Queens park report... Queen’s Park 1 Elgin City 1 Queens park should still be cock a Hoops today after getting their title aspirations back on track last week in the most emphatic fashion, deservedly beating League Two leaders Arbroath here at Hampden. The 2-1 scoreline flattered the Red Lichties, as it failed to reflect Queen’s superiority on the day. Our first win at the National Stadium since April 2013 also ended the Spiders’ run of four successive draws and took our unbeaten sequence to eight games. Today we face a challenge from the other end of the table, but we shouldn’t read too much into the fact that visitors Elgin City are propping up Scottish football. Homer suspects Jim Weir’s team currently occupy a distinctly false position. City have been badly affected by the weather, with their Borough Briggs pitch suffering severe drainage problems. They have actually played four games fewer than Queen’s and if they were to win their games in hand they would be challenging for a play-off place. Elgin were idle last week because of the weather, but before that they had won their last two games, against Montrose and then a 3-2 win at Annan in their last league match on January 10. This will be the third meeting of the season between the teams, with Queen’s having won 2-1 at the Excelsior in September and 4-1 in Elgin in November. Gus MacPherson was forced into one change for Queen’s. Ross McPherson failed to recover after limping off against Arbroath last week and that gave a start to Ryan Hynes, who signed from Drumchapel Amateurs and made an impressive debut when replacing McPherson (Ross, not Gus) last week. And Hynes was replaced on the bench by prolific young striker Billy Mortimer. Elgin have lost regular keeper Michael Fraser to his offshore job for two months and they have signed keeper Ross Laidlaw on a month’s loan from Raith Rovers, and they have added another couple of loan signings. Queen’s had scored early last week to give themselves a platform; this week the platform collapsed, as Elgin took a shock lead in two minutes. Miller conceded a free kick with a swinging arm in an aerial challenge and Moore’s kick found left back McHardy totally unmarked six yards out to head wide of Muir. Well, Homer did say Elgin were in a false position. Now it was up to Queen’s to prove they were genuine title contenders. We were almost back on level terms two minutes later, when Woods and Fraser combined on the right, Woods got to the byeline to cross, and Fraser had kept up his run and met the cross to send in a header that Laidlaw turned over the bar. It was a good and expected response from Queen’s and they went close again in 10 minutes when Nicolson miskicked in front of goal and almost set up Hynes. It was a clear, dry day but the floodlights were on – and in 15 minutes the lights went out on Elgin’s lead as Queen’s equalised. The action had been confined to the Elgin half since the visitors’ shock goal, with Burns seeing plenty of the ball down the left. It was his chip onto Fraser that saw the Spider tripped by Nicolson and referee Munro had no hesitation pointing to the spot. Up stepped Fraser, with a short run, to stick the ball just wide of the diving Laidlaw’s left hand and in at the post. Normal service resumed? It was beginning to look like it, as Rooney charged down the right and won a free kick right on the edge of the box. Burns took it, firing low through a ruck of players only to see Laidlaw pull off a fine save, pushing away a shot that he must have seen very late. Elgin had their best spell since the goal around the 20-minute mark, but apart from Rooney being lucky not to connect with a sliding tackle on Moore, Queen’s coped comfortably enough and Muir wasn’t troubled. There was a sharp collective intake of breath among the home fans when Quinn appeared to trip MacPhee in the box. The Elgin players claimed for the penalty, but referee Munro instead booked the Elgin player for diving. There was a let-off for Queen’s when Rooney’s slack pass-back eluded Muir and Gunn lost his footing trying to get on the loose ball, but from the kick-out the Spiders passed up a golden opportunity to take the lead in 32 minutes when they were awarded a second penalty. This time Fraser was pushed over by Duff, and again took the kick, but this time he switched it to Laidlaw’s right, still with that short run-up, and the keeper guessed correctly to block the spot kick. A big miss. Fraser was appealing for a third penalty a couple of minutes later when he was downed in the box again, but he had to settle for a corner. The sky darkened and the rain came down in sheets on the 37-minute mark. It was almost also distinctly chillier. Woods and Rooney tried to make it hot for Elgin with some smart work down the right but Rooney’s cross was blocked, and Elgin’s response was a strong Thomson run which ended with him cutting inside and shooting wide. Half-time: Queen’s Park 1 Elgin City 1 Pat Slattery almost made a fatal error with a slack passback two minutes in that almost put Wyness through. And Wharton added to the air of frustration when he was caught in possession in a dangerous area as Queen’s struggled to find any cohesion. Coach MacPherson had seen enough before the hour, making a double substitution with Carter and McElroy replacing Hynes and Slattery, with Burns dropping back to left back. An unsatisfactory day for Queen’s almost went completely sour a minute later, when Quinn’s sliding clearance from Thomson’s cross succeeded in knocking the ball onto a post with Muir stranded. How can your team play so well against the league leaders one week and be so rank the next against the supposedly worst side in Scotland? It’s one of football’s great imponderables. Burns was booked for a foul in 74 minutes as Queen’s huffed and puffed. The final change was Fotheringham replacing Fraser in 80, before Rooney was booked. It wasn’t coming off for Queen’s. They were flattering to deceive, failing to put the finishing touches to good positions and possession, and it was all a bit frantic. Burns even had a shot from 16 yards that went for a throw-in, and it was his left peg, too, and he and McElroy both overhit crosses from good situations. It could have been worse, though. Elgin were trying to finish with a wee flourish and there was some desperate defending in the Queen’s box, but it ended in another unsatisfactory stalemate. Keep the faith. Queen’s Park: Muir, Rooney, Slattery, Berry, Quinn, Wharton, Woods, Miller, Hynes, Fraser, Burns. Subs – Mortimer, Fotheringham, MacGregor, McElroy, Mitchell,, Lochhead (GK) Elgin: Laidlaw, Cooper, Gilchrist, Duff, McHardy, Nicolson, Thomson, MacPhee, Moore, Gunn, Wyness. Subs: Beveridge, Finlayson, MacKenzie, McLean, Sutherland, McEwan, Black (gk). Referee – David Munro.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 20:02:28 +0000
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