| Matches between QP and Montrose are seldom pretty, and today's game certainly didn't disappoint. I had hoped that this season we would finally manage to beat Montrose - things had been looking good recently, and I thought we maybe had that little bit extra that we've been lacking in the past. However, we somehow managed to not beat Montrose once again, and were instead left scratching our heads wondering how we managed to lose. There were very few chances created in the opening 15 minutes. Early on, a long range Molloy shot was blocked by a Montrose defender, and soon after David Crawford was called into action, coming off his line to block an attempted through ball. A minute later and DC had to make another stop, this time intercepting a ball across the face of goal. The first challenge of note came on the quarter hour mark, Trouten being taken out from behind by Greenhill. Another referee on another day may have given a card - this one didn't. Soon after the ref could have had the book out again as Dodds showed his anger at letting the ball slip out for a throw-in. Again though Mr.Sproule chose to be lenient. QP had a penalty claim turned down after 16 minutes - Ross Clark went down while trying to reach a flick-on by Ally Graham, but to be fair he didn't protest at all when the referee saw nothing wrong. The first real chance of the match came after 25 minutes. After claims for handball in the box by a Montrose defender had been dismissed by the ref, the ball was cleared for a corner. Ross Clark took the corner and Agostini got a good head to the ball, but sadly he headed wide. After half an hour had passed, it looked as it the referee was finally going to take action against the Montrose players, but Greenhill only received a talking to. The challenge he had made on big Ally was very little in itself, but as Greenhill had committed a couple of fouls in the game, it is probably that Sproule was reminding him of the rules concerning 'persistant fouling'. Queens had another great chance with 10 mintues to go in the half. After a scramble in the box, the ball fell to Ally Graham 12 yards out. The big man attempted to lob Hankinson, and was unlucky to see his effort come back off the crossbar. Blair tried to put away the rebound, but the ball didn't fall well for him and he could only volley over the bar from 5 yards out. As is so often the case, we were once again made to regret out missed chances. With 38 mintues on the clock, Richard Sinclair blocked a cross to conceed the first corner for Montrose of the match. The initial corner was cleared, but Montrose kept the ball. Watson somehow managed to find a way through the wall of QP defenders and got himself one-on-one with David Crawford. Watson blasted the ball past a helpless DC from 5 yards to give Montrose a very undeserved lead. With 5 minutes left of the half, Mr.Sproule produced the first yellow card of the match - for Gavin Rushford. Gavin was accused of a trip on goalscorer Watson, and was perhaps fortunate that Agostini was nearby at the time, otherwise the colour of the referee's card may well have been a very harsh red. Right on the stroke of half time Queens managed to pull level. Alan Trouten cut inside from the right and made his way into the box before playing the ball to Brian Blair. Blair returned the ball into Trouten's path, and Alan slid the ball into the net past Hankinson. It was something finally to smile about, and certainly had we gone in at half time a goal down we could have felt badly done to. As it was we were at least back on level terms. Half time score: Queen's Park 1 - 1 Montrose The first action of note in the second 45 was an early booking for Brian Blair after an alleged trip on a Montrose man on the half-way line. Brian made amends for this however by clearing the free-kick away from the box. After 52 minutes, QP put together possibly the best move of the match. Carroll controlled a long ball superbly on his chest before turning and playing a good ball out wide to Alan Trouten. Alan swung a great cross into the box straight to Ally Graham, but sadly the big man was flagged offside. Not hearing the whistle though, big Ally got his head to the ball and sent it looping high over the keeper before seeing it rebound off the bar. Soon after, QP had a great chance with a counter attack from a Montrose corner. Stewart Kettlewell brought the ball over the half way line with 2 defenders and 2 attackers in front of him. Shaun Molloy was screaming for the ball to be played to him, but Stewart took just a little too long and was caught up by the back-tracking Montrose defence, and the chance was lost. On the hour mark, Alan Trouten made got a slight but crucial touch on a ball across the face of the QP goal, taking it away from the onrushing Montrose forward. Soon after the ball was back up the right end, with Frankie Carroll getting involved in the action. A free-kick was sent into the box, and Frankie reached it before the goalkeeper. Frankie appeared to be bundled over by Hankinson, but somehow the referee gave nothing but a goal kick. Frankie was then blatantly taken out by Doyle, and once again referee Sproule deemed no booking was called for. From the free kick the ball was played out wide to Shaun Molloy, who tried a shot from long range that sailed just over the bar. With 68 minutes played, wee Frankie again did well up front, this time forcing a Montrose defender into conceeding a throw in a good position. This was Frankie's last action of the game, as he was then replaced by Bryan Felvus. At the same time, Montrose took off Watson and put on Webster. In hindsight, it would have perhaps been better to take off someone other than Carroll for Felvus, and go with both of them up front with Ally Graham to try to cause the Montrose defence a few problems. Certainly the introduction of Webster seemed to liven Montrose up a bit, as they seemed to come more into the game as the second half progressed. A couple of mintues after these changes, Martin Sproule had a few words with the Montrose no.2, Donnachie. Sproule was clearly unhappy at what was said, and finally took out the yellow card. It seems strange that after all the potentially bookable fouls that Montrose had committed that they should finally get a man in the book for dissent. With 15 minutes left, Queens pushed more for the winner. Shaun Molloy made a good run down the left, but was halted on the edge of the box by Kerrigan. Once again, the referee produced no card though. Ally Graham hit the free-kick, but sadly it went into the feet of the wall and was cleared easily. With 11 minutes to go, Montrose had a good chance. Sharpe crossed from the left for sub Webster, but his header was saved relatively comfortably by David Crawford. Both sides then made another substitution - Paul Harvey replaced Stewart Kettlewell, while for Montrose, Budd came on for Donnachie. Two mintues later Montrose made their final change, replacing Greenhill with Spink. QP put the pressure on late on, but sadly couldn't convert it into good chances. We won two corners and a couple of throws, but the only half chance game when a long throw from Felvus found Ross Clark in the box, but unfortunately he mis-cued his shot. With two mintues to go, David Weatherston was sent on in place of Ally Graham. While we needed the fresh legs up front, it was obvious that we missed big Ally's height in attack in the last few minutes. With a minute left of the 90, Shaun Molloy won the ball in defence out wide on the left. He tried to stop the ball going out for a Montrose throw but all he could do was keep it in for a Montrose attacker. Shaun was disposessed, and the ball was crossed in for the number 10, Craig Smart, who tapped the ball into the far corner, leaving David Crawford with no chance. Shaun Molloy nearly made up for his error in injury time when he found himself 3 yards from goal with the ball falling kindly for him. Sadly he was at a tight angle from the goal, and could only fire the ball into the side netting. Just after this it was all over. It was a game we should not have lost, either on paper, or based on the performances on the day. Montrose did not look anything special, but we just couldn't make enough of our chances count. Hopefully there won't be any slip-ups next week when QP make the trip to East Stirlingshire. Basil's Man of the Match: Alan Trouten |
| Queen's Park Montrose |
| 1 2 |
| (Trouten) (Watson, Smart) |
| Queen's Park: David Crawford, Alan Trouten, Damiano Agostini, Gavin Rushford, Richard Sinclair, Shaun Molloy, Stewart Kettlewell (Paul Harvey 80), Ross Clark, Ally Graham (David Weatherston 88), Frankie Carroll (Bryan Felvus 69), Brian Blair. Subs not used: Tony Quinn, Steve McGovern (SK). Booked: Rushford (40, trip), Blair (48, challenge from behind) Goals: Trouten 45 Montrose: Hankinson, Donnachie (Budd 80), Dodds, Doyle (Spink 82), Stephen, Kerrigan, Hall, Greenhill, Watson (Webster 69), Smart, Sharpe. Subs not used: Smith, Butter (SK) Booked: Donnachie (71, dissent) Goals: Watson 39, Smart 89 Referee: Martin Sproule. Attendance: 406 |