| Queen's Park |
| Albion Rovers |
| 1 |
| 1 |
| (Ferry) |
| (Chaplain) |
| Queen's start to 2006 was nearly as turgid and frustrating as any fan could have feared, failing to see off a ten-man Albion Rovers team during a fraught 90 minutes at Hampden. Expectations had been raised, not unrealistically, by the recent good displays and excellent results against Raith Rovers and Stenhousemuir. Against a modest side such as our Coatbridge friends, we should have gathered more points and continued our ascent up the league, but Queen's Park almost never do the obvious thing. Our start to the game showed signs of frailty, and an early goal for Albion Rovers suited them perfectly; though youthful, they seem at their best when able to pack their defence and frustrate opponents, and this is just the kind of situation that causes Queen's to stumble. Ideas were worryingly absent from the Queen's players, and only when Rovers's Donachy was dismissed did we find any focus. Even then, our pretty passing and deliberate style was only enough to pierce the visiting defence once, for an essential equaliser; there simply wasn't the kind of clinical finishing within the team required for a winner. Lacking height and presence, our attack was one-dimensional, and Rovers's defence and goalkeeper lapped up most of what we had to offer. Too many players simply had bad games, it is true. But that doesn't completely explain away the poorness of our performance. Once more we must ask of Billy Stark, why was Kevin Proctor not even listed as a substitute? And why were we left with just one recognised striker on the pitch when Bryan Felvus was removed, at a time when attack was a must? Proctor has done nothing but good things during his limited appearances, and seemed to offer an essential dimension otherwise missing from our forward line. Yet he seems in danger of disappearing off the radar altogether. Billy chose to stick with the same team that defeated Stenhousemuir so convincingly, meaning that Paul Harvey was not to make his starting comeback. This made sense, but in hindsight we'd probably have been better served by fielding Harvey from the start. We began sluggishly, so different from the last 3 games when we netted within the opening 10 minutes, and Rovers looked the more purposeful. Crawford slid down to hold Donaghy's shot at his near post after 6 minutes, and six minutes later Trouten sold a defender a cute dummy before setting up Felvus for a deflected shot wide. Next minute, Rovers grabbed the lead. Chaplain let loose from 20 yards out inside the semi-circle, and his shot bounced beyond Crawford at the keeper's right hand post. Queen's had fallen behind on Rovers's last visit to Glasgow, recovering to win 3-1 on that occasion. Something similar would be required now as Rovers returned to their finely-tuned tactic that has won them so many away points over the last 12 months; haul everyone back and defend. It was the sensible thing for them to do and had they kept 11 men on the park they may have come out winners thanks to it. So inept were Queen's during the first half that another true effort at goal was not registered until Mark Ferry blasted over in the 32nd minute. Only Alan Trouten, who had set up this chance, seemed capable of creating for Queen's. Ferry would manage a better attempt at goal after 38 minutes, taking the ball from Felvus, who had brought a loose ball perfectly under control, and lashing a shot in from the left corner of the area. Creer, Rovers's stand-in keeper, should have done better than parry the ball straight out, but there was no hooped shirt in waiting and a defender hoisted the ball clear. Rovers possess a few tricky runners within their team, and when Queen's lost the ball in their own half three minutes from the break, Reid broke away, running with some danger through our half before having a shot deflected past. Queen's had still had 4 men back, yet our defence is perhaps at its weakest when being run at through the centre. From the corner, Donnelly headed wide. That first-half vied with the Berwick equivalent at Hampden, the Elgin away first half and the Montrose second half at home as the worst of the season; how could it have been so bad again? Yet if Billy Stark demanded answers, the players began the second half as if they hadn't even heard the questions. No improvement was discernible until the game exploded in the 56th minute. Stephen Donachy, Rovers's no. 11, was dismissed for an awful two-footed lunge on Mick Dunlop on the verge of our penalty area. It was so recklessly unnecessary, and Mr. O'Reilly was completely correct to speedily bring out his red-card. That livened things up, with tempers boiling and arguments erupting both on the pitch and in the stand - for a second I thought I was at Cliftonhill. Billy Stark reacted by bringing on Paul Harvey and Tony Quinn in place of Bryan Felvus and Paul Paton. While changes were a must, it was hard to see how Paul Harvey could make an equal impression on the right as he does in the middle of the park, and with only one definite striker on the pitch, the goal threat didn't seem to have been heightened any. However, Queen's did soon begin to assert their advantage and finally sustained an assault on the Rovers goal. In the 70th minute Trouten, after delaying inside the area, cut inside and drilled a shot in that was deflected away. Then Clark lashed towards goal from an acute angle on the right, forcing Creer to tip the ball past the post. A Reilly header was then stopped close to goal by a defender, and shortly after another header from Stevie fell disappointingly wide. Rovers's goal was teetering, and it fell in the 76th minute. A free-kick on the left touchline was quickly taken, and Trouten ghosted infield; the ball ended up with Harvey on the other side of the field and his swinging cross was met powerfully by Ferry, whose header crashed home at the right-hand post of Creer to torrents of relief from the stand. Any joy Queen's may have felt from that goal was quickly forgotten about as the players resumed their task of salvaging a win from the game. Ferry would have another shot charged down as Rovers rebuilt their defensive wall, and Queen's became increasingly desperate in their attempts to breach it for a second time. Ferry had come to life in the closing stages, and another effort from him was deflected wide with 7 minutes to play. As ever at Hampden, one could sense a near-miss arriving before the end; only this time there were two. With five minutes to play, Trouten burst the Rovers defence on the left, moving into the box, and with Creer poised at his near post, a cutback seemed the best option. Both Ferry and Weatherston were in there, but instead Trouten opted to shoot; he had almost none of the goal to aim at, yet instead of firing the ball at the keeper and hoping for a rebound or slip, he lashed it off the side netting. Mick Dunlop had put in a manful effort after being so badly fouled, and only succumbed to the injury with four minutes to go, Molloy replacing him. Queen's continued to stretch Rovers, and Ferry almost scored in injury time when his fierce drive from the edge of the area seemed destined for the net, only to be hacked off the line by Noble. It was a real wrench to see the ball cannoning back from goal like that, so keen were we to get this win. Yet it was not to be. Queen's taxed the patience and nerve of their fans throughout this afternoon, yet ultimately almost got the much-needed victory. A draw wasn't really good enough, but the match could so easily have been lost. Any watching Spartans scout couldn't have been impressed, and I do feel a little more trepidatious about Saturday's game after enduring the Rovers match. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Ross Clark, Mick Dunlop (Shaun Molloy 86), Steven Reilly, Damiano Agostini, Alan Trouten, Stuart Kettlewell, Paul Paton (Tony Quinn 61), David Weatherston, Bryan Felvus (Paul Harvey 61), Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Tommy Murray, Alexander Cowie. Booked: Clark. Goal: Ferry 76. Albion Rovers: Allan Creer, Tommy Lennox, Steven Noble, Gordon Lennon, Ciaran Donnelly, Scott Friel, Stephen Reid (Love 82), Ian Chisholm (Doyle 61), George Wallace (Craig Young 72), Scott Chaplain, Stephen Donachy. Substitutes not used: Quinn, Mansour Aboubeaker. Booked: Friel. Sent-off: Donachy. Goal: Chaplain 13. Referee: Stevie O'Reilly. Attendance: 576. |