Queen's are likely to field much the same team as last week, with John Gallagher, Taggart and Sinclair still all missing. Chris Fisher is also some time from a return, but David Menelaws will hopefully be able to make his debut before Christmas. After scoring last week, Paddy Gallagher must have a decent shout of making the starting XI. Morton have no injuries to worry about ahead of the game at Hampden, a blessing for them given their small squad.
7 Nov Queen's Park v. Morton- time for a win
Saturday's match against Morton represents probably Queen's biggest league game of the season so far, both in terms of the need for a result and the size of the opponents being faced.
Not that Morton are anything particularly special on the pitch, but they have a large support and expectations to get back into the top 2 divisions again. Morton did the Spiders a favour last week by beating East Stirling, but that will have been totally forgotten by the time the sides line up at 3pm.
Morton recorded a win in the earlier season meeting between the clubs, and in the process kept one of only two clean sheets they have enjoyed this season. Goals from Williams ( 2 ) and Duncan gave the Greenock side a victory, but had Queen's taken advantage of early pressure things could well have been different. As in most games this season, Queen's looked in command, until giving away, almost surreally, three cheap goals. The defending on Saturday will have to be tighter, with Alex Williams needing to be blocked out of the game. In midfield, the likes of Hopkin and Uotinen have the talent to cause all sorts of problems, so Quinn and Whelan will have a very hard task. As far as the home attack goes, Allan Dunning, in fine fettle against Gretna, will surely play, and Paddy Gallagher could well start after his first club goal last weekend. John Gemmell was disappointing against Gretna, and will perhaps be dropped, but then again his physical presence could cause the none-too-vaunted Morton defence a bit of bother.
As far as the fans go, time to get right behind the boys on Saturday. With Morton expected to bring a large support for the first league game at Hampden between the sides since 1967, Queen's need good backing from their own support.
We must go back close on eight years for the last Hampden meeting of Queen's Park and Morton. This was in a Scottish Cup second round tie, on 9 January 1995. 1,516 spectators watched an exciting 2-2 draw. The replay was won 2-1 by Morton 8 days later, though only in extra-time. 2,127 were present at Cappielow for the replay.
The last league match featuring the clubs in Glasgow was on 24 April 1967. Morton won 2-1, with Queen's goalscorer being Miller Hay.
More on the big match tomorrow.
4 Nov Hopes ended for Hampden XI
The Hampden XI, Queen's Park's representatives in the Scottish Amateur Cup, lost at home to Milton of Campsie by three goals to one on Saturday to exit the competition.
2 Nov Gretna 2 Queen's Park 2- poor refereeing costs Spiders away victory
Now, usually I am loathe to blame refereeing errors for Queen's Park's failure to win matches. But when that error involves a late penalty-kick award when a player collapses on the edge of the area under no apparent contact, then things are different. Had it not been for Mr. Richmond's generosity, Queen's would have gathered a deserved 3 points from a game played in wet conditions at Raydale Park. Steven Moffat's early penalty put Queen's ahead in a league match for the first time since they last played Gretna; his 3rd goal in 5 games. Paddy Gallagher also netted his first goal for the club, and it prompted a delirious response from the players, with Queen's ahead with only 20 minutes remaining. Despite lacking any good efforts to speak of in the second half, Gretna were able to escape with a point, Dobie scoring from the spot with just 2 minutes left. Queen's are now off the bottom ( thanks to Morton's victory over East Stirling ), and have secured 2 useful away draws in succession, ahead of a showdown with Morton next Saturday at Hampden. But in truth, thanks to the referee, this result felt more like another defeat on the journey home.
Match report - Gretna v. Queen's Park
1 Nov Gretna v. Queen's Park - three in a row?
Queen's, having already beaten Gretna twice this season ( not counting a pre-season friendly win against under-strength opposition ), will surely go into this match with an increased degree of confidence in their ability to get a result. Another reason for this would be the stirring fightback against Elgin City last Saturday. Gretna are a decent footballing side, although they have stuttered somewhat after a fine start. Their last 2 matches have both ended in draws, and before those games they went down against East Fife and Stirling Albion. However, like Queen's, they also recovered from a 2-goal deficit to draw with Morton at Cappielow last week. They have much experience, with Turner, Irons and Dobie all at least 39 (!) years of age, but at the other end of the scale 16 year-old Ian Cumersky could well feature tomorrow. Their home form so far has been average, with 2 each of wins, draws and defeats. On the whole though, they have made a respectable start to life in the Scottish game, and will be looking to improve on their record against Queen's Park tomorrow.
As far as injuries go, John Gemmell returns, but John Gallagher has picked up a strain. Also, Sinclair and Taggart seem unlikely to return, while James Allan is a possible doubt but will probably play. Chris Fisher is still a few weeks from coming back into the side.
Historically, there's obviously little to say about this fixture. The teams had met before in pre-season friendlies, including a 3-1 win for QP at Raydale 9 days prior to the first competitive meeting between the clubs, a Bell's Cup tie at Hampden on August 6. Goals from Steven Canning and John Gemmell gave Queen's a 2-1 win, and of course we went on to reach the semi-finals. Tomorrow's match is of note in that it is the first ever league fixture between the two clubs at Raydale Park.
31 Oct Defeat for Strollers but respectable
The Queen's Park Strollers went down 2-1 at Brockville in a Reserve League West game on Tuesday night. Stewart Jack scored for the visitors against the second string of First Division leaders Falkirk.
More news from November 2002