| Queen's Park |
| Stenhousemuir |
| 4 |
| 3 |
| ( Clark 2 ( 1 pen ), Ferry, Murphy og ) |
| ( McGrillen pen, Lauchlan, Davidson ) |
| We'd started to think that thrilling comebacks were a thing of the past for Queen's - after all, we'd gone 2 months without one. But the will-to-win and team togetherness were on show in spectacular fashion yesterday during a heart-stopping second half, as Queen's recovered from a 2-goal deficit to defeat Stenhousemuir. Without doubt, fortune played its part, but after some cruel blows in the last few weeks - the latest the early retiral of Davie McCallum - only a Clyde fan could claim we didn't deserve a little piece of luck yesterday. Or even two pieces. Both the equaliser, and the winner, were products of a fair bit more than Queen's quality play, but it was appropriate that the man who had most part in both was Frankie Carroll, fast becoming an all-out cult hero and a living, breathing reproach to any player who fails to give anything other than his heart, mind and soul for the good of the team. There are still serious question marks over the tightness of our defence, who are continuing to ship goals like water. But we got away with that, and moved back into the top half of the league too. Play opened with the skies grey over Hampden and the weather largely suited what was an uninspired first half from Queen's Park. An early Carroll header went comfortably wide, and it was Stenny who were first to threaten properly when a long pass down the middle eluded the home defence, found a visiting forward, and forced Crawford to escape from his line to divert the ball away. From the start of the first-half Queen's passing was sluggish, and they looked weak in the centre of the defence. Yet Stenny's opening goal in 13 minutes had more to do with cheating and unacceptable refereeing than the aforementioned reasons. McGrillen went down on the left of the area under a fair challenge from Trouten, yet Fyfe ignored the flagrant diving and pointed to the spot. Already no favourite of the Queen's support from earlier in the season, it was the former Falkirk player who took the kick himself and scored easily. Queen's did try to hit back but in truth they looked like a side that had lost their last 4 games. Harvey had an effort charged down, before Trouten fired a shot off goalkeeper McCulloch's body while hemmed in at the keeper's left hand post. Queen's best move of the match to date followed in 24 minutes when the ball was switched to Kettlewell on the right wing, the young midfielder finding Ferry on the edge of the box whose pass to Harvey allowed him a drive which was deflected over the top. Kettlewell was again involved a few minutes later when he was sent marauding down the right with plenty of room in the Stenhousemuir half. From his neat pass inside, Carroll desperately tried to make contact but a defender was around to divert the ball harmlessly back to McCulloch. By this stage it was looking like Queen's least accomplished performance of the season so far, and despite possession and some half-chances ( including a well-met Carroll header from Kettlewell's delivery that was tipped past ) this was re-inforced by Stenhousemuir's second goal seven minutes from half-time. A long ball through the middle found nothing but empty space and a sleeping home defence, allowing Lauchlan to latch on to it and coolly slot the ball past Crawford. The keeper was again blameless, as often in recent weeks, and must be getting increasingly impatient at the lacklustre defending in front of him. To be honest, the game seemed over when half-time arrived, and while one fan behind me who had travelled from Canada must have been ruing his poor timing when it came to making the trip, those Stenny fans who had come all the way from Norway felt all was right with the world, cowbells and all. Billy Stark patently re-decorated the dressing room at half time, given how quickly Queen's re-discovered their purpose in the second-half. More obviously, he brought on Steven Reilly for the sluggish Gavin Rushford, Reilly first appearance since the Forfar cup-tie, to tighten up the defence. First sign of a comeback came when Graham nodded just wide from Harvey's floated corner, and it was clearly on when Ross Clark pulled one back in the 54th minute. From a high ball launched forward, Carroll found himself onside trying to run back from an illegal position; taking possession, he charged towards goal, awkwardly rounding the advancing McCulloch and stumbling a little, but keeping the ball. Forced too far wide to have a shot himself, he was fortunate that Ross Clark had made the run forward from midfield, and Clark took the square pass to blast the ball home despite the desperate attempts ot two defenders on the line. Having started him in a wide role, Stark clearly saw sense at half-time and moved Ross to what is easily his best position, central midfield. This would have a profound impact on the game. Queen's seemed in the ascendancy, Molloy having a clear run on goal down the right of the box before a tackle put him off his stride, but again the concentration in defence wasn't up to scratch and Stenny took advantage to surely put the game out of reach. A quickly taken free-kick from 20 yards found Davidson in the six-yard box, and he knocked the ball past Crawford so simply. We clearly hadn't learned and another loss looked certain, with recriminations likely this time. But this Queen's team has a magical knack of fighting back, and just 3 minutes later, we were back in it again. A marvellous cross from Kettlewell, whose delivery was superb on the day, was met perfectly on the volley by Mark Ferry at the back post, and it squeezed home. There was now no doubt who was on top, and Des McKeown made a couple of panicky substitutions in the next few minutes in response to this. It didn't work; with 20 minutes to play Queen's were level. Referee Fyfe, keen to even up things after Stenny's soft penalty, gave Queen's an equally doubtful one when Carroll fell to the ground while chasing a ball that seemed destined to go out for a goal kick. The footage in the Social Club afterwards proved there was little contact, but Ross Clark didn't care. Despite Stenhousemuir's attempts to delay the kick, he put the ball in the corner beyond the reach of McCulloch who had guessed right. Of course it's ludicrous to say it, but only one team was ever going to win now. With Stenny tiring, and Queen's buoyed by the comeback and sheer need for a win, the anticipation among the home crowd was tangible. Collins forced a smart save from Crawford with 11 minutes to go with a fierce drive, but the winner was just 2 minutes away. Like two of the other goals, Queen's enjoyed good fortune in getting it. Frankie Carroll tried a cross from the right hand side of the area after cutting in from the flank, and little would have come of it had Paul Murphy not stretched out a leg and arched the ball over his keeper and home. Bedlam now from the home support who may be well used to this sort of thing from Queen's, but in fact haven't seen Queen's come from two goals down to win in several years. All your old favourites kept coming over the next few minutes for what was probably the most singing at any Queen's home game in years. Part of the reason for this was Stenny's inability to come close in the remaining 10 minutes, plus lengthy stoppage time that they had largely earned for themselves. Not that we weren't shaking with fear for quite a lot of the time before the whistle went, but that had more to do with being an irrational obsessive than the abilities of McGrillen and co. We held out, we had our first home win since Gretna, and yours truly felt very happy to be back. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Alan Trouten, Shaun Molloy, Gavin Rushford ( Steven Reilly 46 ), Richard Sinclair, Paul Harvey ( Brian Blair 84 ), Stuart Kettlewell, Ross Clark, Ally Graham ( Bryan Felvus 89 ), Frankie Carroll, Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Martin Bonnar, Steven McGovern. Goals: Ross Clark 54, Mark Ferry 60, Ross Clark penalty 70, Paul Murphy own goal 81. Stenhousemuir: Willie McCulloch, Steven Fallon, David McInally ( Tony Smith 63 ), Ryan Davidson, Keith Knox, Paul Murphy, Martin Lauchlan, Lee Collins, Steven Kerrigan ( Thomas Sinclair 66 ), John Paul McBride, Paul McGrillen ( Marc Gardiner 71 ). Subsritutes not used: Stewart Easton, Kevin McKeown. Goals: Paul McGrillen penalty 13, Martin Lauchlan 38, Ryan Davidson 57. Booked: McBride, Lauchlan. Referee: I. Fyfe. Attendance: 491. |