| Elgin City |
| Queen's Park |
| 1 |
| 2 |
| (Charlesworth) |
| (Ferry, Canning) |
| Queen's continued their resurgence with a fine win at Elgin, a win achieved in spite of ending the game with only 9 men on the park. Both first goalscorer Mark Ferry and Richard Sinclair were dismissed during the second-half, the latter in pretty obscure circumstances, but Queen's were rarely troubled despite their disadvantage. Vigorous defending was the order of the day, and it worked. Supporters were most concerned on arrival at Borough Briggs to discover that Mick Dunlop had not travelled, and was to be replaced with Shaun Molloy. Shaun's hardly an inferior guy to throw in though, and his was a driving, courageous performance. Aside from suspended Paul Paton's replacement by Stuart Kettlewell, the rest of the team was unchanged from the Hamilton victory. Queen's began purposefully, opting to attack: what other way is there? It took them 14 minutes to begin the scoring, with Ferry sweeping home into the right hand corner of Renton's net following good build-up play by Frankie Carroll. Already the early rise and long trip were looking like sacrifices worth making. Elgin's response was to have a header cleared off the line by stand-in right-back Kettlewell three minutes later. Gradually, they crept into the game, and equalised after 28 minutes. David Crawford misjudged a cross from deep on the right, came flying at it like a spaniel attacking a tennis ball, and watched helplessly as Charlesworth's header rolled into the now unguarded net. This sparked off a prolonged spell of Elgin attacking, and Charlesworth could have had a hat-trick in the next few minutes. In the 34th minute, not long after a Gardiner header had been parried by Crawford on his line, Charlesworth was sent clean through by a long pass but failed to bring the ball down properly at the back post. Then, another long ball sailed through our defence but this time Charlesworth could only crack the leather off the post, and it fell into Crawford's arms. Frankie Carroll relieved some of the pressure on the Queen's defence with a break down the right wing, finding Canning in space in the middle. The midfielder should have shot immediately but hesitated, eventually slipping a pass to Ferry who clearly didn't want the ball - this was Queen's at their least clinical worst. Yet three minutes on, the same player had given Queen's the lead with a slick finish. There was no waiting for Canning this time, as he turned in Weatherston's pass with Renton closer to the Arctic Circle than his goal-line. It was a priceless finish, and gave Queen's a very real chance of gaining their first league win of the season. The visitors began the second half brightly as well, though Johnston should have done better for Elgin than hammer wildly over in the 49th. Five minutes after, Frankie strode away, finding Weatherston who burst clear and lobbed in a shot that came up a little short to trouble Renton. A strong Molloy run was ended by a tug as he motored down the left, and so Lowe was booked. The free-kick was taken by Canning and spilled out by Renton, to the protests of Frankie Carroll and some of the more hopeful fans that the ball had in fact crossed the line. We were doing OK, but just hold on. This is Elgin, and nothing is ever straightforward. Surrealism is only a whistle away, and this afternoon it was the whistle of Alan Freeland that had us rubbing our heads. Firstly, in the 66th minute, Richard Sinclair was sent-off for a second booking, following a challenge on the edge of the box. That's all it looked like- a challenge- but the official dreamt up some other crime and banished Sinclair to the stand. We were now surely in for a ropey last 20-odd minutes. Queen's switched to a back four, with Frankie stationed up front by himself and Weatherston anchoring himself to the right wing. Then in the 78th minute, Richard Bowers replaced Frankie in the lone striker role. Just two minutes later and things grew even more dangerous as Mark Ferry saw red for swearing at the referee after a decision didn't go his way. We were dicing with disaster now, and it was simply a case of keeping men back and tackling everything that moved (or in the case of some of the Elgin team, didn't). Elgin's keeper Renton might as well have gone trainspotting for all that he'd be needed in the last 10 minutes, but Queen's did what they had to do and it was almost awe-inspiring. What with no team in the Third Division able to win both of their opening games, the division looks likely to be as open as the proverbial door of the barn. Like last season, Queen's have recovered from a home defeat to win their first away game; now we need to make sure of progress in the other Cup against East Stirling and get a first home win, and our season will have taken off. Elgin City: Kieron Renton, Craig Campbell, Allan Dempsie, Stevie Lowe, Hugh Dickson, David Hind, Martin Charlesworth, Mark Booth, Martin Johnston (Chris Finnigan 52), Steven Mackay, Chris Gardiner. Substitutes not used: Stewart Easton, Jordan Main, Richard Huxford, Stuart Knight. Booked: Lowe. Goal: Charlesworth 28. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Stuart Kettlewell, Shaun Molloy, Steven Reilly, Richard Sinclair, Damiano Agostini, Steven Canning, Tony Quinn (Paul Ronald 88), Frankie Carroll (Richard Bowers 78), David Weatherston, Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Robert Dunn, Jonny Whelan, Mark Cairns. Booked: Sinclair, Canning. Sent-off: Sinclair, Ferry. Goals: Ferry 14, Canning 41. Referee: Alan Freeland. Attendance: 537. |