| St. Mirren 3 Queen's Park 2 ( Crilly, McGinty penalty, O'Neill ) ( Clark, Graham ) After extra time |
| We wouldn't have minded another Bell's Cup run. Last season it provided some relief from a torpid start to the league campaign, while sustaining dreams of a first national final in over a century. It wasn't to be then, and it won't be now either, but for much of this game at Love Street it appeared we would have been misled in thinking such a run was out of the question this time around. Queen's caused a disjointed St. Mirren side considerable consternation in putting them 2-0 down within 20 minutes, in their own backyard, and at a time when their supporters are looking for indications that they can do significantly better than last season's faltering effort. The final outcome was probably decided by superior fitness, which is no slight on Queen's but a reflection of the difference in status between the two clubs. Professional should invariably bury amateur; but an ignorant observer of this game would scarcely have been capable of telling which was which. Kenny Brannigan's hasn't radically altered the squad over the summer, retaining some vital players who could have seeked to leave while losing a coterie of others. Few would have chosen to jettison John Gemmell; but in Ally Graham a more than suitable replacement seems to have been found; James Allan and Willie Martin may be no more but Allan Dunning can jink with the best of them down the right and David McCallum's crossing is certainly superior to Allan's or Martin's. Replacing Cairns in goal is Derek Scrimgour, at the club for some months but forced, and forcing us, to wait. The other significant absentees from the starting eleven were Danny Ferry, benched, and Johnny Whelan, for whom Steven Reilly was asked to deputise. Reilly, of course, may yet establish himself as a fixture; Kenny Brannigan has that option in midfield at least. Steven Moffat, now recovered from injury, nonetheless started as a sub, and Tony Quinn will be missing for another large chunk of a season. In pleasant sunshine, the match opened with Queen's throwing back at St. Mirren as much as they received. It was a tenacious start, and Damiano Agostini had his first serious involvement of an impressive afternoon in 8 minutes, glancing a McCallum corner from the right powerfully wide. Already Ally Graham's influence was obvious, his flicks from the head and chest a sight to behold, and these will be a key feature in Queen's buildup play throughout the campaign. It took only 14 minutes for Queen's to open the scoring. Allan Dunning's first action of note, a surge forward from midfield, resulted in a careful pass through for the onrushing Clark. Hinchcliffe came to meet the ball at the edge of his box, making a terrible hash of it under Clark's pressure, and the ball broke for the midfielder to sidestep the keeper and roll the ball into the empty net. Clark soon exemplified his powerhouse standard once more when Gillies crashed the ball off his stooped head, thus preventing a cross from reaching the area. St. Mirren were ragged, and looked even more so when Hinchcliffe, betraying an appalling lack of certainty on his debut, pulled down Menelaws as the striker advanced on the penalty area. A yellow card was all the punishment he received; at least from the referee. With McCallum also shaping up, a neat stepover from him was followed by Ally Graham's delicate curving of the ball over the wall and straight into the goal. Given that it was nearer the middle than the corner, Hinchcliffe will be blamed by St. Mirren fans but all we cared about was being two goals up after just twenty minutes of the new season. Graham's free-kick speciality is clearly another weapon he has at his disposal. All St. Mirren managed to create for the remainder of the first-half were a whole succession of corners, some dangerous, some not, with Derek Scrimgour's handling progressively improving whenever called upon. Nonetheless they now enjoyed more possession than Queen's should reasonably have allowed them. Fallon and Agostini showed rock-like endurance in tackling at every opportunity, blocking potential crosses and stopping everything that came their way. St. Mirren had to resort to diving, Kevin McGowne's clumsy attempt at doing so just before half-time being treated with the contempt it deserved. Half-time was spent in a state of partial bliss, partial realisation that St. Mirren were bound to make greater strides during the second half. So it proved from the off when another corner was forced, causing havoc this time at the back post; the ball dropped for Dunn whose swivelled volley fell just wide. Stuart Kettlewell added to his unenviable list of cards when after sliding in on Crilly, a contretemps broke out with Crilly left holding his face on the deck. St. Mirren continued to press, playing unkempt football but nonetheless inducing signs of panic in the Queen's rearguard. O'Neill should have buried a close-range header after 55 minutes but under pressure headed over with Scrimgour beaten. Queen's simply couldn't retain the ball and were allowing St. Mirren to advance deep into their territory before the danger could be suppressed. But it couldn't be held off for ever. A Crilly free-kick shaved the bar from 25 yards, and with minds possibly wandering a little after Stephen McAuley replaced the tiring Menelaws, St. Mirren finally pierced Queen's defences. Ricky Gillies slipped a precise pass through to Crilly who rode through on goal and slammed it emphatically past the exposed Scrimgour. At this stage it was hard to see how an equaliser could be prevented. St. Mirren continued to produce attacks, Scrimgour causing some shudders when only barely diverting a Broadfoot drive round the post with a fumbled save. He then brought out shouts of applause and relief when making a superb block from O'Neill. Dunning's tired legs allowed Steven Canning to become the final Queen's substitute to enter the fray ( Ferry having come on for the injured McCallum 7 minutes before the break ). At this point Queen's began to take some of the stress off themselves, Clark passing up a good chance by thumping high after breaking forward from midfield, before young McAuley delighted the support with a beautiful turn and burst of dribbling before McGowne's bodycheck ended his hopes. It was to prove brief respite. Skilful play from Lappin down the left should have allowed McGinty to at least test Scrimgour but his firm shot went wide of the post. Another brilliantly executed tackle from Fallon in the 77th minute - despite frantic appeals for a penalty - saved the day once more. And St. Mirren were still a strong threat as the game entered its final ten minutes. Both McGowne and McGinty weren't too far away with drives. Queen's were still capable of penetrating the home defence with the skills of, especially, some of the younger players very encouraging to see during the afternoon. Neat play from Kettlewell and Reilly resulted in Canning's low daisy-cutter skimming into the side-netting with 7 minutes now left. And indeed St. Mirren had managed to cause little bother of note for the preceding moments of the final ten. Relaxation was impossible though, and sickeningly our worst fears were to prove justified. 88 minutes showed when a low ball across the box from the right forced Sinclair to go into the challenge on the edge of the six yard box. Was it rash, did McGinty make the most of it, did Sinclair take the ball. Questions I cannot answer as I was simply too far removed from the incident. McGinty took the kick and sent Scrimgour the wrong way in placing the ball to his right-hand corner. Queen's may not even have had extra-time to face had Steven Canning not hammered the ball off the line in stoppage time with Scrimgour posted missing. But when the final whistle blew only one outcome could be envisaged. Admittedly at such moments fans always fear the worst but in the cold light of rationality too it seemed certain that Queen's could not recover from such a deep wound; both physically and mentally the strains would have taken their toll. There was something apathetic then about the way in which the St. Mirren winner was scored. Following a corner, O'Neill kept hold of the ball under pressure and drove home in a crowded area. Just five minutes of extra-time played and the match seemed over. The remaining twenty-five were played out in a surreal atmosphere. Compared to the pace of normal time it was tepid stuff, with St. Mirren now relaxed and Queen's unable to conjure up a way of finding the goal that would put the game up for grabs again. The next ten minutes were aimless; only after the turnaround did any semblance of a chance present itself. Clark nearly emulated his earlier goal when again Hinchcliffe was unsteady under his pressure, McAuley showed neat footwork then lost the chance due to fatigue, but you already knew that neither of these would result in anything. It was a meek way to end, but surely forgiveable given the tiredness brought about by such a fine effort for most of the game. Realistically the season could hardly have started with a better performance than Queen's gave us today. |
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