( Henderson )
With Steven Canning returning to the starting XI after injury, he was fielded up front alongside Willie Martin. Stewart Jack was the player dropping out. There was no sign of John Gemmell, however, although there had been no report of an injury for the big youngster.
Steven Canning looked lively early on in the game, clearly keen to make up for his absence in the side for the previous two games. An early shot from him, 25 yards out, flew just over as Queen's controlled most of the early possession, though they rarely looked threatening.
After 6 minutes, Willie Martin had a header cleared off the line following Allan's corner, but the game settled into a lull of nothingness for the next ten minutes. And then Montrose scored.
It was virtually their first effort at goal. A corner was floated in from the left, and Robbie Henderson rose to head beyond Stewart, who quite possibly should have done better. Hesitant defending again had let an opposing team score against Queen's wihout deserving to do so.
Tony Quinn came close to an equaliser within two minutes, when his shot came off the outstretched leg of Campbell between the Montrose posts. James Allan then tried a shot, but Campbell held comfortably.
In what stands as the worst match of the season so far ( and there have been a few candidates ) Queen's didn't manage another shot until the half-hour mark. Then, Canning shot from close range after Whelan's long throw but it was another simple save for the Montrose keeper ( who for some reason, was wearing the no. 21 jersey ). Three minutes later, Canning turned nicely inside the area following a cross, but again failed to get his shot far enough away from Campbell, who stretched to make the stop.
Montrose then achieved their first attempt at goal since their goal, with Kerrigan shooting wide after good interplay on the left flank. Goalscorer Henderson had the chance to add a second just prior to half-time, after a cross had somehow eluded the Queen's defence, but he wasn't sharp enough to capitalise on the gift and Stewart gathered. It was an another example of a defensive slip, but perhaps the home defence was struggling to concentrate, having had little of substance to deal with. Half-time arrived with Queen's looking about as likely to score as Kate Moss is to win a pie-eating contest, but then the Albion Rovers match three weeks ago had looked a similar lost cause at half-time, and they had recovered on that occasion. So maybe there was hope then.
The match resumed much as it had stopped, with nothing happening. Except 22 men aimlessly kicking and chasing a ball about a grass field. Johnny Whelan was the first to wake the crowd, shooting well from 30 yards, and his looping effort had to be clawed over the bar by Campbell. Yet again, the resulting corner came to nothing.
Montrose briefly threatened on the hour mark, with a Christie header being deflected for a flag kick, before Queen's made their first change in an attempt to turn things around. Stewart Jack replaced Steven Canning, who had started brightly but had begun to toil, perhaps suffering the effects of recent injury.
Danny Ferry's recent performances have been excellent but the skipper was unable to replicate that form in this match. He did have a fine run after 65 minutes, when he turned cleverly before getting to the byeline and playing in a cross, but no-one was there to attack it, and Campbell caught easily. James Allan had been experiencing a similar problem when crossing from the left-hand side- no takers in the box, and the lack of a potent front man was glaringly obvious. But some of the deliveries were also not up to scratch, and Stewart Jack gave a fine example of how not to take a corner 2 minutes later, failing to keep the ball in play and hitting the roof of the net.
Stevie Moffat, assured in defence, pushed forward with 20 minutes left and was tackled from behind by Kerrigan, the experienced striker being booked for his trouble. After a palaver over the position of the Montrose wall, Ferry fired aimlessly over.
Allan Dunning was then thrown on for Willie Martin after 71 minutes as Queen's looked increasingly ragged. The dangerous McDonald, on as a substitute, chased the ball to the bye-line on the left and cut it back; Grant Johnson found all sorts of space to shoot but his effort was cleared off the line by Fallon. McDonald then had a powerful drive tipped over by Colin Stewart, after neat link-up work from Montrose.
The final ten minutes saw Queen's looking resigned to their predicament, but to not even force a worthwhile effort while still in with a chance is simply not good enough. Especially as Montrose looked far from the promotion challengers they had hoped to be. With the midfield bereft of invention ( I won't even mention the strikeforce ), a goal looked very far away. Well, Elgin is 200 miles from Glasgow. I jest, of course. Losing a goal to Queen's Park will soon become almost equivalent to defeat for other sides, unless we hastily re-establish ourselves in this division. Today, Queen's were utterly disjointed, and even more worryingly, looked totally lacking in confidence. How much more of this John McCormack will take, who knows, but he must be desperate for the returns from injury of Chris Fisher and David Menelaws, to inject some spark into the team. Perhaps playing Darren Magee in midfield would improve matters, as both Quinn and Whelan look decidedly off form. And at the back, decisiveness remains a problem. Also, Ross Clark should surely have been given the chance to appear late on, to give the team something fresh, yet for whatever reason McCormack decided not to use a third substitute.
To look at the wider picture, Queen's have slipped so badly from the Second Division days that it seems hard to believe we were actually playing at that level only 18 months ago. We have looked a better team this year than last, but today's display would have fitted perfectly into last season. However, on a personal note, I would just like to say that I have no wish for John McCormack to carry the can. Too often, boards decide to dismiss managers when there is still the chance to turn things around. John should be given until the season's end to oversee a much-needed change in fortunes , and I'm sure he will be.
Queen's Park: Stewart, Ferry, J. Gallagher, Moffat, Agostini, Fallon, Canning ( Jack ), Whelan, Martin ( Dunning ), Quinn, Allan.
Montrose: Campbell, McCheyne, Ferguson, Gibson, Christie, McQuillan,
K. Webster ( Craig ), Johnson, Kerrigan ( Gilzean ), Henderson ( McDonald ),
C. Webster. Goal: Henderson 16.
Attendance: 492.