| Queen's Park |
| Arbroath |
| 0 |
| 3 |
| (Sellars, Scott 2) |
| Not quite the ideal way to start a new season. Arbroath overthrew Queen's to snatch the last play-off place last season, and they rubbed in their superiority over us with this crushing victory - so unlike last season's games between the teams, three of which ended in draws. Yet they weren't really that superior yesterday, not three goals superior. Queen's were incredibly sluggish for the first day of the campaign, lacking in movement and fluidity, and all over the place at the back. The last two goals in particular were embarassing. With no Steven Reilly or Paul Paton available, Damiano Agostini was chosen for the centre of defence and Alan Trouten at right-back. Neither would prove ideal choices, though Billy didn't have much of an alternative in either case. Making his third (!) debut for the club was Frankie Carroll, and he would turn out to be the most resilient and hardworking performer on a bad day for the team. Queen's enjoyed most of the early possession, and an early shot came from Mark Ferry, who blazed high - not for the last time. Arbroath looked nothing special, and new signing Willie Martin seemed ridiculously keen to impress- though not even Kenny Brannigan would have thought much of his two wildly late tackles in the opening 20 minutes, both on Alan Trouten. He was fortunate not to be booked for both but only the second was punished. After 17 minutes, Dobbins found space from a mid-height corner and flicked the ball wide of the far post, and 13 minutes later came our best move of the match. Fine build-up involving Quinn and Kettlewell resulted in Carroll collecting on the edge of the box, and Frankie slipped the ball through to Trouten as the no. 2 came dashing in from the right. Alan squared the ball across, but it came bouncing off an Arbroath leg and safely into Peat's arms. Our best play of the match and it didn't even amount to a shot on target - this game truly was bottom-of-the barrel stuff. With 7 minutes left until half-time Arbroath made the substitution that would sway the game, throwing on young Bryan Scott (coincidentally, not the old Celtic physio) for Smith. Within seconds, Scott's phenomenal pace had got him free of our defence, and David Crawford had to be sharp-as-a-knife in order to deflect the shot wide. 0-0 was the only reasonable half-time score for what was a poor game but Arbroath decided they'd rather go in ahead, and so took the lead right on half-time. Catching Queen's out on the break after a Frankie Carroll effort, Sellars followed Scott's example to stride through the middle of our back four and lash the ball with conviction beyond Crawford. If you'd thought Queen's lacked ideas in the first half, they must have left their brains in the changing rooms before going out for the second. Not once did we manage a real attempt at goal during the second half, and the defence was alarmingly outpaced and outthought for the goals.The half was devoid of action, even after Billy Stark went for broke and brought on Richard Bowers for the disappointing Steven Canning to give us three men up front. Then in 66 minutes, Frankie came off and was replaced by new signing from Stirling Albion Robert Dunn. This was no time to judge Dunn, but Frankie had done well and the goals will come if he keeps up this level of commitment and strength. The other decent performer for Queen's, David Weatherston, set up Richard Bowers in the 70th minute following a typical burst of pace, but Bowers went down under suspicion of a shirt tug. Still, referee Collum saw nothing amiss. That was as good as it got for Queen's in the second period. Three minutes on, and Arbroath had as good as sealed the game. A dreadful back-header from Tony Quinn inside the centre circle was seized upon by Scott, and he chased away from the defence's half-hearted catch-up efforts to get into the box and bash the ball past Crawford. Sinclair and Dunlop simply couldn't keep up with the youngster, and DC was surprisingly slow to come off his line; in any case, his attempts to narrow the angle were feeble, albeit Scott had given himself a great opportunity. The show was over, but the third Arbroath goal brought us close to debasement. Queen's could do little more than watch a slick Arbroath move, which saw the ball go beyond a helpless Crawford, far too far off his line, and give Scott the most insulting of tap-ins. Queen's by now looked disinterested and exhausted. A fourth looked inevitable when Scott got away once more, beating Sinclair with ease, but he whacked his shot off the bar. So the game ended. The large Arbroath support could both acclaim a new hero and celebrate a resounding win away at a potential rival. Queen's fans made do with going off and getting drunk in the Club, whilst reminding themselves that we also lost our first game of last season 3-0 at home. in addition, although we are now bottom of the league, only Shire also managed to win on the opening day. Shire as promotion challengers? Absolutely not, so it's not as if anyone else that matters managed to win. Obviously, a repeat of this display any time soon is out of the question. Thankfully, Steven Reilly and Paul Paton will both return for Tuesday's cup-tie with Hamilton. After this farce, another game as quickly as possible is just what we want - just so we can admit to ourselves that the season has actually begun. It's hard to do right now. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Alan Trouten, Mick Dunlop (Shaun Molloy 76), Damiano Agostini, Richard Sinclair, Steven Canning (Richard Bowers 56), Stuart Kettlewell, Tony Quinn, Frankie Carroll (Robert Dunn 66), David Weatherston, Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Jonny Whelan, Alexander Cowie. Booked: Ferry. Arbroath: Mark Peat, Steven Rennie, Roddy Black, Robbie Raeside, Jamie Bishop, Ian Dobbins, Kevin McMullan (Steven Cook 85), Nicky Smith (Bryan Scott 38), Willie Martin (Alan Brazil 57), Barry Sellars, Jay Stein. Substitutes not used: Jon Voight, Scott Morrison. Booked: Martin. Goals: Sellars 45, Scott 73, 83. Referee: Willie Collum. Attendance: 634. |