| Montrose |
| Queen's Park |
| 0 |
| 3 |
| (Weatherston 2, Paton) |
| Any Queen's fan could have been forgiven for spending half of today staring at the Third Division table in their newspaper. It's been a while since we were as high as 2nd with nearly half the season gone, and just as long since we last ran up 5 straight wins in the league. In fact, both last happened during the Championship season of 1999/2000. You've still got to be cautious when speculating on the possibility of a league championship for Queen's, but these kinds of results are the tools with which a title is built. Queen's have rarely won against Montrose in the last few years, and to chalk up such a convincing win was a clue as to the new ruthlessness which the side has developed. Queen's weren't great in the first half, but led from the 26th minute. Ronald held the ball up before slipping it through perfectly for David Weatherston to hare past the defence. With defenders to his left, and no support arriving, Weatherston had no option but to shoot, and the ball squeezed through Reid's fingers at the keeper's near post. Montrose offered precious little going forward, even though Queen's had retreated more into defence during the second half. A little uncertainty was bound to occur on such a bad pitch on a cold, cold day, but any lingering doubt was erased with the second goal 9 minutes from the end. Weatherston latched onto Ferry's through ball, bulleting past a defender before knocking the ball beyond Reid, and following up to see it safely home. Queen's weren't finished yet, and Paul Paton's swerving free-kick rounded off the win with a minute left. The fans knew they'd seen a special victory, even testing out some new songs for the occasion; it felt big, even if it was just a 3-0 win over a very poor team. A very poor team, however, that we always struggle against. Like Albion Rovers, who we beat last week. So are things happening down Hampden way? I think so, so much that I'm prepared to make a few outlandish predictions: 1. Queen's will challenge for the championship. 2. If David Weatherston even comes close to his current form in what remains of the season, he is sure to be snapped up at the end of the season- unless the other Scottish clubs are quite as stupid as I think they might be. 3. A new 'Teetotal Charter' will be unveiled by the QPSA, demanding that all Queen's fans immediately cease drink consumption due to the clearly unstabling effect it is having on their sanity. Whether or not any, or all, of these, come true, the pressure will surely be off a little during next week's cup-tie at Brechin. We don't need to win that game, but we've got every reason to believe that we will. With a whole cavalcade of supporters' buses set to descend on Glebe Park, it should be some afternoon. Montrose: Andrew Reid, Stuart Cumming, Jered Stirling, Chris Tawse, Chris McLeod, Barry Donachie, Paul Napier (Jason Alexander 74), Hugh Davidson (John Adam 53), Greig Henslee, Steven Kerrigan, Stephen Fraser (Paul Stewart 46). Substitutes not used: Darryn Kelly, John Farquhar. Booked: Cummings, McLeod. Queen's Park: Mark Cairns, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Steven Reilly, Richard Sinclair, Alan Trouten (Steven Canning 87), Stuart Kettlewell (Robert Dunn 75), Tony Quinn, Paul Ronald, David Weatherston (Tommy Murray 87), Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Damiano Agostini, David Crawford. Goals: Weatherston 26, 81, Paton 89. Referee: Craig Charleston. Attendance: 323. |