By The Spider
July 24 2002

Tuesday, 23rd July, 2002 Queen's Park 0 Everton 6 (Pre-season Friendly)

Queen's fans have former favourite Alan Irvine to thank for persuading an English Premiership side to stop off on their way to their training camp at St. Andrews, and the new assistant boss to David Moyes will hopefully, modern technology permitting, soon provide his own thoughts on the evening's events in an exclusive report for this website having been delighted at the opportunity to return to his roots.

A larger than expected crowd in excess of 1,500 turned out for what was widely anticipated would be a largely one-sided affair. Any neutrals may have been confused as to which team was which (and getting a programme to clarify matters was nigh impossible, not surprising when Everton supporters were snapping them up en masse - one Blues fan shelled out £150 for 75 of them!) during the early stages as Queen's took the game to their more illustrious opponents.

In the opening seconds Gordon Lappin broke clear on the right wing and it took a desperate lunge in front of goal to prevent Paddy Gallagher from netting a shock opener at the near post. Lappin was again the creator in the 4th minute when he sent over a delightful cross from the left, but big John Gemmell was unable to steer the ball wide of Simonsen who had positioned himself well to cover his angles.

As in all such encounters, the underdogs need to grab whatever early chances come their way if they are to have any chance whatsoever and, with these minor scares now behind them, Everton now began to assert themselves on the game. The first threat from the visitors came in the 8th minute, but Tony Mitchell got down well to save from Loumboutis. A minute later, the Queen's 'keeper again came to the rescue with a point blank save from Rooney.

The visitor's lively young forward nearly opened the scoring in the 11th minute, but his side footed effort went just past the upright. It was that man Rooney again two minutes later when he sent a near post header flashing just over the bar. The lesson from that near escape was obviously not learned because the opening goal finally did come in the 16th minute in similar circumstances. This time the measured cross came from Loumboutis on the left, and Wayne Rooney rose unchallenged to powerfully head past Mitchell.

Rooney turned provider in the 24th minute when he pressured Richard Sinclair into surrendering possession in the Queen's area and his square ball across the penalty spot gave Duncan Ferguson the easiest of chances which he neatly tucked past Mitchell at the first time of asking.

Queen's had a good chance to get themselves back into the game two minutes later when John Gemmell head-flicked the ball onto the unmarked Stuart Jack, but the new boy rushed his shot from just inside the area and ended up hooking the ball wide of Simonsen's left hand post.

If Everton boss David Moyes was hoping for his players to have a nice easy jaunt before their somewhat tougher games against Dunfermline and Hibs, he got something of a jolt in the 28th minute when Joseph Lobo limped off after winning the ball in a challenge with John Gemmell who was not prepared to simply stand back and admire the Nigerian World Cup star's silky skills. Sadly the same could not be said of The Spiders' defence who were giving far too much room to Rooney who also appeared to have a point or two to prove to his international colleagues.

A brilliant fingertip save from Tony Mitchell prevented the youngster from grabbing his second in the 33rd minute but his time was yet to come. Meanwhile, Queen's could not be faulted for lack of effort and indeed the amateurs were earning considerable applause for the way they tried to move the ball around whenever given time to do so. In a good spell shortly before half time, Paddy Gallagher shot straight at Simonsen before The Spiders earned their best scoring opportunity in the 40th minute. Paddy Gallagher flung over an inviting cross which John Gemmell challenged bravely for. The ball broke to the unmarked Fisher on his favoured left foot just to the left of the penalty spot, but Chris's first time shot lacked direction and Simonsen was given the chance to reach a shot that he should have been given no chance with.

Queen's paid for their generosity a minute later when Wayne Rooney demonstrated exactly how it should be done when he hammered a 22 yard shot of the underside of the bar with only the merest drawing back of his foot to do so.

Whilst the half time score certainly didn't flatter the visitors, Queen's could probably feel hard done by that they didn't have something to show for their efforts. That sense of injustice increased considerably in the 47th minute when John Gemmell latched onto a neat Willie Martin header to beat Simonsen all ends up with a measured dipping volley, only to see it rebound off the underside of the bar and away to safety.

Again the miss was costly as Everton quickly swept back up to the other end of the park to grab a fourth. Yet again Rooney was involved when he sent Kevin McLeod scampering into the Queen's area, and the visitors' substitute neatly clipped the ball past the advancing Mitchell.

Undaunted by this latest setback to their game plan, Queen's responded immediately and Tony Quinn hooked a first time shot from a Martin right wing cross narrowly past Simonsen's right hand post.

In the 52nd minute Wayne Rooney showed his long range shooting power with an effort which also went narrowly past the right upright, but two minutes later the young prodigy grabbed a deserved hat trick when his 25 yarder from an identical position just crept inside Mitchell's right hand post despite a despairing dive to keep it out.

By now Queen's, not surprisingly given the considerable effort they had put in during the first hour to try to match their full time opponents, were visibly tiring and it now became one way traffic for the duration. However Steven Moffat, captain for the night in his first starting Hampden appearance, looked a completely different player from the one seen in the Hibs and Annan games, and aided by another fine performance from Agostini the former Ipswich and Arbroath defender certainly didn't look out of place as he continued to look assured in the heart of the home defence. Indeed, comparisons were even made in some quarters as to how reminiscent his style was when compared with former Spider's favourite John McGregor, who of course went on to sign for Liverpool a year after Alan Irvine's departure to their great Merseyside rivals.

There was nothing he could do however in the 77th minute when McLeod was pulled down by White who had no chance of winning the ball with a lunging tackle from behind inside the area. Idon Tal stepped up to confidently sidefoot the ball to Thomson's right to give the substitute 'keeper no chance.

For the third season in a row it looked as if Queen's fans would have to endure the ignominy of another 7 goal pre-season home hammering, but Tal had an appalling miss in the last minute. Having successfully dummied the 'keeper and left two defenders for dead on their own six yard line, with 2/3rds of the goal open to him on his left, he inexplicably hooked his shot back to his right and straight into the midriff of the prostrate Stewart Thomson who was as relieved as he was surprised to be given the chance to make the save.

Despite the scoreline, John McCormack will have been able to take many positive things away from this game. However, the main cloud on the horizon for Queen's supporters is the lack of experience in midfield and hopefully Messrs Whelan, Canning and Marshall will all be fully fit by the time of the opening league game on 3rd August.

In the meantime, the now traditional mini-tour of the North of England beckons and hopefully the games against Lancaster and Gretna will bring better fortune.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5               STAR SPIDER : Steven Moffat

QUEEN’S PARK : Tony Mitchell (Stewart Thomson - 71, Richard Sinclair (Danny Ferry - 46), John Gallagher, Damiano Agostini, Steven Moffat (James Bruce - 83), Gordon Lappin, Stuart Jack (Darren Magee - 58), Stephen Marshall (Tony Quinn - 46), John Gemmell (Gary White - 61), Paddy Gallagher (Willie Martin - 46), Chris Fisher

EVERTON : Steve Simonsen, Ibrahim Said, Peter Clarke, Joseph Yobo (Gary Naysmith - 28), Konstantinos Loumboutis, David Unsworth, Niclas Alexandersson ( Tobias Linderoth - 46), Lee Carsley (Thomas Gravesen - 46), Wayne Rooney, Duncan Ferguson (Kevin McLeod - 46), Idan Tal