| Central Park hasn't exactly been the happiest of hunting grounds for Queen's in recent matches so it was with nervous anticipation that Spiders fans awaited Saturday's match against the Fifers. In the final game of last season, Cowden pipped QP to third place, and so with that and their reasonable start to this season in mind, it seemed as though we'd be in for a tough game, especially as they had a new manager to impress in the form of Mixu Paatelainen. But it wasn't to be. With the exception of a few scares, Queen's were in control for much of yesterday's game and 2-0 was a fair reflection. Cowden never got going and had a man sent off in the second half to compound their misery. After the good cup result in midweek, Billy Stark did not make any adjustments to a winning side. Looking at the Cowden team, it seemed slightly different from the one which did well last season so it looked like there would be a good amount of unpredictability going into the match. It was Queen's who created the first chance of the match in the 2nd minute. With everyone expecting an inswinging cross from the free-kick, Paul Harvey went one better and struck a curling effort from the left-side of the box which Cowden goalie Hay did well to punch away. The game was being played at a reasonable pace but neither side was forcing many attacking efforts. For Cowden, Downs put a header well over the bar on the 6th minute, and Tony Quinn latched onto a good counter-attacking move before hitting wide five minutes later. Darren Gribben was always going to be a danger man in the Cowden attack and on 19 minutes, he shot straight at Crawford. Four minutes later, however, it was Queen's who took the lead and it was inspired by the creative boot of Paul Harvey. His chipped corner from the right was overhead-kicked by Tony Quinn at the front post and John Weir was perfectly placed to head the ball in from 6 yards with Hay helpless to stop it. It was not only a fine goal from the youngster but also his first and hopefully he will gain much confidence from it. A few minutes later, Cowden desperately claimed for a penalty as Gribben went down under a Sinclair challenge, but referee Euan Norris was having none of it. The Queen's captain then did well to stop a Cowden counter-attack. Darren Gribben had a further two chances to level the scoring before half-time but neither seriously troubled Crawford who was expertly positioned in both instances. Gribben was proving to everyone that he could get into goalscoring positions but netting from them proved difficult and that was evident three minutes after the restart as he missed his best chance yet, shooting wide of Crawford's goal after hesistant defending. Up the other end, Mark Ferry couldn't fully get behind a shot at Hay after another energetic Weatherston run. On 56 minutes, the home side really should have equalised but in failing to do so, missed their chance to get anything from the game. A dangerous corner was swung into a packed box and it was Shaun Molloy who was the hero as he headed a goal-bound header off the line. Molloy continued his great work 10 minutes later after he burst down the left in typical style and passed the ball to Weatherston. The youngster was teasing the Cowden defence inside the box as he had all day and the idiotic Darren McGregor had clearly had enough and fouled the young forward thus conceding a penalty and getting himself booked in the process. Stevie Reilly ran from defence to take the kick and although it wasn't his best, it was enough to beat Hay, who guessed right, (diving to his right) getting a hand to the ball. Barely a minute later, McGregor obviously fancied an early bath so he nearly broke Weatherston in two with a late tackle and Norris showed him a second yellow to grant his wish and reduce Cowden to ten. Incidentally, McGregor is the same player who caused serious injury to Damiano Agostini in a game at Central Park last October so maybe this player should not be allowed back near a football pitch in future. Cowden had lost the plot as their fans began to filter out the ground and Gribben was booked for kicking the ball away on 72 minutes. Billy Stark then brought off Jonny Whelan and replaced him with Bryan Felvus. Soon after, Weatherston was released by a long-ball by Reilly but Hay made a good save as the forward only had the keeper to beat. Queen's had visibly grown in confidence since the second goal and Harvey played the ball to Felvus who burst down the right, but Weatherston could not connect with his excellent cross. Felvus missed a similar chance to Weatherston's previous one with 10 minutes left as Hay made another good save. The same player then headed a Weatherston's crossed past the post and Clark hit the ball straight at Hay with five to go. All of these efforts summed up the last spell of the game as Cowden really did throw in the towel. As for Queen's, it was an excellent result at a ground which is a difficult place to win at. The consensus still is that we are lacking an imposing centre-forward but we can have no complaints in the other positions on the field. Rarely have we seen so many players on form at the same time, with Weir and Weatherston also establishing themselves further by the week. BRING ON THE BERWICK! |
| Cowdenbeath Queen's Park |
| 0 2 |
(Weir, Reilly (pen)) |
| Cowdenbeath: David Hay, Graham Guy, Kevin McBride, John Ward, Darren McGregor, Stuart Baird, Ian Mauchlen, Gary Fusco ( Marc Millar 72 ), Robert Downs ( Liam Buchanan 54 ), Darren Gribben ( Douglas Hill 72 ), Martin Grant. Substitutes Not Used: John Allison, Andy Carlin (G/K) Booked: McGregor (late challenge), Gribben (kicking ball away), Baird (late challenge) Sent Off: McGregor - second booking (persistent fouling) Queen's Park: David Crawford, Ross Clark, Shaun Molloy, Steven Reilly, Richard Sinclair, Paul Harvey, John Weir, Tony Quinn, Jonny Whelan ( Bryan Felvus 72 ), David Weatherston, Mark Ferry. Substitutes Not Used: Damiano Agostini, Andy McGinty, Tony Livingston, Alex Cowie (GK) Goals: Weir 23, Reilly (pen) 66 Attendance: 280 Referee: Euan Norris |