By The Spider
April 5 2004

Saturday, 3rd April, 2004 Queen's Park 1 East Stirlingshire 0 (Bells Scottish League - Third Division)

The knives would have been out for Kenny Brannigan had Queen’s failed to extend East Stirlingshire’s 19 match run of defeats, especially bearing in mind that ‘Shire’s only two League victories last season were achieved at the National Stadium. It is therefore somewhat ironical that the man who saved Queen’s blushes is the same player who KB dropped for a long period on the grounds that “he is not a forward”. Try telling that to ‘Shire ‘keeper Chris Todd who was comprehensively beaten from 25 yards by a strike that Alan Shearer would have been proud of!

Queen’s made only one change from the side that ultimately struggled to contain nine men at Stirling the previous Saturday, with everyone’s favourite flatterer to deceive Paul Harvey coming in to replace Derek Carcary who was given further opportunity to rest his damaged knee on the bench.

Having enjoyed success at Firs Park in the last encounter between the two sides, Queen’s would have been expected to start this game in similar high tempo fashion, and so it proved. Right from kick-off, the visitors were hemmed into their own half and low right wing crosses from Frankie Carroll and then from Stephen Canning within the first minute deserved better support in the middle.

In the 6th minute Martin Bonnar sent a snap-shot over, and this was quickly followed by a typical Ross Clark effort, leaning back as he fired well over with a left foot drive from 25 yards.

Allan Dunning had a good opportunity to open the scoring two minutes later when he beat the offside trap to get to a Ross Clark through-ball long before Todd, who was stranded in “no-man’s land” at the edge of the area. The obvious thing to do was to try an early lob, but Allan didn’t catch his shot cleanly and his scuffed attempt was parried by the ‘Shire ‘keeper at full stretch.

From the resultant corner, the ball fell to David Stewart who elected to fire the ball across the face of the goal rather than attempt a shot from an acute angle. Sadly, there were no takers.

Another corner saw Stevie Reilly head over at the back post, and then Stephen Canning did likewise from a left wing cross. Next to have a go was David Stewart, but he too failed to hit the target with his header from David McCallum’s inswinging cross from the right wing. A minute later, when restored to his natural left sided position, the same player created space for himself with a nice dummy instead of the anticipated shot, but his final effort was blocked by a defender.

Right on the half hour mark Frankie Carroll played a nice one-two with Stuart Kettlewell but he then shot narrowly wide from a good position.

It would be no exaggeration to say that, thus far, the visitor’s had hardly been out of their own half and, harsh as it may sound, were probably the worst team Queen’s have ever played against in a League game.

It was therefore becoming something of a concern that the Spiders had not yet taken the lead despite several half chances to do so. Something out of the ordinary was therefore called for and, thankfully, Allan Dunning did just that in the 34^th minute. It was a near replica of a previous spectacular strike at New Bayview as he sent a 25 yard drive spiralling over the helpless Todd into the keeper’s top right hand corner.

Inspired by such a glorious goal, Queen’s would now surely majestically sweep their opponents aside and their supporters sat back to await the goal feast that lay ahead.

By the interval they were still waiting and, indeed, neither ‘keeper was called into further action until the 53^rd minute when Derek Scrimgour made his first save of the game by grabbing a shot from Leishman as he beat a hasty retreat back towards his own goal line.

It really was a low key affair now with Queen’s seemingly content to keep ‘Shire at bay and badly missing a Danny Ferry or Jonny Whelan to drive them on.

Allan Dunning’s low cross from the right in the 66^th minute very nearly landed at the feet of David McCallum in the six yard box but, that apart, there was little sign of where another goal might come from.

With the home support now more than a little restless, they were cheered by the introduction of young prodigy Derek Carcary in the 70^th minute, and the nippy striker nearly made a sudden impact when he raced through onto a measured pass from Paul Harvey only to be denied by a good save from Todd low to his left.

This seemed to wake ‘Shire up a bit, and they now gave the impression a side who genuinely believed that they could take something from this game, something that would have been unthinkable at the time that Queen’s had taken the lead.

In the space of a couple of minutes Mulholland pulled a long range effort wide, and then  Leishman headed narrowly over from his side’s first corner of the game with just quarter of an hour remaining.

Fortunately, before ‘Shire could further grow in the belief that a salvage operation was possible, Queen’s stepped up the pace again. David Weatherston’s low 81^st minute cross was only half cleared into the path of Allan Dunning whose low shot was deflected narrowly past. Then, when the corner came over, David Stewart’s close range shot rebounded off the crossbar onto the line and back out, before Derek Carcary’s netbound rebound was blocked by some frantic defending.

Stuart Kettlewell headed the next corner over and then Stevie Reilly dived full length to head home from another, but the “goal” was chalked off by the excellent (on this occasion) Mike Tumilty for a foul on Todd.

With two minutes remaining, Martin Bonnar earned himself a completely stupid booking for throwing the ball away after a free kick had been awarded. What made it even more stupid was the fact that it was the third time he had done so during the course of the game, each one seeing the ball being hurled further away from the referee than the one before, so it was inevitable that Tumilty’s patience would eventually run out.

It was with muted cheers that the final whistle was greeted, as with it came the realisation that the three points whilst most welcome would not have been achieved against any other side in the division with that kind of display.

Once Damiano Agostini, Danny Ferry and Jonny Whelan are all available again, this will considerably boost the side, and hopefully a good run can be enjoyed which will lift the side into mid table. To do that, not only will Albion Rovers have to be kept at bay, but next week’s opponents Montrose will have to be overtaken.

Next Saturday’s match up at Links Park stadium is therefore something of a last chance saloon in that regard as it is highly improbable that the gap between the sides could be closed were Montrose to extend it by a further three points. Hopefully, Derek Carcary will be back to full fitness and restored to the starting line-up as the youngster remains the most likely goal threat, and an inspiration to those around him.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5

STAR SPIDER :  Allan Dunning (the difference between the sides)

QUEEN’S PARK : Derek Scrimgour, Martin Bonnar, David McCallum (Derek Carcary – 70), Allan Dunning, David Stewart, Ross Clark, Stuart Kettlewell, Stevie Reilly, Frankie Carroll (David Weatherston– 79), Stephen Canning, Paul Harvey

Subs (not used) : Brian McCue (G/K), Tony Quinn, Richard Sinclair

Scorer(s) : Dunning (34)

Booked :  Bonnar (88 – dissent)

EAST STIRLINGSHIRE : Chris Todd, Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren (Bryan Mulholland – 72), Steven Oates, Chris Newall, Graeme McGhee, Scott Livingstone (Peter Kane – 84), David Miller, Derek Ure, Shaun McAuley, Chris Baldwin (Jordan Leishman – 39)

Subs (not used) : Ross Gilpen (G/K), Paul Rodden

Scorer(s) : none

Booked : none

REFEREE :  Mike Tumilty *****   (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)