| Watching Queen's Park play these past few years has been, in the main, very tough. With the exceptions of a few great moments, such as the win at Inverness, much of the other memories have meshed together into one big ball of disappointment. But this season, after the chaotic departure of Kenny Brannigan and the then slightly surprising appointment of Billy Stark, the great moments have been coming thick and fast. Yesterday was no different. Almost every week has the fan at the edge of his seat in excitement, viewing a team which doesn't know how to quit. This fighting spirit has been evident since the beginning of the season and for that Kenny Brannigan should be complimented, but it is a pleasant bonus that we have not lost this touch since Billy Stark arrived at Hampden. Better yet, we are playing football to get there. For most of yesterday's game, Queen's struggled somewhat. With a very limited squad available, Billy Stark only had one experienced forward to hand in the brilliant form of Frankie Carroll. Ally Graham was out, as was Bryan Felvus. Also missing were Richard Sinclair and Damiano Agostini. Our squad is stick-thin and everyone's heart goes out to Billy Stark and his assistants who have to try and bring in players in difficult conditions. Kenny Brannigan had to go to our excellent youth-set up to look for young talent, most of which weren't even born when Kenny first played for the Hoops. The emergence of these players, Shaun Molloy, Alan Trouten, David Crawford and Bryan Felvus, has added a youthful kick to the team, a fresh brand of exciting, attacking football, sometimes so attacking that we forget to defend. More importantly, these players are holding their own in the first team and don't look out of place alongside the more experienced members of the squad. And yet, even though they may seem experienced many of these players are still young themselves. Steven Canning, Ross Clark, Richard Sinclair...they've been here for decades, have they not? As mentioned though, Stark had very little to work with yesterday. He opted for the 4-5-1 formation, Gavin Rushford returning to the first eleven, as did Brian Blair. The bench prompted a few baffled looks, with three young players still to make their names for the Spiders listed, alongside Steven McGovern and...who's this....J.Whelan?? Anyway, this Whelan fella came off the bench and changed the game, the story goes. All of sudden, Queens' were getting in amongst it, and with his first action in the game Jonny was down on the ground fighting for the ball and his team. He set up Frankie Carroll's goal and did more for us in 16 minutes than a lot of players did in the full 90. But that doesn't matter now. Sure, the performance wasn't great most of the time, but the final 10 minutes was the stuff of legends. Now, we should probably pause for thought and feel sorry for Peterhead for the way it ended, but honestly, dear readers, after you've seen Paul Mathers squeeze his bollocks in your direction, you can't quite bring yourself to it. Steven Reilly's dramatic - and that doesn't do the word justice - penalty equaliser, a goal that felt like a winner, will be described later and no doubt over and over and over again, until the story grows into another story. And so it should for this was why we go to football and venture on nonsense trips on nine-hour-round-trip bus rides. The game started with a whimper and it stayed like that for much of the 90, with only the noise of the travelling Queen's fans saving the atmosphere from falling into the chess tournament category. The Peterhead fans would soon be up dancing around at the end, but that comes later. The first real chance of the game fell to Peterhead's Scott Michie who controlled Graeme Stewart's cross before hitting wide. David Crawford then had to be quick off his line to stop Keith Gibson from running onto a through-ball into the Queen's penalty box. Both teams looked cautious at this stage and there wasn't much in the way of action, but Shaun Molloy almost created a good chance for Queen's after a trademark galloping run. His cross to Clark, though, was intercepted. Paul Harvey then had a free-kick easily caught by Paul Mathers. Michie tried some athletics to rouse the crowd but his overhead kick attempt ended in embarrassment on 15 minutes. Michie again had a good chance to score, as Queen's were getting stretched at the back. A low cross from Martin Bavidge went across the face of goal and if Michie had applied himself, Queen's could have been in trouble. The game just felt like an endless streak of free-kicks and corners but several players tried to buck the trend and another great run from Molloy had him over-run the ball into Mathers' hands. With 28 on the clock though, Peterhead took the lead. A long ball from Mark Perry found its way to Martin Bavidge and he took advantage of defensive confusion between Rushford and Blair to nail the ball in to the bottom right corner from 10 yards out. Soft, but aren't they all? Michie had another shot saved by Crawford on 33 minutes as Queen's struggled to play without the services of several key players. One of them was Ally Graham and the Spiders were toiling without the big man in attack. Chances were thin on the ground for Queen's. Paul Harvey played a great ball to Stuart Kettlewell, but the young midfielder could only hit wide. Graeme Stewart probably should have doubled the home side's lead after 38 minutes, but he failed to connect properly when the pass came his way. The game was hardly threatening to boil over at this point but referee Steven Finnie decided to book Harvey anyway, for what can only be described as slight push. Queen's won and wasted a few corners thereafter as the half dribbled to an end. My notetaking partner was away at the pie-stall so what happened for the first six minutes of the second-half wasn't recorded. Luckily, I don't recall much happening anyway... Michie did blaze one over though from close-range. David Crawford went into Finnie's book after 52 minutes for a tackle outside his own penalty area as it looked as though Peterhead were surely going to score a second following some very ropey defending. A booking was the right decision in this case. This incident may or may not have led to the insane confusion from teletext or some other unreliable source that we had equalised through a Crawford goal, or that the score was now 1-1. After double checking, nope, it was still 1-0. Queen's were edging forward gradually whilst causing some scares with more sloppy passing. Mark Ferry had a shot deflected wide for a corner and so did Molloy a minute later. After 66 minutes, Queen's could have had a penalty, but Finnie decided the foul on Alan Trouten was committed outside the box and not in. It was difficult to tell from where most of the Queen's fans were, some on the other side said it could have been in the box. In any event, Molloy blasted the kick over. Peterhead's Scott Robertson was then booked two minutes later for a foul on Mark Ferry. Following the free-kick, Steven Reilly decided to do it all himself and charge through the Peterhead defence and he got a corner for his troubles. The fact that we can't do anything with corners rendered his good work almost useless. Come back David McCallum, we need you! The moment that changed the game considerably occurred during the 75th minute as Billy Stark took off Brian Blair and replaced him with Jonny Whelan for his first appearance of the season. The Stroller was certainly not strolling when he came on and his first involvement was a typically Whelan-esque challenge. He could do nothing to stop Peterhead's second though, on 79 minutes. A Craig Campbell corner hung in the air long enough to deceive David Crawford as he came to catch and the goalkeeper was beaten at his front-post by a Craig Tully header. That was it all over, we thought. Nope! The notes for the Peterhead goal had barely been written down as Frankie Carroll got us a goal-back. Whelan (who else?) headed the ball into the path of the striker and he stooped to put a diving header past Mathers from six yards. Hmm, maybe it's not over, we thought. Peterhead were shaken and it was showing. The defence had well and truly cracked and it should have been 2-2 on 82 minutes. Whelan was in there again, following a stramash, his shot was blocked and the ball landed right in front of Trouten. The defender caught the ball as sweetly as possible but Mathers was on his line to block what was a certain goal. As one observer noted, if he had scuffed it, it would have gone in. Trouten was then booked for being fouled by Robert Linn. Explain, Finnie!! Tully then had a fierce shot saved by Crawford. The clock was running faster than ever now and it looked as though Peterhead would hold out. In all honesty, they should have done. But with a minute to go, Ross Clark went down under a challenge in the area and Finnie gave a penalty. Undoubtedly the most pleasing bad decision of the season so far. Clark didn't dive and it looked a fair challenge, but who was caring in the black and white? After the Peterhead players had protested, it was Ross Clark who was set to take the kick. Having scored his last two penalties, he surely couldn't miss now, could he? Mathers saved it. It was a brilliant stop, but that was no consolation. Clark received taunts from the Peterhead players for diving (??) and it felt like the world was going to end. The following is total blur but it looked like the linesman (somebody Lyon) on the stand-side wanted to talk to Finnie about something. Re-take!!! Why, nobody quite knows. Maybe Clark had been verbally distracted or otherwise or perhaps Mathers had come off his line. Who knows, who cares. The Peterhead players were foaming at the mouth, the Queen's fans were totally elated. Finnie took the torrent of sweary-words in the face and didn't book a single Peterhead player. A second chance to equalise. Clark wanted to take it again but Steven Reilly steamed in to take the ball off him. He placed the ball on the spot, he took a run up, and he scored. He scored. He scored. He scored. You knew he wouldn't miss. What followed were some of the most insane celebrations in history. Reilly and his team-mates charged over to the Queen's fans to bask in the glory, the Peterhead players and fans were seething and after two heart-stopping corners, we came away with a draw. Insane indeed, and it felt like a win. Excellent pictures can be found here. After the game, everything was chaos. The contrasts from both sides of the ground told the story. On one side, the Queen's fans staggered in delight back to the bus and on the other the referee was completely lost in a sea of bodies. Apparently fans had come onto the park at the end, but it was too difficult to make out to say for sure. It was undoubtedly controversial and tough on Peterhead but QP were worthy of the point in the end. To rally back like that always deserves something and each and every Queen's fan deserved it too. Merry Christmas. |
| Peterhead: Paul Mathers, Craig Tully, Iain Good, Robbie Raeside, Mark Perry, Keith Gibson, Scott Robertson, Jamie Buchan, Scott Michie ( Robert Linn 72 ), Martin Bavidge, Graeme Stewart (Alan Youngson 67 ). Substitutes Not Used: Craig Campbell, Shaun McSkimming, Ross Buchanan (GK) Booked: Perry, Robertson Goals: Bavidge 28, Tully 78 Queen's Park: David Crawford, Alan Trouten, Shaun Molloy ( Andy McGinty 90 ), Steven Reilly, Gavin Rushford, Paul Harvey, Stuart Kettlewell ( Tony Livingston 89 ), Ross Clark, Frankie Carroll, Brian Blair ( Jonny Whelan 74 ), Mark Ferry. Substitutes Not Used: Martin McLaughlin, Steven McGovern (GK) Booked: Harvey, Trouten Goals: Carroll 79, Reilly 90 (pen) Referee: Stephen Finnie Attendance: 569 |
| Peterhead Queen's Park |
| 2 2 |
| Bavidge, Tully Carroll, Reilly (penalty) |