| East Stirlingshire |
| Queen's Park |
| 0 |
| 2 |
| (Weatherston, Kettlewell) |
| Queen's finally beat East Stirling this season and as an added bonus moved up to second place in the league, taking full advantage of other sides' enforced idleness. Only Berwick were also in action out of the other promotion contenders, and it may prove pivotal that this game went ahead and was won by Queen's. We still don't have to worry about any re-arranged midweek games- incredibly, we've had not had a single match off yet this season- and that could prove invaluable as other teams, such as Dumbarton, face a pile-up of fixtures. The Firs Park pitch was grim, but it didn't stop David Weatherston scoring a wonderful opening goal in the 12th minute. He burst clear of the defence, beating two men, and was able to ignore Robert Dunn's supporting run and push the ball into the far corner of the net. Queen's were well on top, and Robert Dunn should have scored a second but misconnected embarassingly inside the area from a low ball. The second did arrive before the break though; Queen's took a throw-in quickly, and Paul Cairney took the ball smartly on the goal-line, squaring it back for Stuart Kettlewell to sidefoot calmly into the net. This was his first goal for the club since August 2005. Queen's missed a bundle of chances in the second half, and Mark Ferry in particular will have been disappointed not to score. Not even the introduction of Frankie Carroll, for the once-again disappointing Dunn, could bring more goals, though there were near-misses in the Shire box. The home side themselves did get forward but there was never any serious danger that Queen's wouldn't win this match. Yes, it should have been a hammering but against a side we'd lost to twice before a mere win is more than acceptable. East Stirlingshire: Anton Nugent, Joe Boyle (Paul McAloney 52), Steven Oates, Andy Brand, Carl Thywissen, Paul Tweedie, Marc McKenzie, Paul Stewart, Steven Dymock, Paul Brownlie (McBride 64), Derek Ure. Substitutes not used: Scott Livingstone, Stephen Adam, Robert Tiropoulous. Queen's Park: David Crawford, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Steven Canning, Damiano Agostini, Paul Cairney (Tony Quinn 71), Stuart Kettlewell, Robert Dunn (Frankie Carroll 71), Paul Ronald (Richard Bowers 80), David Weatherston, Mark Ferry. Substitutes not used: Jonny Whelan, Mark Cairns. Goals: Weatherston 12, Kettlewell 36. Referee: Stevie O'Reilly. Attendance: 292. |