Scotland coach Berti Vogts has complained about the state of the Hampden surface ahead of tonight's friendly against Ireland and suggested that Queen's Park play their home games elsewhere to lessen the wear and tear of the pitch. However, the club has pointed out that they have a long-term lease with the SFA for them to manage the stadium and Queen's to play all home matches there, and that nothing will change. In any case, it's our stadium, Queen's Park FC own the title deeds, and in what other scenario would owners of a ground be pressurised, albeit informally at present, to quit in order to satisfy the desires of what are effectively guests? Certain ill-informed and uncaring media men have had, and no doubt will continue to have, their say on the matter: but they do not matter. The SFA, however, do. If they were to approach the Queen's Park committee about possibly decamping to Lesser, the committee would have a duty to all followers of the club to hold firm. Selling out to those who have presumably long felt uncomfortable about the idea of an amateur club playing at Scotland's showpiece ground would be shameful.
The Strollers poor season in the Reserve League West continued last night as they were beaten 2-0 by Stenhousemuir at Lesser Hampden. The team have collected just 5 points from 9 matches so far, with six remaining.
11 Feb Hamilton Academical 3 Queen's Park 2
Queen's hopes of a first Scottish Cup fourth round tie for 17 years were ended last night after a disappointing loss at New Douglas Park. Poor defending and goalkeeping at crosses were responsible for at least 2 of the 3 goals, although Hamilton's second, scored by McPhee, was a fine effort. John Gemmell's goal was his 11th of the season and David Menelaws scored his first for the club. Mark Cairns will thankfully return to the goalkeeping position on Saturday, as Tony Mitchell's performance betrayed his absolute loss of confidence recently. Consolation could be derived from the presence of around two hundred Queen's supporters, who clearly recognised the importance of this game. Kenny Brannigan still awaits his first win since taking over, and on paper the next couple of fixtures - at Stirling and Montrose - don't promise much in the way of one either.
Click here for the complete match report.
8 Feb Queen's Park 1 Albion Rovers 1 - denied at the death, dammit
First, the historical facts: David McCallum and Mark Cairns made their Queen's Park debuts; Johnny Whelan played his 100th game for the club; John Gemmell reached double figures for the season, scoring his first-ever penalty; and Richard Sinclair became the first Spider to be red-carded this season. Oh, and Albion Rovers equalising goal was scored by their goalkeeper, Scott Shearer. Not so historic was the fans' venting of spleen at referee Colin Hardie after the final whistle: it's something that happens often for us Queen's fans, as we are forced to put up with poor decisions most weeks. In this case, the decision to send-off Richard Sinclair seemed harsh, and concocting so much stoppage time was strange. However, the penalty that allowed Queen's to open the scoring was harsh on Silvestro of Albion Rovers, as in truth he could do little to avoid Agostini's attempt striking his arm. David McCallum looked a potentially excellent signing, and had a shot cleared off the line in the first half, before tiredness forced his replacement. Cairns looked every inch the experienced keeper he is, and was solid until the end: not really at fault for the goal. Defensively, there were few errors and the midfield was strong and purposeful; up front, Gemmell had his now usual effective game, despite having few efforts on goal, and Allan was ever a potent weapon. In fact, we were actually rather good. Kenny Brannigan must be noticing a recurring theme, as Queen's have conceded late goals in all three of the games he has taken charge of. On this evidence though, it's something that can be stamped out.
Monday's cup opponents Hamilton were beaten 3-1 at Dumbarton, their goal coming from Gareth Armstrong. Top scorer Brian McPhee, not fit to play, was spotted at his old stomping ground of Hampden taking notes on the performance of Queen's. What seems sure is that Queen's, theoretically, approach the tie in the better shape. Neil Collins was on the scoresheet for Dumbarton for the second time in his side's win.
7 Feb Queen's Park v. Albion Rovers - three in a row sounds quite good
Ahead of the game against Hamilton on Monday, Kenny Brannigan faces a slight problem - does he field a full-strength side against Rovers, or bring in new boy McCallum, maybe a couple of others too, and see how they perform, keeping his more established players for Tuesday? In all likelihood, he will go for the former, as league points are at least as important as cup games, and any compromising of Queen's chances by the coach would hardly go down well, especially given that this is Kenny's first managerial job and he has all to prove. In any case, David McCallum has not played a first team game since 5 May 2001, when Partick Thistle beat Stenhousemuir 4-0 - the same day Queen's were relegated to Division 3. I would expect Steven Canning to retain his left wing-back berth, but Mark Cairns, signed from Brechin, is likely to debut in place of Tony Mitchell, who Brannigan evidently believes is not up to the task. Witness his signing of Derek Scrimgour, out tomorrow because of work commitments, and that adds to the belief.
Craig Taggart, Willie Martin and Steven Moffat are all unavailable for tomorrow, but Taggart and Martin have both trained. Albion Rovers will include new signing Mark Yardley, clearly brought in to add height and weight to a previously lightweight attack. He could prove a handful for Damiano Agostini to cope with.
Little point going over the recent wins over Albion Rovers again, superb though they were, and it is perhaps more instructive to note that Queen's have not beaten Albion Rovers at Hampden since 18 September 1999 - a 2-0 win.
4 Feb Postponement
The Hamilton match was called off after the home club decided that the pitch was not likely to be playable by kick-off, owing to predicted frost. Very frustrating, and we will now have to wait until Monday to see if the game is played on that date: if not, then a clash with the Scotland-Ireland friendly at Hampden is possible. In an ideal world, the game would be held off for another week, allowing fans to attend both games. The Monday date would also give players only a day to recover from their exertions against Albion Rovers on Saturday, so the timing is scarcely suitable. Such are the problems of a Scottish winter.
Queen's have been linked with a possible move for former Raith Rovers and Manchester United midfielder Paul Harvey. The veteran has been released by Airdrie, where he was a team-mate of Kenny Brannigan. He could therefore sign outwith the transfer window periods.
Denis Connaghan has signed for Neilston Juniors on loan from Arbroath. Denis, a fine defender for Queen's between 1999 and 2001 and a virtual ever-present, has failed to settle at Gayfield. He left Queen's to join Partick Thistle in 2001.
The February 2003 archive continues here