| East Fife |
| Queen's Park |
| 0 |
| 3 |
| (Paton, Trouten, Carroll) |
| Queen's finally ended 6 years of disappointment and returned to the Second Division with an incredible thrashing of promotion rivals East Fife at Bayview; the 3-0 success setting up an overall 7-2 aggregate win. It was a measure of just how much Queen's lifted their (already impressive) game for the play-offs that we should win so handsomely at a ground where we had twice lost, without scoring, earlier in the season. Yet this time we saw a Queen's team utterly set on victory; they were too close to have it snatched away. And it was a crashing drive from Paul Paton, after only 5 minutes, that set us on our way; a goal of an almost dreamlike quality that made it impossible to believe we could be beaten now. There were still nervy moments after that, but Queen's were always in control, and refused to be knocked off course by an extremely physical East Fife side, one that was lucky to finish both legs of the tie with 11 men. When the second goal finally arrived, there were only 15 minutes to play and it was tinged with controversy. Alan Trouten swung a shot off the underside of the crossbar after bringing the ball down on the edge of the area, but East Fife were adamant that he had handled, and indeed, during the festivities later on, Alan admitted as much. It also wasn't certain that the ball had even crossed the line, but referee Collum thought it had, and Queen's were there. A wee break perhaps, similar to the disallowed goal in the first leg at Firhill when DC fell over in the box. Yet if any team had earned such breaks, it was Queen's, given the sheer quality of our play. Without question we were a cut above East Fife, and Arbroath too, looking at least one step ahead in every match, with the possible exception of the first leg against Arbroath. There we showed the other side of our game; pure belief and grit. Back to Saturday, and we weren't done yet. Knowing that it would be his last match, Billy Stark introduced Frankie Carroll before the end to a warm reception, and almost predictably Frankie went on to score the clinching goal, taking Dunn's pass, outstripping a flailing defence and coolly lobbing Dodds. Frankie hasn't had an easy time of it during the last 2 years, and has hardly played this season; but when he has played, he's been a standout player. He'll be a true loss, but any problems Frankie has had have been in his head, certainly not in his feet. If he wasn't a club legend before though, he is now; the first Queen's player to play in 2 promotion winning teams (Richard Sinclair was there in 2000 but didn't play at the climax). Not only that, he scored the final goals in both 2000 and 2007. The party went on long into the night and will go on for the rest of the summer, especially for those due to travel to Germany to see Wattenscheid hopefully avoid relegation. Then the team will be back there in July for their pre-season training camp, and they'll be joined by even more supporters. That's all to come; at the moment, it's just sweet to think that we won't be going back to the likes of Firs Park and Cliftonhill next season. Being in the Second Division will give some remarkable players- Paton, Weatherston, Dunlop, Ferry, Crawford, the list goes on- the chance to show just how good they are, even at a higher level; I'm convinced they'll still be a cut above much of that league- if they stay. That's a big if, and there are also rumours surrounding Billy Stark's future, with Partick Thistle supposed to be interested. Such interest is the price of success, but it's one worth paying- even if next season is a complete washout, with loads of players gone, it will not spoil the feeling of what we've achieved this year. This is as good as it gets, frankly- especially given the majestic manner in which our promotion was achieved. Well done Queen's- you've made our summer. There'll be more dwelling on the play-offs coming up soon on the Fansite- it's been such a thrilling ride that I haven't, shamefully, got around to writing reports for the two previous play-off games, but there will be a full review up soon, of those games, the season as a whole, and musings on what the Second Division will hold. In the meantime- please join me in singing the following verse dedicated to Scotland's finest broadcaster: Traynor, pack your bags, Traynor, Traynor pack your bags... East Fife: John Dodds, Elliott Smith (Steven Nicholas 61), Kevin McBride (Ryan Blackadder 61), Jonathan Smart, Greig McDonald, Tom Courts, Paul Walker, Neil Jablonski, Paul Ritchie, Craig O'Reilly (Kevin Gordon 80), Lloyd Young. Substitutes not used: John Martin, Iain Ross. Booked: Smith, Jablonski. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Alan Trouten (Frankie Carroll 86), Damiano Agostini, Steven Canning, Stuart Kettlewell, Paul Cairney, Paul Ronald (Robert Dunn 80), David Weatherston, Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Steven Reilly, Tony Quinn, Mark Cairns. Booked: Paton, Ferry, Dunlop, Canning. Goals: Paton 5, Trouten 75, Carroll 88. Referee: Willie Collum. Attendance: 1,625. |