| Queen's Park |
| Arbroath |
| 1 |
| 0 |
| (Dunlop) |
| Queen's salvaged their league hopes with a narrow win over second-placed Arbroath at Hampden, making up for the previous week's shambolic performance against East Stirling. Once again Queen's showed steely recovery, being out of the blocks much faster in this game than was the case last week. Mind you, the first 10 minutes were as dull as the skies, and Arbroath came close first when Scott's pace led to him firing just wide of Cairns's post. But in the 24th minute, Dunn played a free-kick across from the edge of the box, and Mick Dunlop slid in to poke the ball through the defence and into the middle of the net. Little else happened before the break, save for a very smart save from Cairns to tip over Stein's free-kick. Weatherston and Ferry both went close early in the second half, but former Spider Willie Martin came even closer, getting above Agostini on the hour mark but heading wide. It was one of his few contributions, and he would leave the field 9 minutes later having been superbly watched all afternoon by the makeshift central defence pairing. David Weatherston was extremely unlucky not to double the lead when he cracked a shot off Peat's near post after bursting through, and with 12 minutes left, substitute Bowers should have done better than shoot at the keeper following Weatherston's intelligent set-up. Queen's had improved as the game wore on, looking the more likely side on the break, and so we didn't really need Arbroath to be reduced to 10 men. That they were however, when Scott aimed to kick Agostini after pulling him to the ground in sheer frustration at how little space the big man was giving him. Referee Boyd rightly showed the red card, and Queen's were able to see out what was left with little fuss. A crucial win, one that takes us up to 5th place in the table. We're now within touching distance of Dumbarton, who lie second and who face us on Saturday on the banks of the Clyde. The main worry is that the continued absence of Trouten, Paton and Sinclair (and probably Reilly) will begin to take its toll; it may prove too much for a thrown-together side to produce the goods again. Who can say? Queen's Park: Mark Cairns, Paul Cairney, Mick Dunlop, Paul Ronald, Damiano Agostini, Steven Canning, Stuart Kettlewell (Tommy Murray 78), Tony Quinn, Robert Dunn (Richard Bowers 42), David Weatherston, Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Jonny Whelan, Chris Colquhoun, David Crawford. Goal: Dunlop 24. Arbroath: Mark Peat, Steven Rennie, Ross Gardiner, Robbie Raeside, Jamie Bishop, Nicky Smith, Kevin McMullen, Willie Martin (Jon Voight 69), Bryan Scott, Barry Sellars, Jay Stein (Andy Reilly 65). Substitutes not used: Paul Watson, Terry Masson, Scott Morrison. Booked: Rennie, Sellars. Sent-off: Scott. Referee: Alan Boyd. Attendance: 475. |