( Deuchar )
Kenny Brannigan went into the match forced to discount both James Allan and Johnny Whelan from his final selection of the season. The team that he put out had a daring feel to it, with Paddy Gallagher and Allan Dunning the unusual choices at wing-back and Danny Ferry fielded in central midfield with Clark and Kettlewell. Whether these decisions were borne of a desire to experiment or a recognition of how to stifle East Fife's threats is an open question, but what isn't in doubt is how well the formation and the players who filled it worked. Jamie White came in at the back for Richard Sinclair, and Fallon, Clark and Kettlewell all returned - a total of seven personnel changes from the dreary draw with Montrose.
Sadly most of the first half was in the same vein as that previous game. East Fife started with the clear intention of grabbing an early goal but their attacks withered away after a while, and consequently they began to appear a little jittery. The game itself started at around ten past three as East Fife fans poured into the ground late, keen to see their local team secure promotion. The number of people present should have led to a boisterous atmosphere, but predictably it was the 100-odd away support who made all the noise and were a credit to their club ( even if I say so myself ).
An exciting run by Allan Dunning provided the first point of note after three minutes, with the young winger keen to prove his worth to the hitherto unconvinced Kenny Brannigan. Allan had to defend too, knocking East Fife's first corner over the bar in the 5th minute. As East Fife pressed, a header looped across goal with Cairns caught in two minds and Deuchar had an ideal chance, but he could only scoop the ball straight up into the air in the most immobile of fashions.
A hopeful header in eight minutes from Kettlewell nearly caught out Butter who just clutched his wind-assisted effort at the second time of asking. It further emphasised the tension in the East Fife ranks however.
The strength and persistence of East Fife has proved the downfall of many opponents this season and Damiano Agostini was hard pressed to hold off certain players in tussles for possession. McLean was able to get past him in 16 minutes and his sneaked shot across goal was left to go just wide by Cairns. Willie Martin then had a surprising amount of space at the back post in which to pick his spot but didn't react quickly enough and the chance was lost.
The rest of the first half found little joy with either side as Queen's continued to cling to the East Fife forwards during every attack and struggled to get forward themselves. However, Queen's had now settled completely into the game and seemed well placed to mount a real challenge during the second half.
And so it proved. Queen's opened the brighter of the two teams as East Fife's promotion hopes receded every minute for the first quarter of an hour following the interval. The results from elsewhere were not favourable: what happened at Cappielow was of little relevance to the Fifers as long as Albion Rovers were winning: and they were, 3-1 over Shire at home. A draw was not going to be enough: East Fife needed that goal. However there was little evidence of hope for them getting it. After Kenny Deuchar wasted an opening two minutes in, Queen's took command of the game. Steven Fallon dipped a superb shot at goal which Butter just managed to parry over the crossbar. Then a long ball forward was just too much for Gemmell to catch, after he had managed to stay onside for a change. But as far as ideas went, they were thin on the ground in the East Fife team.
John Gemmell's control let him down after Willie Martin's attempt to release him, and then Queen's conjured up the best move of the match so far. Ferry found the advancing Dunning on the right wing, allowing him the freedom to torment the home defence. Dunning cut inside brilliantly before his shot was blocked at close range: the ball came back, fell for Gemmell, and his sliding effort slipped agonisingly wide of goal. Queen's kept the momentum up, and Willie Martin fired in a tremendous volley that Butter smothered.
Queen's appeared to be gaining the ascendancy, but an incident, no, the incident of the match, and perhaps the pivotal non-goal moment of the season, arrived after 62 minutes and breathed new life into East Fife's promotion chances. John Gemmell jumped high with Mortimer to challenge for the ball and as the East Fife player went to ground he clutched his face in apparently considerable discomfort. I could not judge satisfactorily whether or not there was contact from Gemmell's arm on Mortimer's face, but I would be prepared to state that even if there was, it was not done deliberately. But for some reason, referee McDonald - perhaps keen to join in an end of match party - believed that it merited a red card. There were protests, confrontations, and sheer naked anger from the visiting fans, feeling cheated once more.
Queen's were now bound to face an uphill struggle to take anything from the game but it took a long time for East Fife to make any headway despite their advantage. Queen's made a change after 66 minutes when the tiring Dunning made way for the fresh legs of Canning. There were one or two near misses close to the Queen's goal, and then Queen's line-up was further disrupted by an injury to Agostini; Kenny Brannigan chose not to throw on the inexperienced Conlin to such a cauldron and so swapped Damiano for David Menelaws with the taller, stronger Willie Martin moving to an auxiliary defensive role.
Still East Fife couldn't take advantage and the home fans must have been suffering agonies as their team seemed almost unwilling to score. Twice full-back Miller broke into the area and failed to deliver the decisive ball, with Queen's desperately scrambling clear. A Love chip on the turn narrowly flew over the crossbar, and Mortimer drove ferociously at goal with Steven Canning doing superbly to get his body behind it. Queen's were now being forced to field a wall of bodies across their own goalmouth and were utterly determined not to concede.
However a counter-attack after 84 minutes almost crushed East Fife's dreams. Canning swept past a defender, jinked and twisted inside the penalty area but dallied for too long and his lob went high. Ross Clark was irked at not being provided with the ball when appearing in a better position. Clark had his chance to shoot shortly after Gallagher set him up and the ball wasn't too far wide of goal after it.
Despite these Queen's chances it was somehow hard to believe that East Fife would not score: they had not yet received any chance so clearcut for you to say that they had blown it. Another outstanding block, this time from Jamie White, again saved Queen's after Farnan had a wonderful opportunity to find the net from around 10 yards out. Yet not even this would be enough for Queen's to hang on. Cruelly, for both us and Albion Rovers, and to the infinite relief of East Fife, they made the breakthrough as the match moved into stoppage time. For once Deuchar eked out a little room to get on the end of a long ball through and divert it past Cairns, and Bayview exploded with joy. The whistle blew just after, much to the anger of Stuart Kettlewell who was red-carded for his furiously justified comments to the referee on the lack of stoppage time played. Once again the phrase 'a bad end to the season' was all too precise in Queen's case; a painful way to close a tough season, but it was impossible not to feel a defiant pride in those hooped shirted players.