| Peterhead |
| 1 |
| ( Johnston pen ) |
| Queen's Park |
| 1 |
| ( Reilly pen ) |
| It's the sort of away form we should be quite pleased with, three successive draws and two of them against top four teams. And this performance was a definite improvement on some recent showings, an improvement that can be attributed to a more robust defence shored up by the excellent Damiano Agostini. Like so many of our games, it was one that got away. For 50 minutes Queen's seemed relatively secure, having taken the lead through a 15th minute Reilly penalty and looked the more dangerous side after that. But no team can account for the cheating of their opponents and the naivete of the officials, and while Richard Sinclair may have been partly responsible for Peterhead's equaliser with his gaffed back-header to Scrimgour, there was no need at all for Stewart to go to the deck, except the compulsive need to deceive that is endemic amongst modern footballers. With the penalty converted, Queen's never seriously threatened to take the lead again after that, but overall we looked determined and resolute again and could well be on course for a few points in the final 3 games of the season. To accomodate Agostini's return, Davie Stewart was dropped to the bench, and Frankie Carroll regained his place due to Derek Carcary's international call-up. Paul Harvey continued in the team in spite of his lethargic performances so far in the jersey, and the game kicked off with the weather unusually warm and still for the north-east coast. From the off Queen's looked purposeful, a throwback to last season when our best work tended to come in away fixtures, and in 6 minutes Canning met McCallum's curling cross but failed to get any weight behind his header. Three minutes later Reilly almost paid the price for miscontrolling a bouncing ball on the edge of the box and fluffing his clearance, but recovered well to block Bavidge's shot. McCallum's crosses were a source of menace throughout for Peterhead and from another one Queen's took the lead in the 14th minute. As Canning challenged for the swirling ball, he appeared to be impeded while at the same time Iain Good's hand was clearly raised and struck the ball. A certain penalty, Good picked up a booking before Reilly slotted the kick coolly to Mathers's right for his 8th goal of the season. For long spells Queen's now looked quite comfortable with their lead and indeed could have added to it. Whelan failed to connect with Canning's low square ball by a matter of centimetres following a fine burst into the area by the rejuvenated midfielder / forward, probably Queen's top player on the day and the main reason Derek Carcary wasn't hugely missed. Having said that, Carcary would have had the pace to reach Canning's cross. With 35 minutes played there was another welcome sight for the support, Tony Quinn's return to the first-team after such a long injury absence. Not that Steven Reilly's injury, the reason for the change, was at all welcome; Whelan slotted into Reilly's place in the back three while Quinn resumed his old central midfield position. Peterhead achieved a couple of near-misses before half-time, Robertson looping a header over the bar before Bavidge's drive flew over from 25 yards. But Queen's were well-placed to build on their promising first-half, and the win that Kenny Brannigan must have so desperately wanted seemed distinctly possible. A delightful interchange between Canning and McCallum almost brought a second and highlighted how good a game the pair were having; McCallum broke in from the left after finding Canning, regained the ball from a lovely backheel and fired his shot wide of the left-hand post. Peterhead seemed there for the taking, but the second goal never looked like coming. Canning and Kettlewell both drove volleys over the bar from inside the box, and then the near-inevitable happened. There's no denying that confusion at the back was partly to blame for Peterhead's equaliser, but if only referees like Brian Winter would take a stronger line on diving and realise that, yes it does actually happen in the Third Division and not just on the telly, we'd have a lot more fair results and our referees would have earned far more respect from everybody. Ok I made the last bit up but the rest was true. So what happened? This did: Sinclair was far too short with his header back to the keeper, Stewart swooped to gather the ball and as he moved to go round Scrimgour, crashed to the ground though there had been clearly no contact, at least not before he started to fall. Nonetheless, the referee, perhaps keen to even things up, awarded the penalty. Of course this provoked utter fury amongst the small travelling support. Johnston tucked the kick away and a first ever draw between the sides now looked on the cards. A vintage slide-tackle from Whelan prevented Bavidge from getting clean through on goal, and within a minute Raeside had missed from about 5 yards, stabbing over the crossbar in a crowded box. Then David Weatherston came on for Frankie Carroll as the game petered out. Queen's managed to step up the pace in the final minutes, but only created one real chance, when a Harvey cross fell for Kettlewell inside the area, but his attempt flashed wide. Yet another frustrating result for us, in line with the games at Stirling and Montrose which should also have been won, but the last 3 games all look winnable. What happens after that will be the topic of much speculation over the coming weeks, but assuming that Kenny Brannigan does remain in charge ( and it's hard to see it not happening ), he has a group of players containing a lot of quality which he nonetheless still has to make a strong team out of. Peterhead: Paul Mathers, Daryn Smith ( Duncan Stewart 58 ), Iain Good, Robbie Raeside, Mark Perry, Keith Gibson, Scott Robertson, Jamie Buchan, Martin Bavidge, Martin Johnston, Robert Duncan. Substitutes not used: Kris Brash, Kevin Tindal, Danny Milne, Ross Buchanan. Booked: Good, Gibson. Goal: Martin Johnston penalty 65. Queen's Park: Derek Scrimgour, Damiano Agostini, David McCallum, Martin Bonnar, Richard Sinclair, Paul Harvey, Stuart Kettlewell, Steven Reilly ( Tony Quinn 35 ), Frankie Carroll ( David Weatherston 76 ), Jonny Whelan, Steven Canning. Substitutes not used: Allan Dunning, David Stewart, Brian McCue. Booked: Quinn, Scrimgour, Bonnar, Sinclair. Goal: Steven Reilly penalty 14. Referee: B. Winter. Attendance: 620. |