| Queen's Park |
| 3 |
| Elgin City |
| 0 |
| ( Reilly pen, Trouten, Ferry ) |
| Queen's didn't exactly return to form in seeing off Elgin at Hampden, but nonetheless were easy winners by a gratifying 3-goal margin. In a dour match much of Queen's's passing was still unsatisfactory and there was still the occasional slackness at the back. Against a more competent team than Elgin a goal could well have been conceded but the northerners were truly awful on Saturday, and one suspects Davie Robertson will have to accept reality soon. Missing Paul Harvey again, this was the first time this season that Queen's had won without him, an important obstacle to be cleared; and given some of the fiascos against Elgin in the recent past, it was a satisfactory day. Billy Stark chose to mix things up a bit as regards team selection, bringing in two debutants and making one other change. Pulling on the hoops for the first time in the first team were Tommy Murray and Paul Paton, replacing Kevin Proctor and the injured Ross Clark respectively. The other change saw stalwart Richard Sinclair come back into the team in place of Andy McGinty. All this meant that, rather stubbornly, Billy Stark was fielding Weatherston as the one striker once more, with Ferry, Murray, Quinn, Trouten and Kettlewell strung across the midfield behind him. The first half-hour of the game was resolutely dull, though Queen's had begun eagerly with a mazy Trouten run that took him into the box before having his left-footed attempt blocked. In the 11th minute Ferry met Trouten's cross, flashing the ball just past the post with a shot on the turn, before Crawford was called into action three minutes later, tipping over a free-kick that was hurtling towards goal. Elgin could well have taken the lead in the 17th minute; hesitancy from Steven Reilly allowed Martin Johnston to get the better of him, but there was no conviction in Johnston's strides as he made his way through on goal, and his shot was blocked by the advancing Crawford. Increasingly, Elgin would be going through the motions in this game. Queen's opened the scoring in the 31st minute and there seemed to be a large slice of luck to the goal. Paul Paton chipped a ball into the area from the right, and as Trouten tried to latch on to it he fell to the deck with an Elgin defender in close attendance. It didn't look like a penalty - Trouten has shown an increasing propensity to dive this season - but referee Colin Brown pointed to the spot. Steven Reilly slotted the ball away to give him his 5th penalty goal against Elgin since he joined Queen's. The goal settled Queen's down and in a typical example of one of our 'bursts', we made it two very quickly. First of all, Mark Ferry met Dunlop's deep cross and looped a header just past, then in the 36th minute, Trouten lifted the ball delicately over keeper Renton's head from inside the penalty area to give Queen's an unassailable lead. Yes, we'd come back from 2 down ourselves when we last played Elgin in September, but one thing we have in spades is fighting spirit - we never give up, but Elgin usually do. A bad tackle from Elgin midfielder Alan Muir on Paul Paton earned him a booking two minutes before half-time, which came with Queen's fans probably all a bit surprised that their team had managed to score two goals. We were still missing Paul Harvey, the team wasn't gelling all that well, few players were having their best days - but Elgin looked as if they'd rather have stayed up the road. They did give Queen's the odd scare at the start of the second half, after making a couple of half-time substitutions. One of those subs, Gardiner, stuck the ball over from 6 yards a few minutes after the restart, then Johnston almost took advantage of immense casualness at the back from Queen's, meeting a cross at the back post with a header that Crawford clawed away. From the corner, Kaczan powered in a header but again Crawford was equal to it. After this Queen's regained their grip on the contest, and Weatherston's volley at the back post on the hour was held by Renton, the attack having been set up by Paton who was having a quietly effective debut. On the other hand, Tommy Murray's debut would be best described as simply quiet, and he was replaced by Kevin Proctor after 66 minutes. Just before that, a mix-up between Sinclair and Crawford when dealing with a high ball almost allowed an Elgin player to nip in and score but he couldn't divert the ball on target. Kevin Proctor has been highly involved whenever he's been given his chance by Billy Stark, and within a minute of taking the field he had a header that was easily caught. Two minutes after that, and the game was definitively over. A rampant Weatherston took off down the right wing, and sent the ball across Ferry was waiting; electing not to shoot, Ferry calmly took a touch, cut inside the defender onto his right foot and belted the ball home at the near corner. A fine strike, and one that makes Mark our top scorer so far with 5 goals. Not a lot for a top scorer, but the goals have been spread around. Queen's could enjoy the last 20 minutes knowing that the three points were secure. Kettlewell let fly in the 73rd minute with a 30-yard effort that Renton tipped away, and that would be the last shot of note in the game. A couple of changes were made, with Weatherston getting a deserved rest, being replaced by Whelan, and Weir coming on for Quinn. Even before Whelan could touch the ball he was badly fouled by Cumming who challenged him rashly and high as he went for a loose ball. A booking was the right decision. With a minute to go Whelan was sent racing away down the left flank with Kettlewell in support, but as he gathered the ball with only the keeper to beat the linesman stuck up his flag. A debatable, albeit irrelevant decision. The match ended after that, and Queen's had gained the first 3 of the 9 points most feel we need from our three games prior to East Fife's visit in November. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Steven Reilly, Richard Sinclair, Alan Trouten, Stuart Kettlewell, Tony Quinn (John Weir 83), David Weatherston (Jonny Whelan 87), Tommy Murray (Kevin Proctor 66), Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Shaun Molloy, Alexander Cowie. Booked: Paton. Goals: Reilly penalty 31, Trouten 36, Ferry 69. Elgin City: Kieran Renton, Stuart Cumming, Allan Dempsie, Paul Kaczan, Hugh Dickson, Adam Nelson (Iain Vigurs 75), Fraser Bremner, David Hind (Paul Napier 46), Martin Johnston, Mark Booth, Alan Muir (Chris Gardiner 46). Substitutes not used: Stewart Easton, Stuart McKenzie. Booked: Hind, Muir, Nelson, Cumming. Referee: Colin Brown. Attendance: 424. |