Spiders Coast To Victory Over Dire 'Shire

at the double
By The Spider
November 16 2002

Saturday, 16th November, 2002 East Stirlingshire 0 Queen's Park 4 (Scottish League - Third Division)

It says quite a lot about a team when they turn in an average performance and achieve their biggest win of the season when doing so. It's generally considered to "not be cricket" to hit a man when he's down, but even having been there ourselves in the not too distant past, it still has to be said......'Shire were absolutely woeful and it's frightening to think how many Queen's might have taken off them had The Spiders produced a repeat of last Saturday's exhilarating display.

Don't be fooled by the scoreline. Whilst Queen's worked hard, particularly in midfield where Quinn and Whelan were immense, the side never got into top gear, but then again, nor did they they need to.

Within the opening couple of minutes, four corners had been forced as 'Shire found themselves desperately defending their goal right from kick-off.

'Shire themselves briefly threatened when Colin Stewart made his only save of the half, before Queen's won the midfield battle and began their relentless pursuit of some goals to improve their goal difference figures. Jimmy Allan had a great chance in the 12th minute when he followed up a John Gemmell aerial challenge with Findlay and shot the loose ball over the bar. The annoying thing about it was that it was a really clean strike and had the flying winger not made such a good contact it would probably have ended up in the net as the goal lay at his mercy.

However, the opening goal was only delayed by a minute. John Gemmell dropped off his marker and turned nicely before sending Allan Dunning clear on the right wing. When the near post cross came in Jimmy Allan was able to get in front of both the nearest defender and Findlay to usher the ball over the line with what looked to be his left shoulder after he had missed with his header. His sheepish look and general lack of exuberance in the post-goal celebration confirmed that he had enjoyed a little good fortune in avoiding what could have been a contender for miss of the season.

Apart from a 19th minute John Gemmell effort which was well saved by Findlay, Queen's failed to threaten again until just after the half hour mark when they struck again. Stephen Canning's left wing corner was won by John Gemmell and Johnny Whelan hammered the ball home from barely a yard out. Gemmell's header may have been going in of its own accord, but Whelan was certainly taking no chances!

Two goals up, Queen's would normally chase the game in search of more, but instead their performance remained somewhat low key as they remained focused upon simply keeping their shape knowing that more chances would ultimately come their way as 'Shire themselves pushed forward when trying to reduce the deficit. However, the anticipated response from the home side failed to materialise and neither side caused the other any problems during the remainder of the half.

It was a similar story at the start of the second period and, indeed when Queen's finally got a sight of goal in the 53rd minute, it produced another goal. Again John Gemmell was heavily involved when he re-directed an Allan pass into the path of his striking partner Allan Dunning. Although Findlay did well to block Dunning's original left foot shot, he was powerless to do anything about the right foot one from the rebound which sped high into the top left hand corner.

That finished the game as a contest, although that rather presumes that 'Shire were capable of providing one in the first place! A couple of minutes later, it was nearly four as Queen's produced their best move of the game from a direct free kick. As usual, Stephen Moffat made a decoy run over the ball, but this time John Gemmell didn't blast it and instead passed it to the side of the wall where Jimmy Allan had cleverly peeled off into a great position. As Findlay rushed towards him, young James casually placed the ball past him but the ball clattered of the base of the near post and ran along the line towards the corner flag.

It seemed that every time Queen's attacked they looked like scoring and that again proved to be the case in the 64th minute. Jimmy Allan somehow found himself with acres of space on the right wing and sped unmarked towards goal with John Gemmell haring up on his inside looking for the pass which would have allowed him to sidefoot the ball into the empty net. However, there was only one thought in Jimmy Allan's mind and fortunately for him his right foot shot did find the back of the net, perhaps with the aid of a slight deflection from one of two defenders who had tried desperately to get back protect a completely exposed Findlay. Had the opportunity been missed, John Gemmell would have had a real go at Allan and even so, he still looked somewhat miffed that his three earlier assists hadn't merited some reciprocation in his direction.

Allan could, and should, have completed his hat trick in the 77th minute when he lobbed the ball over Findlay but, with the whole goal to aim at, it slipped harmlessly past the absent 'keeper's left hand post.

The home side finally offered some token resistance in the closing stages. Firstly, in the 81st minute, Maughan shot over after a right wing corner had gone all the way through to him at the back post, and then Colin Stewart made a rare save, this time from a close range shot from substitute Boyle.

As 'Shire's frustration boiled over, Fairbairn was lucky to escape with just a taking too after raking his studs over Stewart when the big 'keeper went down at the striker's feet. However referee Downie, who adopted an overly lenient attitude for much of the game, had no alternative but to finally book Fairbairn for a dangerous two footed challenge on Fallon. To complete a day of misery for the 'Shire striker, he missed an absolute sitter in the final minute when he sliced a right foot shot wide of goal from ten yards out after a neat one-two had prised open the Queen's defence. The usual ironical cheers which followed from visiting supporters merely added to his embarrassment.

So for, a while at least, Queen's fans have the luxury of being able to travel home from a game without anxiously awaiting the results to find out whether we would be back at the foot of the table again. Instead, it's onwards and (hopefully) upwards as consecutive home games against Peterhead and Stirling Albion offer further opportunity to pull further away from the bottom and towards the group above them.

Mid-table by Christmas? You heard it here first!

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5           STAR SPIDER : Johnny Whelan (worked his butt off)

QUEEN’S PARK : Colin Stewart, Danny Ferry, Stephen Canning, Steven Moffat, Damiano Agostini, Stevie Fallon, Allan Dunning (Brendan Crozier - 79), Johnny Whelan, John Gemmell (Paddy Gallagher - 72), Tony Quinn (Ross Clarke - 72), Jimmy Allan

Subs (not used) : Tony Mitchell (GK), Jamie White

Scorer(s) : Allan (13 & 64 mins), Whelan (31 mins), Dunning (53 mins)

Booked : none

EAST STIRLINGSHIRE  : Scott Findlay, Roddy Maughan, John Drummond (Gerry Boyle - 57), Jamie Mackay, Graham McGhee, Stephen Oates, Billy Struthers (Graham McLaren - 80), Sean McAuley, Derek Ure, Brian Fairbairn, Chris Baldwin (Jordan Leishman - 64)

Subs (not used) : Chris Todd (GK), David Grant

Scorer(s) : none

Booked : Baldwin (56 - persistent fouling), Oates (86 - dangerous challenge)

REFEREE :  Jamie Downie ** (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)