| East Fife |
| Queen's Park |
| 1 |
| 0 |
| (Gordon) |
| An important week for Queen's Park sadly ended with no wins, after an away game at East Fife that we dominated much of. Frustratingly though, the side lacked firepower, and failed to force any real saves from the home goalkeeper during the game. With Weatherston well-marked, other avenues needed to be explored but they weren't fruitful either. There was a shortage of creativity in the middle of the park- at least until Robert Dunn was introduced in the latter stages- and the delivery from wide areas was slack. Put simply, Queen's measured style of football was of little use once East Fife had found a lead and were hell-bent on defending it, even to the extremes of dallying at every goal-kick and staying down after every single tackle. David Baikie, who is extremely lucky to be allowed a place in the game following his appalling crime whilst a junior manager, patently has no regard for sportsmanship or decency in the game. For him, it's about winning, and he'll go to any lengths. It's clear, even, that East Fife do possess a few genuinely good players, but that's not important to them. The basis of their success is big men and rule-bending. And when a referee such as McDonald on Saturday is prepared to miss obvious penalty awards, a team such as Queen's, whose play aspires to all that's good about the game, will always struggle. Three games in a week were always going to push the boundaries of the squad, and the latest absentee was Mick Dunlop, sent-off in the cup defeat against Brechin. Steven Canning filled in at left-back, but thankfully Richard Sinclair was available again. He was definitely missed for Brechin's two headed goals in the Hampden replay. Tony Quinn also returned, pushing Robert Dunn back onto the bench, with Paul Ronald moving forward to partner David Weatherston. Mark Cairns was also back after being unable to play in midweek. Queen's began fairly brightly, and a dangerous Trouten cross in the 8th minute needed to be powered behind for a corner-kick. Three minutes later, Quinn met Paton's delivery from the right-hand corner of the box, bulleting the ball not far over the top. The right-back's crossing from set-pieces had improved markedly in the weeks up to this game but sadly the quality of his delivery would deteriorate over the course of the game. As ever, there were impressive flashes of play from Queen's. One such came in the 25th minute, the result being that Paton got a ball over to the back post, a little too long perhaps, and the ball came to Mark Ferry. However, he had to change feet and the moment had passed. There was nothing wrong with Paul Paton's next corner, a wicked ball to the near post that Tony Quinn flicked his head at, forcing the ball to be cleared off the line. 8 minutes after that, the referee and linesman were first brought to the serious attention of the support. Jablonski seemed to hold Paton back as the two of them tussled for possession on the left of the Queen's box, but he was allowed to get his cross over to Smart, who headed over from what looked like an offside position. In fact throughout the game communication between the three officials was virtually non-existent... but then you could have guessed that. You could also have guessed that Queen's would control much of the play. They were doing so, but East Fife had a little spell around the 35-40 minute mark. Their best chance to date, however, had more to do with bad decision-making in the defence, as both Ferry and Canning failed to clear decisively. This let Jablonski gather, and he sneaked past Reilly on his way to the edge of the 6-yard box, but Cairns showed a sharpness belying his age to go down and block the shot heroically with both feet. David Weatherston was getting little joy from East Fife's mountains at the back, but he possesses the skill to make things happen, and after collecting a high ball smartly in the 40th minute, he took the ball and tested two defenders before curling in his shot. Ross saved, but it was a sign that Weatherston doesn't always need support. Having said that, more often than not in this game, he didn't get it when he did need it. The first-half had been fairly promising but nagging worries over the lack of a goal prevailed. Queen's rarely do well after going behind; we usually need that first strike. Which is what made the opener for East Fife two minutes into the second half so critical. Following a throw-in, the defence couldn't get the ball out of the area, and Gordon followed up to smack the ball high over Cairns and into the top of the net. That slight lapse at the start of the second half would kill Queen's off. A side such as East Fife were now in their element, at home and defending a lead, and they would be uncompromising in their defence of that 1-0 advantage. Just 2 minutes later, Ross was fortunate not to be pulled up for delaying a goal-kick, and in the 55th minute a flare-up at a throw-in earned bookings for both Courts and Ronald, despite the fact that Ronald seemed an innocent party to the East Fife man's tantrum. Alan Trouten had to repeat the East Fife feat of earlier by clearing a header off the line, and then East Fife broke forward again. An attacker was too quick for Sinclair, otherwise superb on the day, and when the ball came over from the left there were no QP defenders around. Two East Fifers queued up to shoot, but got in each other's way somewhat, and once the first effort was blocked, Cairns handled the rebound. To the fury of the large visiting support, referee MacDonald now proceeded to deny us two penalties. Veteran centre-half McGowan clearly handled the ball near his own goal with Ronald challenging, but the referee awarded the foul the other way. McGowan was next to stay rooted to the ground, presumably attempting to convince everyone that he really had been decked. If so, he failed laughably. Even worse was to come. As a corner was swung in from our right, Reilly went down under what appeared a certain shove, but MacDonald waved the claims away. Of course the referee was not the first of this name to feel the wrath of the Queen's support this term. I understand that the Motherwell player won a penalty kick for himself in the dying minutes at Inverness on Saturday, so it was a good day for cheats. The referee did caution Smart for taking Quinn's legs away from him, then Sinclair entered the book. Martin's pace surprised him, and Richard was forced to bring the Fifers' forward down not far from the box. Reilly had been lying in wait in front of the pair, so a red card was out of the question, but Martin stayed down as if the industrial plant that looms over Bayview had fallen on top of him. Shortly after that, Dunn came on for Quinn, and the former Partick Thistle player did show some neat touches in midfield that livened that area up. But he remains unconfident when around the goal. If he is going to be used, I feel that it has to be further back where he can influence games with his undeniable skill. Anyway Queen's did start to command the game in the final 20 minutes, but with no discernible goal opportunities created. We played crisp football, and didn't panic at any point, but there was a real similarity to the pattern every time. East Fife's powerful defenders dominated every time the ball landed in the area, and our whole team was reluctant to shoot. Of course our rhythm was disrupted by East Fife's determination to waste time, every time they could. At least MacDonald began to notice this, and added on some 7 and a half minutes of stoppage time at the end. Yet it didn't matter, because even with this Queen's couldn't threaten Ross. Indeed, East Fife should have wrapped the game up on the counter-attack, substitute Ritchie in particular hitting the side-netting with an easy chance as his fans bayed for the final whistle. They got it, and they got their win, but it wasn't properly deserved. If only Queen's were prepared to get their hands dirty in the box and pounce on loose-balls and small openings, we might have remained in touch with East Fife at the top. But our refusal to score any goal unless it's perfect means that we're now 9 behind, albeit with a game in hand. In the end the pressure of playing 3 such demanding games in 7 days may have proved too much for a squad still largely unused to such situations. It hardly helped that we were without key players in both Wednesday's defeat and today's (in particular, Sinclair and Dunlop respectively- though at least Dunlop proved a more suitable summariser for QPTV than the chancer who seized the mike last week). We're still in contention, in what is a very tight league, and have got a 2 week break now to plan our assault over the Christmas period. East Fife: Iain Ross, Elliot Smith, Sam Linton, Jonathan Smart, Jamie McGowan, Tom Courts, Kevin Gordon, Neil Jablonski, Craig O'Reilly (Paul Ritchie 89), John Martin (Craig Smart 83), Ryan Blackadder. Substitutes not used: Jason Dair, Doyle, John Dodds. Booked: Smith, Courts, J. Smart. Goal: Gordon 47. Queen's Park: Mark Cairns, Paul Paton, Steven Canning, Steven Reilly, Richard Sinclair, Alan Trouten, Stuart Kettlewell, Tony Quinn (Robert Dunn 73), Paul Ronald, David Weatherston, Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Agostini, Bowers, Murray, Crawford. Booked: Ronald, Sinclair. Referee: Scott MacDonald. Attendance: 637. |