By The Spider
November 8 2004

Saturday, 6th November, 2004 Queen’s Park 4 Stenhousemuir 3 (Bells Scottish League – Third Division) (Picture from qpfc.com) After a wretched October, Queen's got November off to the best possible start with victory over Stenhousemuir in a seven goal thriller.

All football supporters, no matter which team they support, all have fond memories of certain special games that they will bore their grandchildren with in years to come. This latest addition to the Queen’s Park connoisseur’s list showed little potential for its conclusion at half time, but then again neither did another memorable game between Queen’s and Stenhousemuir in 1981 which also finished 4-3 to The Spiders.

That game was a turning point for Queen’s who had been 3-0 down after half an hour, because it gave them the self-belief that they needed to go on and win the title a few weeks later. Whilst there is no danger of that happening this time around, this was Billy Stark’s first home win since officially taking charge, and it finally justified his belief that Queen’s can win games whilst playing very attractive football.

Queen’s went into this match on the back of four successive defeats, but the last three of these have witnessed some scintillating football from the Spiders who deserved a minimum of six points from those games. Further tempering the previously buoyant mood of their supporters was the sad news that David McCallum had been forced to prematurely hang up his boots at the age of 27 due to a recurrence of an old knee injury, but it is to be hoped that he will be able to retain some kind of official involvement with the Club in future.

Queen’s started this game looking to be very much in the mood once again, and from a chip by Ally Graham in the opening minute, Stuart Kettlewell headed past at the far post. The pitch was a little heavy following significant rainfall during the previous 24 hours, and Ross Clark was guilty of playing a none too clever short pass-back which required David Crawford to sprint off his line to boot the ball clear in the nick of time.

Despite playing some neat possession football in the opening stages, Queen’s went behind in the 12^th minute when Alan Trouten was suckered into making a rash challenge by Paul McGrillen who duly went over Trouten’s outstretched leg to earn his side a penalty, which he duly converted by dispatching the ball low to David Crawford’s left.

Young Trouten looked keen to make amends three minutes later when he got on the end of a superb through ball from Paul Harvey, but McCulloch saved well with his legs at close range. Paul Harvey was involved in most Queen’s moves and he fired in a left foot shot which was deflected over, before his quick free kick set up a headed opportunity for Ally Graham which went narrowly past.

Just after the half hour mark, David Crawford turned defence into attack with an immense throw-out into the Stenhousemuir half which released Stuart Kettlewell on the right wing,who duly made ground before crossing for Mark Ferry whose powerful header was deflected narrowly past McCulloch’s left hand post.

It only seemed a matter of time before an equaliser materialised, but it was Stenhousemuir who extended their lead against the run of play when Martin Laughlin embarked on a powerful run through the heart of the home defence before slotting the ball under David Crawford’s despairing dive.

As half time approached, McBride was booked for a needlessly pulling down Frankie Carroll from behind, and then Ally Graham headed a measured cross from Paul Harvey straight at McCulloch.

If there has been one criticism of Billy Stark thus far, then it is a failure to appreciate that Ross Clark is twice the player when played in central midfield as opposed to a wider role. So it was with some relief that astute fans noted that the second half began with Mark Ferry linking up with Shaun Molloy on the left flank, thereby allowing Ross Clark a greater freedom to push up to support the front pairing of Graham and Carroll.

Ally Graham nearly pulled one back in the 50^th minute when his header from a floated Paul Harvey corner was deflected narrowly past. Laughlin had demonstrated an impressive burst of pace when scoring the second, and a minute later he again outstripped the Queen’s defence only to wildly slice his shot with most of David Crawford’s goal gaping before him.

It was a costly miss as Queen’s pulled one back a couple of minutes later. Frankie Carroll looked yards offside when receiving a long header deep in the visitor’s half, but he was being played on by Murphy out on the right touchline. Frankie sped on into the Stenhousemuir area, but was forced wide by the challenge of McCulloch. Whilst he could have gambled on taking an early shot from a tight angle, instead Frankie steadied himself before laying the ball back to the supporting Ross Clark who blasted the ball home from six yards.

A minute later Queen’s could have been level when a magnificent through ball from Paul Harvey sent Mark Ferry clean through, but his powerful shot was blocked by McCulloch at close range. Instead, Queen’s immediately found themselves two behind again when the visitors won a free kick at the other end and McBride quickly took it to leave Ryan Davidson free in front of goal to thrash the ball in off David Crawford’s left hand post.

Undaunted by this setback, Queen’s continued to take the game to Stenhousemuir, and Ross Clark fired a dipping shot just over the bar after turning on a quickly taken throw in. Queen’s second goal was only delayed by another couple of minutes though, and it arrived right on the hour mark when another perfect through ball from Paul Harvey allowed Stuart Kettlewell to send over a deep cross from the byeline on the right which Mark Ferry gleefully volleyed home from a tight angle at the back post.

It was still a very open game where either side looked capable of scoring, and David Crawford kept Queen’s in it with a fine save from a low shot from McGrillan. Anyone who was at Gretna last week might have noted how Frankie Carroll won a penalty by cleverly positioning himself between the ball and a Murphy whose momentum took him over the diminutive striker, and he did so again in the 71^st minute to induce a clumsy challenge which left referee Ian Fyfe with little option but to award a penalty for. Again Ross Clark stepped up to place a low shot into the keeper’s bottom left hand corner.

All square with almost 20 minutes to go – could either side snatch the winner? David Crawford tipped over a long range shot from Collins in the 79^th minute to keep the scores level, but the winning goal was only delayed by a further two minutes. Paul Harvey was again the architect with another defence splitting pass which sent Frankie Carroll to the byeline, and this time his driven cut-back deflected cruelly off Murphy and past a bewildered McCulloch for an own goal to complete a miserable afternoon for the defender.

A minute later a superb passing move involving several Queen’s players completely opened up the Stenhousemuir defence for Stuart Kettlewell, but his flashing low drive went into the side netting.

With just over a minute remaining, Laughlin was booked for hacking out at Alan Trouten in frustration, and then Gardiner fired in a shot on the turn which narrowly cleared David Crawford’s crossbar.

This was a superb victory for Queen’s, and they will now travel to Montrose with plenty of confidence for a game where victory would see The Spiders jump back into 3^rd place if Cowdenbeath where able to bounce back from their eight goal mauling at home to Gretna and avoid defeat up at Elgin.

Finally, a little gripe about the Stenhousemuir’s use of silver numbers on their yellow shirts. Whilst they may just about be visible for the match officials, they are virtually unrecognisable for most of those in the stands, so apologies to readers if this report contains significant errors misidentifying any of the Warriors’ players. 

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE :  4/5

STAR SPIDER(S) :  Paul Harvey (master of the defence-splitting pass)

QUEEN’S PARK : David Crawford, Alan Trouten, Shaun Molloy, Gavin Rushford (Stevie Reilly – 46), Richard Sinclair, Paul Harvey (Brian Blair – 85), Stuart Kettlewell, Ross Clark, Ally Graham (Bryan Felvus – 90), Frankie Carroll, Mark Ferry

Subs (not used) :  Stevie McGovern (G/K), Martin Bonnar

Scorer(s) : Clark (53 & 71-pen), Ferry (60), O.G. (81)

Booked : none

STENHOUSEMUIR : Willie McCulloch, Sean Fallon, David McInally (Anthony Smith – 62), Ryan Davidson, Keith Knox, Paul Murphy, Martin Laughlin, Lee Collins, Steve Kerrigan (Thomas Sinclair – 65), John-Paul McBride, Paul McGrillen (Mark Gardiner – 80)

Subs (not used) : Kevin McKeown (G/K), Stewart Easton

Scorer(s) :   McGrillen (pen – 12), Laughlin (37), Davidson (55)

Booked : McBride (40 - repetitive fouling), Laughlin (89 – dangerous challenge)

REFEREE : Ian Fyfe ***  (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)