| Queen's Park |
| 1 |
| East Fife |
| 1 |
| (Clark) |
| (Beith) |
| With five games to go, Queen's Park's fate remains very much undecided, as again they let themselves down in failing to see off an ultimately ten-man East Fife team at Hampden. Queen's play was markedly improved from the disasters at Firs Park and Cliftonhill but the cutting edge was just not present. Nonetheless, it did look as if Ross Clark's rasping strike would be enough to win the game for Queen's, until fourteen minutes from the end when Beith rounded off a slick East Fife move with a precise drive into the corner. Queen's couldn't hit back, though they came close; the lack of a clinical striker has hurt us all season but is now genuinely threatening to kill our promotion chances. Queen's meet Arbroath next week, and it's a game they really have to win; our last four fixtures are clearly tougher on paper than Arbroath's. And Elgin can't be discounted either - in fact, if they beat Cowdenbeath on Tuesday, they will be level on points with us. Billy Stark acknowledged after the game that his players are exhausted after their recent run of midweek games - no doubt many fans are almost on their last legs too after a draining few months which have brought many peaks and as many troughs. But we've still got a few more weeks to endure. The team needed altering after such a miserable result as defeat to Albion Rovers, and Billy Stark responded by bringing back David Weatherston for Tommy Murray, while Paul Harvey came in for the not-fully-fit Kettlewell. Although East Fife were still in with an outside play-off chance, they brought a meagre following who were more concerned with unfurling protest banners than backing their team. Not that there were too many Queen's fans either - it's curious that at such a crucial stage of the season, crowds should be so low. Queen's began the game the better side, and Weatherston struck the sidenetting after four minutes, with a curling Harvey shot saved 9 minutes later following smart work from Ferry on the left. However, the game's first clearcut chance came to East Fife in the 26th minute: Paton muffed his clearance in the area, striking a team-mate, and Gordon took the ball through only for Crawford to block his attempt with his legs. In the 29th minute a Dunlop half-volley from a Harvey corner fell just wide, but two minutes after East Fife nearly scored again. Crawford had to be extremely agile to tip away Smart's blast after he had turned at the corner of the box, the ball soaring for the top corner before the keeper's outstretched palm got there first. Mark Ferry came close in the 33rd minute, his shot from Quinn's delivery not quite sneaking underneath Dodds, and within two minutes Ross Clark's 25-yard drive cracked off the base of the left-hand post of the East Fife goalkeeper. Then Weatherston broke into the box from the side with one of his trademark runs, but was too indecisive to part with the ball at the crucial moment. As so often recently, Weatherston had started slowly but he pushed his way into the game. In the 39th minute, a fantastic piece of play allowed him to fool the East Fife left-back, before surging his way past and squaring the ball firmly across. Ferry was in there, but his attempt came off Felvus, who subsequently got tangled up with the ball and couldn't deliver an incisive shot. Queen's were clearly the superior of the teams, even if East Fife had twice come extremely close to scoring, and a delightful through ball from Ferry to Weatherston should have seen the young forward do better than roll the ball tamely at Dodds when clean through. Right at the end of the half, Queen's came excruciatingly close to a goal, when Harvey passed a corner out to Clark on the edge of the box; his return was intelligently measured, and Harvey stepped inside to flash a shot barely beyond the far post. The danger to Queen's was largely of their own doing as they continued to give chances to East Fife. Three minutes into the second half, Beith found himself right in on Crawford, after Queen's had given the ball away in midfield,but again the keeper made an outstanding block; the ball drifted underneath him but Sinclair was present to hook the ball clear. However, it was Queen's who at last broke the deadlock in the 51st minute. Clark received the ball inside the area, stepped inside, sizing up his options, before sending the ball beautifully into the far corner with a cracking strike. Within 3 minutes, East Fife should have levelled when the ball was sidefooted to Smart inside the area, but his attempt went somehow wide. Then Felvus didn't quite have the strength to end his chase of Harvey's long ball with a finish. For the first time in months, Steven Canning returned to the fray, coming on as a substitute for David Weatherston in the 75th minute. In retrospect it appears to have been a misjudgment by the manager, as within a couple of minutes Canning was huffing and puffing around, struggling to keep up with play. A game that had to be won is hardly the ideal time for bringing back a long-term absentee, and East Fife's equaliser in the 76th minute made the move look even worse. Beith drilled a shot low from the edge of the box into the corner of the net, and suddenly matters looked grim for Queen's. Hopes were raised with 7 minutes to go when East Fife defender Campbell was dismissed for two bookable offences, the second of which was a crude foul on Clark just inside the East Fife half. But Queen's have long been noted to labour against ten men, and so it proved. With so little time left, the red card made little difference as East Fife pulled men back to hang on for a draw. Queen's did have their moments, and Ross Clark should have added to his earlier goal with the winner in the last minute, when, after the ball was slid through to him, he for some reason started to move wide of goal and inexplicably attempted to lob Dodds instead of smashing the ball past him. It was poor decision-making, so typical of Queen's in the final third, and there would be more of it shortly after when Clark found himself with a crossing chance but instead smacked the ball far too hard and out of play. The last shot by Queen's came from Bryan Felvus, with one final surge in stoppage time, but it was deflected wide, and the corner kick was caught by Dodds. Queen's have won only one of their last ten matches, and in six of those games they have failed to score. Given that the form has been so weak, it's indicative of the overall lack of quality in the Third Division that we've been able to cling on to fourth place despite it, but unless the team find a ruthless streak from somewhere, we may not do so for much longer. Next Saturday's game at Arbroath is thus the biggest game the club has had for five years. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Steven Reilly, Richard Sinclair, Ross Clark, Bryan Felvus, Tony Quinn (Stuart Kettlewell 65), David Weatherston (Steven Canning 70), Paul Harvey (Jonny Whelan 90), Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Tommy Murray, Mark Cairns. Goal: Clark 51. East Fife: John Dodds, Craig Lumsden, Paul Hampshire (Kevin Bain 72), Marco Pelosi, Andrew Campbell, Greig McDonald, Kevin Gordon (Stephan Fortune 89), Gavin Beith, Craig Smart, Joe Savage (John Martin 62), Doyle. Substitutes not used: John Bradford, Scott Morrison. Booked: Beith, Campbell, Smart. Sent-off: Campbell. Referee: Euan Norris. Attendance: 403. |