| Montrose |
| Queen's Park |
| 0 |
| 1 |
| ( Weatherston ) |
| It's fair to say that without Paul Harvey, Queen's Park would not have won this match. Moreover, recent results seem to suggest - worryingly, given his age - that Queen's might in fact be incapable of winning without him. Consider that, in the draws with Arbroath and Elgin and the loss to East Fife, Paul was not playing. Yet he did feature in the easy win over Shire, and was the main orchestrator behind this win at a ground where Queen's Park's record shines less than brightly. The overall performance in this game was not a great deal better than those recent disappointments already mentioned, yet with Harvey playing, the first goal going our way, and against an opposition who clearly struggle to get goals, we did enough. Harvey himself was not actually involved in the goal, David Weatherston taking on Ferry's pass before lobbing Reid, but his influence was obvious from the whistle. Queen's's passing looked a touch better, yet the defending was still a little erratic, and we still look short of building up the momentum required for a really strong push at the play-offs. The great relief before the game was that Paul Harvey would indeed be fit, back for the first time since the win over East Stirling at Hampden. Certain pre-match predictions had centred around whether or not he would be playing, such is his importance to the side. But there was still not complete agreement with Billy Stark's selection; Kevin Proctor's omission was surprising after his debut goal, but Stark evidently felt that having one out-and-out forward, David Weatherston, would be to Queen's's benefit playing away from home. Harvey was involved within the opening minute, a neat passing move resulting in Alan Trouten's challenge for a high ball inside the area which a defender headed back to his goalkeeper. Three minutes curled in a good shot from the left corner of the box which Reid had to parry clear. Montrose midfielder Fotheringham took advantage of slack defending by Queen's to break through the middle, evading a couple of challenges before shooting rather weakly at Crawford. Then Trouten picked up a good delivery into the box but from an excellent position didn't make a good enough first touch. Harvey's presence was being felt, and a beautiful backflick from him found Weatherston on the edge of the box; he moved the ball on to Mark Ferry, who blasted it not far wide. Queen's looked set to take command of the game but instead they faded out of it, and the match settled into a typically dour Montrose-Queen's battle. Doing his best to liven things up for us was Richard Sinclair, whose awfully misdirected back-header beat Crawford but just shaved the right-hand post. A let-off. In fact it would be as close as Montrose would come to a goal during the first-half. Most of the possession for the its remainder was theirs but Crawford was not forced into a truly demanding save. Queen's had the best opportunity of the game to date in the 36th minute when Weatherston picked up a superb pass over the heads of the defence by Harvey and seemed set to score, but a defender arrived with a sliding tackle that prevented him from shooting properly, Tony Quinn let fly from 25 yards after 43 minutes, making Reid dive to his right, before excellent work from Ferry saw him ship the ball out to Trouten advancing on the right. He crossed in for Harvey whose first-time effort went narrowly past. A Fotheringham drive wide ended the half, and the signs were that we would have another draw between these two clubs. That used to be the common result, until last term when there were none. Yet with the half-time scores informing us that both East Fife and Cowdenbeath were ahead, it was pretty obvious that a win would be required to stay in touch. Neither side got a grip on the match in the early stages of the second half, and a goal didn't appear likely. Yet one arrived in the 51st minute, and it was Queen's that scored it. Ferry's fine pass over the top of the defenders found Weatherston charging through, and as Reid advanced rashly from his line, the teenager coolly lobbed the ball over him and into the far corner of the net. The goal settled Queen's down and the fact is that from the goal on, we always looked like winning. Weatherston, confidence soaring, tried to repeat his goal when he hassled a defender into losing possession, rounded the keeper, and shot past from a tight angle, but Queen's were nearly stunned on the hour mark. A huge volley from full-back Dodds struck the underside of Crawford's bar and bounced away, but it would prove an isolated piece of inspiration from the home team. Queen's took off Paul Harvey to bring on Kevin Proctor with 12 minutes to go, and the new signing almost instantly had an effort at goal, taking the ball off Trouten's toes and forcing Reid to save. Then Weir replaced Weatherston, Queen's reverting again to one in attack with the game looking almost safe. Kevin Proctor definitely did his best to grab a killer second, almost meeting Kettlewell's hooked cross in the final minute of the game. Referee MacDonald added on several minutes of stoppage time at the end, heightening the tension among the travelling fans. Mick Dunlop was harshly booked for supposed timewasting at a free-kick, but Queen's kept their heads this time. We saw out the game with Proctor shooting into the sidenetting before Whelan made a brief runout in place of Trouten; Montrose could offer nothing in response. This has usually been a tricky trip for Queen's but we negotiated it this time. Now as long as Paul Harvey is back to stay, and Ferry, Trouten and Weatherston maintain this standard, there will be a firm basis for us to build on - but we'll need to play a little better than this. Montrose: Andrew Reid, Kerr Dodds (Barry Donachie 81), Elliot Smith, Jamie McKenzie, Paul Doyle, Steve Kerrigan, Chris Webster, Martyn Fotheringham, Calum Watson (Stephen Fraser 70), Greig Henslee, Euan Hall. Substitutes not used: Neil Stephen, James Russell, Jim Butter. Booked: Smith. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Ross Clark, Mick Dunlop, Richard Sinclair, Andy McGinty, Paul Harvey (Kevin Proctor 78), Stuart Kettlewell, Tony Quinn, David Weatherston (John Weir 82), Alan Trouten (Jonny Whelan 90), Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Molloy, Cowie. Booked: Trouten, Dunlop. Goal: Weatherston 51. Referee: Scott MacDonald. Attendance: 320. |