By The Spider
March 29 2004

Saturday, 27th March, 2004 Stirling Albion 0 Queen's Park 0 (Bells Scottish League – Third Division)

Kenny Brannigan built himself a successful playing career on a no-nonsense safety first strategy, but he needs to learn (and soon!) that such an attitude will not necessarily serve him well as a coach. If, as he says, Eddie Hunter was an inspiration for him, then KB could do a lot worse than ask Eddie for a few words of guidance.

You see, although a totally uncompromising defender himself, as a coach Eddie was prepared to gamble on being susceptible to counter-attacks because he recognised the importance of allowing his players the freedom to attack at will, and Eddie was one coach who could never be accused of sanctioning defensively minded line-ups.

Sadly, judging by recent performances, KB’s players do not appear to have the same licence to thrill! Those Queen’s supporters not present at Forthbank, and who were simply happy to note the final outcome without enquiring further as to how it was achieved, may well believe that a draw gained away to the league leaders was a good result, but behind the encouraging scoreline lies a different story.

The Queen’s teamsheet was again along familiar lines, the only change being the inclusion of Stuart Kettlewell who replaced the injured Danny Ferry. Danny will be out for the next month or so with a bad ankle injury, and it was Ross Clark who took over the captain’s armband as well as moving back to fill the sweeper’s role.

As expected, Stirling applied some early pressure and Derek Scrimgour did well to hold a shot from Lyle that seemed destined for the postage stamp corner.

Queen’s came close to opening the scoring in the 13^th minute when Stuart Kettlewell sent Derek Carcary haring through the middle. The young striker looked to have done everything right as he drew Hogarth before aiming to slot the ball past him, but all credit to the ‘keeper who pulled off a great save by spreading himself and enjoying the good fortune of having the ball deflect off his right knee and narrowly miss the far post. More often than not, that kind of shot ends up in the back of the net.

Hay had a great opportunity in the 19^th minute when he seized on a deflected knock-down inside the Queen’s area, only to snatch at his shot which soared miles over the bar.

David McCallum was very late with a tackle on Hay out on the stand side touchline a few minutes later, but referee MacDonald waved play-on to allow Stirling an advantage. Play continued for over two minutes before the ball finally went out of play, at which point McCallum duly received his belated and deserved yellow card. It was excellent refereeing from the official who stuck to his guns, where lesser refs would probably have let the incident go unpunished given how long it took before punishment could be administered.

In the 29^th minute, Derek Carcary was again put through to where he could see the whites of Hogarth’s eyes, but this time he was forced to toe-poke the ball wide of him in order to get to the ball first. The angle was too tight to attempt a first time effort, so instead Derek cleverly picked out the supporting Frankie Carroll, but the ball bobbled on the rutted surface as it reached him and Frankie’s effort was so badly sliced that it virtually went at a right angle to where it was aimed.

Five minutes later, Allan Dunning had a go from outside the area, but his trundler was intercepted by young Carcary whose quick shot on the turn narrowly evaded Hogarth’s left hand post.

Following an altercation with McCallum, and latterly with Bonnar who had no need to become involved, Hay was booked for his part in the affray which basically amounted to aggressive behaviour. Shortly afterwards, Derek Carcary collapsed off the ball in a heap in the centre circle, a victim of the aforementioned rutted surface, and hopefully the injury is not too serious as many a damaged knee ligament has arisen from studs catching in the turf whilst attempting to turn quickly.

Paul Harvey was the surprise replacement as once more KB resisted the temptation to blood David Weatherston, so Stevie Canning moved up to join Frankie Carroll in attack. It did however allow Harvey to meet up with his old chum Smith in the Stirling midfield, Smith being the player who had taken Harvey out in an off the ball incident at Hampden, and whose chin had then made a good contact with Harvey’s right fist. Smith had once more been winding Queen’s players up at every opportunity, so the opportunity was there for sparks to fly again.

Right on the stroke of half time, McLean had a great chance to score, but he shot wildly over.

The same player should also have scored within seconds of the re-start, but having got away with a blatant shove on Reilly, McLean somehow contrived to place a measured shot off the base of Derek Scrimgour’s left hand post. It was a bad miss as McLean had all the time in the world to pick his spot when left one on one with the ‘keeper some 12 yards from goal.

It was from this point onwards that a reasonable game deteriorated badly, and a measure of how bad play was is that the next notable incident didn’t occur until the 59^th minute when Hay was sent off following receipt of his second yellow card after a bad and unnecessary tackle from behind on Frankie Carroll at the halfway line.

Ten minutes later, Stirling were down to just nine men when McLean was slightly late in challenging Scrimgour for a through ball inside the Queen’s area. The initial challenge merited a yellow card at worst, but it was what followed which resulted in McLean being shown a straight red card on the advice of the far side assistant who had witnessed the former Partick Thistle striker’s sly tugging at Scrimgour’s hair as the pair disentangled themselves.

Shortly afterwards, when play had switched over to the stand side, the assistant on that side then drew attention to uncomplimentary remarks that had emanated from the home dug-out, an indiscretion which resulted in Bino’s coach Allan Moore being banished to the stand.

With almost 20 minutes remaining, this was a great opportunity for Queen’s to take the game by the scruff of the neck and impose themselves. Instead, it was the home side that took control and a warning was served when Lyle sent a wild effort over Scrimgour’s bar.

Lyle had another go in the 78^th minute, and Scrimgour did well to grab his direct free kick. With Queen’s in total disarray on the field, now was the time for Kenny Brannigan to steady the ship whether by positional change or tactical substitution. There were plenty of options open to him. He could move Allan Dunning up front, put Ross Clark in midfield or allow Tony Quinn an ideal re-introduction by allowing him to impose himself on a midfield that was badly lacking in physical presence.

Sadly, nothing appeared to have been done about the imbalance created by the sending offs, and Stirling continued to intercept loose passes or inaccurate long balls before surging forward with the vociferous backing of a home support who could sense Queen’s vulnerabilities as much as their players did.

An almost comical situation developed where Queen’s defence struggled to cope with Stirling’s quick passing movements and panic clearances became the norm thereby handing back possession to the home side. On the few occasions that Queen’s did make progress into their opponent’s half, possession was surrendered cheaply, with Paul Harvey being particularly guilty. Whilst inexperienced players can be forgiven for struggling to adapt to new circumstances, there is no case for his defence.

Finally, with only four minutes remaining, there was movement in the away dugout, with David Weatherston replacing Allan Dunning who would have made a far more effective forward than David Stewart who was increasing being seen in advanced position.

The change almost brought an instant result as the youngster’s pace and control began to worry the Stirling defence. For once Paul Harvey played an ambitious pass over the static defence and David Weatherston’s powerful volley looked a winner all the way until Hogarth somehow miraculously kept it out. Either he knew little about it and it was a lucky rebound, or it was as good a save as has been seen at this level for some time.

So Queen’s dug out the draw that most realistic supporters would have settled for before the game, but in the circumstances this was a very poor outcome and, more worryingly, charges of neglect now require to be answered by the Queen’s coach. He has been happy to lay the blame at the players’ door when they have been missing in action, so it will be interesting to see how much responsibility he accepts for his apparent lack of input during the last half hour of a game which is best forgotten if you are a Queen’s Park supporter.

This coming Saturday, hapless East Stirlingshire are the visitors to Hampden, and anything less than a convincing Queen’s victory will have home fans calling for their coach’s head. ‘Shire are a side who should be swept aside by a procession of forceful attacks which should yield a few goals. Should an early goal be achieved, a second should be vigorously pursued as anything action other than going for an exposed jugular will not be welcome by a support who remain to be convinced whether Kenny Brannigan is indeed the right man for the job.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 2/5

STAR SPIDER :  Martin Bonnar (played consistently well throughout)

QUEEN’S PARK : Derek Scrimgour, Martin Bonnar, David McCallum, Allan Dunning (David Weatherston– 86), David Stewart, Ross Clark, Stuart Kettlewell, Stevie Reilly, Frankie Carroll, Stephen Canning, Derek Carcary (Paul Harvey – 44)

Subs (not used) : Brian McCue (G/K), Damiano Agostini, Tony Quinn

Scorer(s) : none

Booked :  McCallum (26 – late challenge)

STIRLING ALBION : Myles Hogarth, Paul Nugent, Stewart Devine (Derek Anderson – 31), Chris Scotland, George Rowe, Andy Smith (Gary Kelly – 62), Paul Hay, Colin McKinnon, Scott McLean, Derek Lyle (Ryan Davidson – 86), David O’Brien

Subs (not used) : Scott Morrison (G/K), Craig Ferguson

Scorer(s) : none

Booked : Hay (40 – aggressive behaviour, 59 – tackle from behind)

Red Card : McLean (69 – violent conduct)

REFEREE :  Scott MacDonald ****   (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)