 too, and if we extend that by seeing off St. Johnstone (and why not), then the team'll have surpassed themselves again. The signs at present are that Queen's are better when playing the best, but to win the championship you've got to beat everybody. That's a fault that can be corrected when the players are there-as they are- and when you know you've clearly got a better team than the likes of Albion Rovers. Next time, we'll show that, because we can't indefinitely fail to win against what is an inferior team. Albion Rovers: Jamie Ewings, Gordon Moffat, Graham McGhee (Andy Sim 72), Gordon Lennon, Ciaran Donnelly, Scott Friel, Jamie Doyle (Philip Creaney 85), Scott Chaplain, Bryan Felvus, Joe Savage, Martin McBride (Pat Walker 85). Substitutes not used: Ian Chisholm, Lee Thompson. Booked: McGhee, Chaplain, Doyle. Goal: Savage 90. Queen's Park: Mark Cairns, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Damiano Agostini, Jonny Whelan, Alan Trouten, Stuart Kettlewell, Tony Quinn, Paul Ronald (Robert Dunn 69), David Weatherston (Steven Canning 76), Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Richard Bowers, Frankie Carroll, David Crawford. Booked: Agostini. Goal: Weatherston 54. Referee: John McKendrick. Attendance: 492. |