| Queen's Park 0 Stirling Albion 2 ( McLean, O'Brien ) |
| Hampden was once again emphatically not the place to be on a Saturday afternoon as Queen's collapsed, then died against a Stirling outfit who did a professional job in securing the three points which take them to the top of the table. Hardly ever did Queen's manage to rouse themselves from the lethargy so often characteristic of home games, but this particular 'thriller' ploughed new depths in failing to entertain the crowd; or rather, failing to keep them from turning their heads away in disgust. Once the visitors scored their opener, through McLean's simple finish in 23 minutes, the outcome was predictable, and was ratified when O'Brien finished off a breakaway move just 6 minutes later. Defensively Queen's were far from up to scratch, with gaps the size of craters showing during the first half; the midfield lacked assertiveness, while up-front the Carcary- McAuley pairing failed to gel. It's early days on that count, and the future could hold big things for Carcary, but at this stage Queen's are crying out for the return of their missing players without whom a decent run of form seems impossible. Ross Clark's swift return from Germany this morning in time to make the kick-off seemed a reasonable omen, though the evident signs of a squad being stretched were clear in the fielding of young John Thompson, listed as a trialist, at left-back. Steven Canning came in for the suspended Reilly, while McAuley and Carcary - now a signed first teamer - replaced Graham and Menelaws in attack. One may have expected Kenny Brannigan to move into the transfer market prior to the deadline, at the very least to paper over the cracks in the squad, but for whatever reason he has not done so. The first 20 minutes passed by amiably enough in the pleasant sunshine but with little action to note, save for the fleetness of foot of young Derek Carcary. The 18 year-old is a potential gem if he continues to develop, and with his speed is well capable of hassling defences right away. He was a bit small to connect properly with Thompson's cross after 6 minutes, but a few minutes on and he could well have opened the scoring, outpacing McNally when cutting in from the left hand side to steal possession. He tried to steer the ball around Morrison, but the goalkeeper made a relatively easy save, and in fact Carcary would have been best advised to pass to a better-positioned teammate. Stirling's first shot followed when McLean dragged O'Brien's cutback wide, but within 15 minutes the same duo would have buried the match as a contest and in doing it exposed the shakiness of the Queen's defence. Goal one came after 23 minutes. Steven Fallon couldn't cope with a harmless bouncing ball on the edge of the 6-yard box, swinging his boot wildly at it and missing, and McLean swooped to send the ball coolly past Scrimgour. The goal knocked the stuffing out of Queen's in the manner we've come to expect. After 27 minutes Thompson's poorly timed challenge on Gibson saw him collect a booking, and a short time later another one went in. Again the defending was questionable. A simple long pass upfield from Nugent allowed McLean to break free down the right of the area, and his square pass across goal was knocked into the net by a gleeful O'Brien. Following this Queen's lost their way completely and Stirling could have added to the embarassment before half-time. O'Brien was a particular threat, and after leaving two Queen's players floundering with a neat interchange down the left wing, his cross was miscued by Moffat before Scrimgour smothered the ball at the feet of a forward. A Davidson header came off the top off the bar with Scrimgour beaten in 39 minutes, and with half-time approaching Queen's narrowly escaped once more. For some reason Steven Fallon took it on himself to act as a striker in striding through the middle, and in the true Queen's Park tradition of centre-forwards skied it miles over the crossbar. With him still stranded upfield, O'Brien had plenty of room to home in on goal as the Queen's defence tried in vain to catch up, but his shot was poor and sneaked past the post. Kenny Brannigan elected to remain with the same eleven for the second half and would give them undue amount of time on the field as a team before finally making substitutions. This second half would turn out to be one of the poorest surely that has been seen at the great old ground, with one team content to hold their lead and the other lacking the will to fight back. Usually, even when two down, Queen's do eventually respond, however late, but worryingly there was to be no comeback of any description in this game. Probably the only genuine chance created by Queen's came within four minutes of the re-start. A precise long pass from Moffat was picked up by McAuley, whose dribbling towards goal brought about a rare feeling of anticipation amongst the home support. But with Carcary waiting on his right to receive a pass, McAuley chose to shoot himself; with the outside of his foot. The ball came off Morrison's leg and a clear opportunity had gone abegging. The game then meandered along dead-end paths for a good thirty minutes, before Brannigan at last made a flurry of substitutions; a forgettable Canning performance ended in his replacement by Gallagher, while Dunning and Menelaws came on for the strikers. In the meantime, McLean's volley and pathetic shots from Fallon and Ferry, as well as a Thompson free kick which dipped over, were all that really happened on the field. Only the gullible will have believed the changes would spark Queen's into life, though Menelaws could have done better than lift the ball over from 6 yards. Stirling could have taken further advantage of a demoralised defence before the end. A Hay header looped over from fully 10 yards, before Elliot blasted high from a decent position. Queen's still had one further effort at what would have been a mere consolation goal, Clark being forced wide on the right side of the box before his cross to the far post was met by Menelaws, with Gallagher unable to control his knockdown. A third goal for Albion should really have come about in stoppage time but a superb challenge from Fallon foiled Elliot as he bore down on goal. It could only make partial amends though for Fallon's earlier mistake which went a long way to costing Queen's the game. For at this level is really is that close; Stirling will talk themselves up as a far better side but in reality, there was nothing between the sides until a bad slip allowed them to take the lead. Queen's performance after that was deplorable but with everybody fit, things could and should be better. It's getting more and more easy to lose patience though. Queen's Park: Scrimgour, Ferry, Thompson, Sinclair, Moffat, Fallon, Clark, Canning ( Gallagher ), McAuley ( Menelaws ), Whelan, Carcary ( Dunning ). Substitutes not used: Conlin, McCue. Booked: Thompson. Stirling Albion: Morrison, Nugent, Anderson, McNally, Rowe, Hay, Gibson ( Ferguson ), Devine, McLean, Davidson ( Elliot ), O'Brien. Substitutes not used: McKinnon, Wilson, Trialist. Goals: McLean 23, O'Brien 29. Attendance: 683. |