| Arbroath |
| Queen's Park |
| 1 |
| 2 |
| (Sellars) |
| (Trouten, Bowers) |
| Queen's responded in brave fashion to the East Stirling defeat by edging out Arbroath at a ground they had not won on since March 1988. This was much more of a battling performance, but there was football too, and to rise above the absence of Weatherston's pace was truly impressive. Ultimately though, the reason this game was won was because Queen's got themselves into a 2-goal lead. They were able to hold it despite ferocious late pressure that put every fan's head in their hands, and so crucially stopped Arbroath from pulling far clear of us in the table. With Richard Sinclair back, Queen's finally had their first-choice back 4 in place, and that provided a firm basis on which to construct the attacks early in the game. Richard Bowers, in for the injured Weatherston, was unlucky to be caught offside in the first few minutes, and the first attempt at goal came when Reilly met Paton's free-kick, with Peat making a safe catch. Billy Stark had to alter the side as early as the 19th minute when Paul Ronald pulled his hamstring, and so Steven Canning came on to go into attack. That Queen's would shortly after score 2 goals, while playing with such a makeshift strikeforce, underlines just how unpredictable we are. Mark Ferry signalled that Queen's meant business with a stinging volley that Peat had to parry away, and we maintained this progress, searching for the first goal. We got it in the 22nd minute. Bowers tapped the ball across the face of goal, and Alan Trouten hammered the ball into the net. A massive boost for a player who hadn't enjoyed the best of seasons up until yesterday. There's no shortage of bite in the Queen's team, and Paul Paton was perhaps lucky to escape punishment for a lunge just after the first goal. Things were clearly turning our way, and the second goal seven minutes later was simply a gem. Ferry sent over a dangerous ball, and Bowers reacted to volley the ball crisply into the right-hand corner of the goal. Queen's 2-nil up at Arbroath- someone phone Aberdeen to let them know it's not just them! It remained that way until half-time, and for the first part of the second-half Queen's looked in good shape. Reilly was booked for a very heavy tackle in the 48th minute (he was probably lucky to still be on the pitch by the end), but Queen's still commanded the game. Quinn sent a free header just past after ghosting into the area in the 55th minute, and Trouten later slid in to hook the ball wide. Arbroath should have scored, however, in the 69th minute, when Stein roared down the left, only to hoof his shot into the side netting when in plenty of space. Queen's didn't heed the warning, and Arbroath came back into the game 3 minutes later. The ball wasn't collected in midfield, and Sellars came forward, letting fly from 25 yards with a shot that zoomed into the low corner of Cairns's net. Arbroath were revitalised and should have equalised almost right away. However, following a corner a header was cleared off the line, then Cairns made a magnificent one-handed save to push the ball round his left-hand post. This was scary. Richard Bowers came close to relieving all of the pressure with 15 minutes to go, but he could only drag the ball across goal after getting on the end of a diagonal pass. After that, Arbroath had most of the play, but gradually looked less and less like scoring until a free-kick was given on the edge of the area in stoppage time. Given how little time was left, it was incredibly sloppily taken, banging off the Queen's wall, and we had held out. A spirited performance; now it's all about carrying this (the first 70 minutes at least) onto the next game in a way we haven't managed so far this season. Arbroath: Mark Peat, Steven Rennie (Nicky Smith 46), Marc McCulloch, Ian Dobbins, Jamie Bishop, Stephen Watson (Steven Cook 46), Kevin McMullen, Willie Martin (Andy Reilly 64), Alan Brazil, Barry Sellars, Jay Stein. Substitutes not used: Jon Voight, Scott Morrison. Booked: McCulloch, Sellars. Goal: Sellars 72. Queen's Park: Mark Cairns, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Steven Reilly, Richard Sinclair, Alan Trouten (Paul Cairney 85), Stuart Kettlewell, Tony Quinn, Richard Bowers, Paul Ronald (Steven Canning 20), Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Damiano Agostini, Tommy Murray, David Crawford. Booked: Reilly, Sinclair. Goals: Trouten 22, Bowers 30. Referee: Euan Norris. Attendance: 627. |