( Armstrong 2, McPhee ) ( Gemmell, Menelaws )
After just 4 minutes, the tone for the evening was set when Callaghan swung in a cross deep from the left for Brian McPhee to head over. You could sense then that our problems had not gone away, and the dangerous McPhee was involved again three minutes later when his ball across goal was saved by Mitchell at the near post.
Queen's soon got into their stride in attack, and a Ferry free-kick, followed by a Canning corner, proved that Hamilton were not so hot at the back themselves. Gemmell challenged for Canning's flighted cross, and the ball was played behind the goal-line. This time from the corner, James Allan had a strike on the turn blocked.
The hearts of the visiting support, having been momentarily afloat, sank in the 10th minute as Hamilton opened the scoring with an avoidable goal. Whelan played the ball behind for a corner when he didn't really have to, and Armstrong met McDonald's resultant cross to guide it home. Mitchell did get a touch on it, and really could have kept it out, but more blame had to be attached to his defence for their lack of concentration and organisation.
In 16 minutes though Queen's equalised. A fantastic pass from Canning put Whelan in, and Johnny's shot was parried by the onrushing Potter as they challenged: Whelan did well to hook the ball back to Gemmell, who sidefooted it low into the corner of an empty net for his 9th goal in as many games. Interestingly, this was his first this season away from Hampden.
The renaissance was to prove brief, but for a time Queen's began to look promising in this match. Jimmy Allan caused more havoc from a corner-kick which was scrambled clear, and his fine jinking run in the 25th minute was ended by a late challenge on the edge of the box, with culprit Dobbins booked. The free-kick was curled only just wide of the upright by Allan himself. In between these, McPhee shot into the sidenetting after bursting into the area, and it was obvious Queen's were going to have to guard their ex-player closely.
However, the warning sign had clearly not been heeded well enough, as Hamilton went back in front. And it was McPhee who got the goal. Bonnar floated in a free-kick from the Hamilton right, and McPhee rose well to flick the ball into the right-hand corner of Mitchell's net. Queen's now had it all to do once more.
Hamilton now took control for the rest of the half as Queen's struggled to build anything, not helped by playing against a fairly strong wind. Graham had a real chance to put Hamilton into a comfortable lead in 31 minutes, but hit the crossbar with his volley at the back post. Ten minutes on, and a free-kick to that same post was headed across the face of goal by Callaghan, and Armstrong's drive flew wide. Graham again could have scored for the home team before half-time, but Agostini's challenge hindered his chance of converting from Armstrong's pass. Half-time arrived, and at least we would be playing with the wind on our backs in the second half. Despite the effects of two games so close to each other, Kenny Brannigan neglected to make any changes at half-time, still believing in the players we had on the park. It was a belief he would stick to for too long.
Ross Clark came close shortly after the resumption, firing wide from Allan's cutback, but the game was effectively settled two minutes later. And Tony Mitchell was badly at fault. A cross from the far right seemed a like a routine catch for any goalkeeper, but Tony inexplicably dropped the ball, straight down for Armstrong to score: it couldn't have been any easier for him. It was hard to reconcile this scoreline to the flow of the game, as although Queen's had not been in their best form at all, they had scarcely been bettered by an average home side. But it was obvious that heads would drop after this heartbreaker of a goal. The reaction of the players to Mitchell's blunder was one of mixed shock and anger, and it was plain that no-one now had any confidence in Tony's abilities.
To be fair, Queen's tried hard to get back into the game, and although short on inspiration they still created more than Accies did. Gemmell headed a good cross by Canning wide of target, and Clark tried a long range hopeful which Potter held. Then, Damiano Agostini managed to force the ball over the line after a corner, but Stuart Dougal had already whistled for an infringement. Presumably it was a push, but it was not totally clear, and Queen's may have been a little unfortunate in this instance.
Hamilton had seemed content to sit on their lead, but they nearly grabbed another in the 68th minute after Sinclair misjudged a cross. The ball ran through for Armstrong, but his shot, aimed at the near post, was pushed wide by Mitchell, who was no doubt relieved to get a solid save under his belt.
In 72 minutes, Gemmell was denied a penalty after seemingly being blatantly held: it may have been that Gemmell's tussling for possession had resulted in him grappling with his opponent just as much as he was held in return, and Stuart Dougal had no doubt this was the case. However, the fans' frustrations were taken out on what they perceived to be more poor refereeing. Queen's kept attacking, and Sinclair turned beautifully on the right before swinging over an inviting cross. Canning rose, and Whelan gathered under pressure to turn the ball back to Clark whose effort was again off target.
Brannigan finally made his first substitution in replacing the battling Clark with David Menelaws with 11 minutes remaining, and the Englishman made a quick impact to bring Queen's back into contention. Whelan's long throw slipped under the foot of substitute Russell, and Menelaws turned sharply six yards out to shoot low off Potter's diving body and into the net. His first of hopefully many for Queen's Park.
Menelaws' introduction had lended Queen's new impetus, and they now began to press strongly for the equalising goal. Ferry had an attempt from 25 yards, but the late sitter that we have grown to expect from Queen's fell to Steven Canning. Menelaws flicked the ball over the top, and Canning was left with only Potter to beat; sadly, he didn't react well, and instead of sizing up the chance, he blazed the ball high over the crossbar.
The team continued to attack, but more in desperation than anything else. However, credit to the team for keeping it going right to the wire when many of the players could hardly have been in peak condition, and the whistle blew to the heartfelt relief of the home players and fans. They may kid themselves that only poor defending on their part let Queen's back into this tie, but the fact of the matter is, had Queen's coped more efficiently with what comparatively little Hamilton had to offer, they would have at least forced extra-time. This tie goes down as an opportunity sorely missed, but the suspicion is that we will have plenty of opportunites for revenge against this particular team in the near future.
Queen's now only have the league to play for, and with thirteen games remaining Kenny Brannigan has ideal time to assess his squad and decide which of them are part of his future plans; I fear that the name T. Mitchell will not be on that list.