( Whelan ) ( Dobie 2 ( 1 pen ))
As stated earlier, John Gallagher made his first start for some months in replacing James Allan; hardly a like-for-like swap in any way. John Gemmell, fully recovered from a stomach bug, was also back in the line-up, relegating Allan Dunning to the bench.
The start to the game was familiarly tiresome, and it took until the 17th minute for a first shot at goal; sadly for Queen's, and especially Tony Mitchell, it indirectly yielded a goal. Skinner, a strong runner, played a one-two with Dobie before firing a shot across the face of goal which Mitchell got a hand to and Hore failed to divert into the net on sliding in at the back post. The corner from the South Stand side was an awkward one for Mitchell, swinging towards goal, but straight into his path. He panicked, dropped the ball, and the grateful Dobie was in the right place to lash the ball into the roof of the net from about a yard out. Mitchell would continue to exhibit signs of nervousness whenever a cross was swung into his area, and the ironic part of it is that the man he replaced, Colin Stewart, was adept at claiming crosses. It's an area of his game Tony will have to work on.
Gretna visibly gained confidence from this goal, and as Queen's defence grew dishevelled, they began to dominate the game. Two minutes after the goal, Irons gathered the ball on the right and changed feet before curling over an inch-perfect cross which Dobie headed wide having risen above Agostini and Sinclair. From Gretna's next corner, they again had a header at goal. Skinner's inswinging corner again bothered Mitchell; he flapped at it, and the ball continued into the path of Henney who nodded wide from close range.
Queen's were clearly going to have to tighten up considerably, and bring their midfield more into the game, in order to fight back. But they were dealt a sucker punch in the 26th minute. Skinner's pass allowed Cleeland to move forward from midfield and slide a pass through to Hore on the edge of the penalty area, with the Queen's defence left ball-watching. Hore took the ball on into the box, and as Richard Sinclair attempted to catch up with him from behind, Hore tumbled to the ground. The following day's television footage would prove quite conclusively that the player dived and that there was little, and probably no, contact between Sinclair and him. Referee Toner, however, took a different view, presumably that Sinclair had clicked Hore's heels, and awarded the spot-kick; the second time this season that Queen's have been harshly treated as far as penalty decisions against Gretna are concerned.
Dobie took the penalty, and converted it, although in unconvincing fashion. Indeed Mitchell very nearly got his body to it and quite possibly should have done, but the ball ended up nestled in the right hand corner of his net, and Gretna looked well on course for a fourth straight victory, at the same time ending Queen's good run of results.
Little that was to happen in the rest of the first half would have swayed anyone from that belief. Queen's were unfortunate in the nature of the second goal, but they deserved to be trailing as they had created absolutely nothing at the Gretna end of the pitch. Morale no doubt suffered also after the loss of the second goal. But too many players were simply not having good days.
A 25 yard-shot from Hore gave Mitchell the comfort of relatively easy save, but Gretna were continuing to threaten to pierce the Queen's rearguard all too easily. However, Queen's managed to get forward a little in the closing minutes of the half. In 33 minutes, a John Gallagher corner reached the far side of the area and was headed powerfully at goal by Whelan. Mathieson failed to collect, but his defence saved any possible trouble.
John Gemmell was getting little joy out of combat with the veteran Gretna defender McQuilter, but was able to flick the ball on for Willie Martin to run after with a neat header after 36 minutes. Willie gave chase, but a defender shepherded the ball out of play for a corner that ended up with Sinclair having a header deflected over the top. This time John Gallagher took the flag-kick from the right hand side, which Whelan mis-hit first time, but it was still able to inculcate in three Gretna defenders and keeper Mathieson a remarkable deal of confusion, despite the lack of serious attention from any Queen's forward. Eventually, the ball was cleared, but the signs were there that Gretna were not as solid at the back as Queen's had made them seem up until this stage.
Before the half-time whistle, Gretna had two efforts from crosses, the first of which saw Dobie head wide, the second seeing Mitchell again unsure of how to deal with a corner swirling in on goal.
At least the signs from the half-time interval were positive, with Queen's throwing on Fisher and Dunning in place of Gallagher and Gemmell, and the referee not appearing for the second half. No, I'm not kidding either; Mr. Toner's decision to reward J. Hore's piece of agility more akin to a poolside than a football pitch meant that most home fans were quite happy that he was unfit to continue... they knew that even before he picked up an injury. For the second week running, a linesman was called from the stand, and far-side assistant Thomas Robertson took over in the middle.
Paul Martin had clearly recognised the urgent need for changes, and Fisher and Dunning were more likely to give Gretna problems with their control and footwork than the men they replaced. The problem was that we now lacked a proper central presence up front.
The second half began evenly, with Mark Dobie showing all his experience and wiliness in keeping onto the ball inside the area under pressure with little support, before backheeling the ball cleverly to Irons, however the ball overran the touchline. How Queen's could do with a target man in Dobie's mould. A few minutes later a rising shot from the same player flew off a Queen's player and over the crossbar.
Allan Dunning's first taste of the action arrived in 54 minutes, teasing the Gretna defence on the right edge of the box and seemingly hanging onto possession for an age. Eventually he found a way through, but his pass across the area was hacked clear by a Gretna boot. A minute after came Queen's best chance so far, though it could only go down as a half one: Fisher chipped the ball to the back post with no one waiting, but the ball fell for Dunning still in position on the right; he returned it along the centre of the area, Martin stepped in but couldn't force a shot, before the overlapping Sinclair picked up, took a touch, and disappointingly hooked his shot well wide. Gretna then nearly scored shortly afterwards, as Dobie fired the ball across goal with Mitchell all at sea. Henney was waiting at the far post, but a desperate Queen's tackle put him off sufficiently for the ball to go out safely for a goal-kick.
The game now entered a lull for ten minutes or so, with the only action being the handing out of yellow cards; first to Turner and Martin for an incident which I missed, though what was apparent was that there was little serious in it. This happened in 66 minutes; two minutes later Ross Clark entered the book for kicking the ball away and at a Gretna player after Whelan had
been penalised. Click here for the conclusion to this report