| Queen's Park |
| Montrose |
| 1 |
| 1 |
| (Ferry) |
| (Rodgers pen) |
| Queen's shook and stumbled against Montrose but were able to come away with a point in the end, thanks to Mark Ferry's screamer in the closing minutes. The side looked lethargic and gave one of their poorest passing displays in some time, and had the opposition been of greater competence a defeat would have been likely. For all that though, Queen's were still the better team before the break and only a wretched ten-minute spell at the start of the second half had us behind in the first place. David Crawford was finally back in goal, with Mark Cairns absent for family reasons. At the heart of the defence, both Reilly and Sinclair were missing, and Billy Stark chose to partner Agostini with Dunlop there. Shaun Molloy filled in at left-back. Up front, Frankie Carroll was making his first start of the season. The opening stages were extremely quiet and Queen's definitely seemed to be hungover from their late pain at Stenhousemuir the previous week. As for Montrose, they may have brought in a few new faces but their played as unambitiously as ever- who in all honesty thought that appointing Davie Robertson would be a good move? In the 4th minute Weatherston couldn't find Carroll despite a great burst of pace, and it took another 15 minutes for a first reasonable effort on goal, Weatherston hooking the ball over his head towards the keeper. He was definitely posing the visitors some questions. A deep cross from Ferry found Trouten lurking in the box in the 23rd minute, but whilst under pressure he could get no power on his header. Trouten was then fed by Paton with a through pass 9 minutes later, but a sliding tackle prevented the winger from taking the ball further. Weatherston should have scored in the 38th minute, but swiped at Paton's cross when in no little room. Queen's were in charge at this point, but there was still a staleness to our game. Weatherston was one of the few who looked sharp, and he again ran close to scoring on the stroke of half-time. Successfully running down the right-back, he stole in and rounded the onrushing Reid, but had pushed himself just a little too wide and had to check back and cross, losing the momentum. A firm shot beyond the keeper would probably have been the better option. Queen's hadn't sparkled in the first-half but any shine in their performance was scraped off in the opening minutes of the second. Nervous, hurried passes and clearances were legion, and Rodgers could have capitalised two minutes in, driving straight at Crawford instead. DC saved well from Napier in the 54th minute, and Henslee looped a shot at him shortly after. Then Montrose won a penalty, rightly, when Agostini bundled Rodgers over after he had poked through a hole in the Queen's defence. The striker converted the kick by blasting it to Crawford's left. Montrose immediately retreated into their own half, but Queen's showed little sign of a quick response. 9 minutes later, Dunlop did succeed in getting his ball into the area from wide on the left, but Carroll couldn't quite reach it. Frankie had worked, but was rarely in evidence within the box and was replaced by Dunn 2 minutes after. In unprecedented fashion, Billy Stark also threw on Quinn and Ronald in a triple swoop. Of course he knew as well as anybody else how badly we were faring, and at least Quinn piled forward for the cause in the remainder of the game. The other two were less impressive. A speculative effort from Rodgers came off the bar with 20 minutes to play, and Agostini was a bit too zealous in chesting the ball back to Crawford. Still, no harm done on this occasion. Then Quinn met Paton's corner but gave no trouble to Reid. The crowd had long grown impatient with the team and there were loud shouts of disapproval for every error committed. In truth, the performance had been the scientific opposite of the Aberdeen game, even if Montrose are far closer to Aberdeen geographically than they are in footballing terms. We seem unable to play convincingly against them- maybe they bore the players as much as they do everyone else- but, as usual, we did manage to earn a draw. Mark Ferry had not flattered with his performance, but his goal was as unstoppable as any he has ever struck, a tremendous drive from 25 yards into the corner. Five minutes left. Montrose were forced to attack, and it took an immense blocking challenge from Agostini to prevent Rodgers from aiming at Crawford's near post in the 89th minute- making up for conceding the penalty. Queen's weren't able to find a way through, and in fact they still looked really disjointed. Just as well the next game's against a team- Motherwell- that's more up to our standards. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Shaun Molloy (Paul Ronald 67), Damiano Agostini, Steven Canning (Tony Quinn 67), Stuart Kettlewell, Alan Trouten, Frankie Carroll (Robert Dunn 67), David Weatherston, Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Bowers, Cowie. Booked: Paton, Kettlewell. Goal: Ferry 85. Montrose: Andrew Reid, Hugh Davidson (Stephen Fraser 72), Jered Stirling (Jason Alexander 87), Craig Higgins, Chris McLeod, John Adam, Greig Henslee, Graeme Stewart, Andy Rodgers, Scott Michie (Steve Kerrigan 30), Paul Napier. Substitutes not used: Barry Donachie, John Farquhar. Booked: Higgins, McLeod. Goal: Rodgers penalty 56. Referee: A. Law. Attendance: 404. |