QP Superb, But 3 Down After 34 Mins. Go Figure!

gave 100% as usual
By The Spider
August 25 2002

Saturday, 24th August, 2002 Greenock Morton 3 Queen’s Park 0 (Scottish League - Third Division)

This was a quite remarkable game, especially for the first 34 minutes. Anyone looking at their Teletext at that point would have seen that Queen's were three goals down and would have been entitled to believe that Queen's were "semi-detached" with their minds on this coming Tuesday's game. However, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Right from kick-off, Queen's attacked their hosts with relish and in doing so they played some scintillating attacking football which was as good as any during John McCormack's reign at Hampden. The trouble was that the defence was as poor as poor Cowboy can have witnessed in that same period, and Morton scored with ease on the less frequent occasions they found themselves in the Queen's area. As if that wasn't strange enough in itself, Queen's were totally out of it for most of the second half, but didn't concede a goal. Go figure that lot out if you can!

As widely anticipated, there were immediate returns for John Gallagher and John Gemmell, with Jamie White (not surprisingly but surely Richard Sinclair deserved better after Tuesday night's second half performance) and Willie Martin (volumes have previously been written) pushed down the pecking order.

Craig Taggart retained his striking role at Willie's expense and, in the very first minute, he combined well with John Gemmell and Stephen Canning but the latter's right wing cross was plucked out the air by Coyle. Then Jimmy Allan surged down the other flank to fire over a near post cross which Gemmell neatly flicked towards the back post, only for Coyle to dive full length across his goal line to tip the ball away for a corner. Taggart's floater was then flicked on at the near post by Steven Moffat, but Canning got underneath the ball with his back post diving header and sent it over the bar.

This was a great start and, suitably encouraged by this, the large travelling support which boosted the attendance to over 2000 got right behind their favourites who continued to take the game to the more vaunted full time side.

Then, with Queen's in complete control of the game, they found themselves a goal behind. A 10th minute cross came in from Collins in a right midfield position and trialist Lee Duncan was given all the room he wanted to casually head-flick the ball beyond Tony Mitchell's reach and into the far corner from barely 8 yards out. It was a defensive disaster, but worse would follow later.

Starting all over again, Queen's quickly shrugged off this seemingly temporary setback and resumed their attacks on the home goal.

A John Gallagher cross nearly crept in at the back post after having taking a wicked deflection off a defender to leave Coyle stranded, and then a Jimmy Allan forceful run through the middle created space for John Gemmell, but the big striker's close range shot cannoned off Coyle's legs. Although Whelan was able to regain possession thirty yards out, by the time he had beaten his marker, Coyle was back in position to save Johnny's powerful drive.

Then, in the 16th minute, Craig Taggart had a near post shot blocked at the last minute following a Gemmell right wing run and cross before Stephen Canning hooked over from close range.

It was the 22nd minute before Morton mounted their second attack of the game; the elusive John Maisano working his way into a good position at the edge of the Queen's penalty area before pulling his shot wide. However, barely a minute later, Morton were celebrating a second goal that their play didn't yet deserve. Their seemed little danger when a high ball was hoisted up the left flank, but Danny Ferry got his headed back-pass all wrong and Alex Williams simply side-stepped Tony Mitchell before rolling the ball into the empty net despite the despairing efforts of Damiano Agostini to get back in time to clear.

Williams had another chance four minutes later following a swift Morton breakaway, but his near post drive was marginally off target. A rare route one approach from Queen's nearly paid dividends in the 29th minute as Jimmy Allan broke free of the defence, but his left foot shot was too weak to trouble Coyle. Seconds later, Allan found himself in a similar position and, although this time his shot was sweetly struck, Coyle dealt with it comfortably.

As bad as the two goals previously conceded had been, Cowboy would have been absolutely raging about the third that followed in the 34th minute. A cross comes in from the left touchline, the six yard box is protected by Moffat and Agostini and yet Alex Williams who is hardly a tall striker (like Chris Templeman for example!!!) is able to nod the ball past Tony Mitchell (where was he?) from two yards out! Little wonder that Brechin's reporter in the stand was seen scribbling furiously at this point.

Two minutes later, Damiano Agostini was booked for dissent as he complained once too often about Duncan's dive (9.9 from the judge's!) which referee Downie ignored rather than punish. Ironic that Agostini should then get the yellow card, although his aggressive marking of Duncan was undoubtedly a contributing factor.

The third goal effectively killed off the game although Moffat did try to pull one back right on the stroke of half time with a header from a long Whelan throw in, but again Coyle was well positioned to save.

As much as Queen's were on top in the first half, so the second one belonged to Morton and John McCormack made substitutions with Tuesday in mind. Understandable as it was to save Canning and Allan from further exertions, the removal of Gemmell was perplexing given that he had been absent on Tuesday and the likes of Whelan and Quinn would have benefited more from a rest, whilst also giving Sinclair another run out (no need to bring Jack on if Gemmell was still there). There is also a question mark over Tony Mitchell's fitness as he spent most of the second half limping, so much so that he couldn't take goal kicks.

Anyway, the first of what became a steady procession of Morton chances came in the 49th minute when Williams fed Duncan after a quick breakaway, but the trialist shot wide from a good position. He did better in the 58th minute though, and this time he brought out a great diving save from Mitchell from a low shot after the ball had broken loose following a crunching tackle at the edge of the area on John Maisano by Allan. Mitchell again came to the rescue two minutes later with a close range save from Williams after Moffat's fresh air attempt at a clearance.

Queen's briefly responded with a Taggart volley that went narrowly wide before the siege from Morton resumed with Bannerman blazing over from right in front of goal. A Williams drive then swerved inches past the top right corner before play was halted to allow centre half Marco Maisano to be booked for dissent as quite a few 50/50 decisions began to go Queen's way.

With ten minutes remaining, John Maisano blasted a direct free kick inches wide of Tony Mitchell's right hand post and, whilst Tony Quinn fired in a token effort at the other end, Morton's tricky no.10 nearly grabbed a fourth with another rasping drive which again just missed the target. Williams had the miss of the game in the 84th minute when he hooked a first time shot miles wide when right in front of goal. Right on full time, Mitchell saved well to his right as Marco Maisano also tried to get on the scoresheet.

Despite the margin of the final scoreline, it is hard to be too critical of Queen's (even if there is no case for the defence who were simply appalling) as their early attacking play was a joy to watch, and there is no question that the early game plan was to take the game to Morton as quickly and as often as possible.

Hopefully on Tuesday night it will be a different outcome and that goals will be scored just as easily as they were conceded here. Brechin will start as favourites by virtue of their higher league status and the key to the game could well be the tempo of it. If Brechin are allowed to dictate the pace of the game and slow it down to a level where Cairney, Grant and Templeman become comfortable with it, then Queen's will find it an even more difficult task than it already promises to be.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 4/5           STAR SPIDER : TONY QUINN (never stopped trying)

QUEEN’S PARK : Tony Mitchell, Danny Ferry, John Gallagher, Steven Moffat, Damiano Agostini, Tony Quinn, Craig Taggart, Johnny Whelan, John Gemmell (Stewart Jack - 69), Stephen Canning (Willie Martin - 51), Jimmy Allan (Chris Fisher - 63)

Subs (not used) : Stewart Thomson (GK), Richard Sinclair

Scorer(s) : n/a

Booked : Agostini (dissent - 36)

GREENOCK MORTON : Craig Coyle, Derek Collins, Emilio Bottiglieri, David MacGregor, Marco Maisano, Anton Smith, Jani Uotinen (Stuart MacDonald - 89), Scott Bannerman, Alex Williams, John Maisano (Colin Riley - 83), Lee Duncan (Philip Cannie - 83)

Subs (not used) : Robbie McKillop (GK), Dave McPherson

Scorer(s) : Trialist (10 mins), Williams (26 & 34 mins)

Booked : Maisano (dissent - 72)

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