What Goes Around, Comes Around
goal of the season!
By The Spider
April 21 2002
Saturday, 20th April, 2002 Elgin City 0 Queen’s Park 1 (Scottish League - Third Division)
The dream lives on! That was the message that our defiant youngsters brought back to Hampden upon their triumphant return from Borough Briggs. All week, supporters and players alike had been eagerly anticipating this game as hopes were high that all three points could be again taken from our second long trip up north this year. A nearly full supporters bus, as well as a healthy fleet of cars, proved testament to the optimism which greeted the team as they took to the field wearing their orange and blue away strips. Never mind the poor imitations that you may have seen a certain SPL club (soon to be ex-SPL?) promoting recently - as Irn Bru suggests, our is still "the original and best"!
For once, your humble scribe had correctly predicted Cowboy's team selection in his match preview, and both Paul Borland and Willie Martin were on from the start at the expense of the enigmatic Chris Fisher and the unpredictable Ross Jackson respectively.
In the early stages, and in the absence of Chris Fisher's creativity, Queen's seemed to be relying heavily on Johnny Whelan's long throw-ins. One in the 7th minute led to Tony Quinn heading over the bar whilst another six minutes later fell to Stephen Marshall whose shot was deflected for a corner.
As the half hour mark approached, and with Elgin yet to register a goal attempt worthy of the description, Stephen Canning lined up a left foot strike, but the ball bobbled just as he hit it and it soared harmlessly over the crossbar. Queen's did have the ball in the net in the 38th minute, but the stand side assistant had already raised his flag for a very close offside decision before Willie Martin had stuck the ball past Pirie from close range.
The nearest that Elgin came to scoring was in the 41st minute when Neil Collins dived headlong in front of big Gilzean and nearly headed the ball into his own top corner in the process. Although Tony Mitchell failed to hold the subsequent corner under considerable pressure, he eventually regained possession with a brave dive at the feet of two opponents.
If the first half wasn't much to set the pulses of either sets of fans racing then the second period was an entirely different affair as both sides totally committed themselves in search of victory. As the match stats will show, there were a mere 6 goal attempts during the first 45 minutes with three times that amount being recorded thereafter.
Queen's got a let-off in the 47th minute when an Elgin forward had a complete fresh air swipe at the ball in front of goal. Paul Borland seemed to be of the opinion that he had been fouled in the process and, after saying one word too many, was booked by the ever-popular Ian Frickleton for his trouble. With the temperamental left wing-back still showing signs of irritation four minutes later, John McCormack took sensible action and replaced him with Chris Fisher which allowed Stephen Marshall to move back to the position in which he seems far more comfortable. At the same time, an out of sorts Stephen Canning was substituted by Ross Jackson in the hope that his more direct style would cause problems for Elgin on the right.
Before Queen's could settle, they left gaps at the other end and home midfielder Ross was allowed two free headers from close range in quick succession in the 56th minute. The first was hacked away by Chris Fisher in front of Tony Mitchell's left hand post whilst the second slipped narrowly past the other side. A minute later and Mitchell had to dive low to save a shot from Teasdale which was hit straight at him.
Then, in the 59th minute, and to the disgust of Willie Martin who was hoping for a cross, Ross Jackson tried an audacious shot from a tight angle when the less spectacular approach might have been more productive. Whilst Stephen Marshall had been virtually anonymous in an advanced midfield role during the first half, he seems to come to life when running with the ball from a deep wide position and four minutes later he set off on one of his trademark full pitch length runs up the left which was only halted five yards from Elgin's bye-line by a cynical challenge from Tully which nearly cut Marsh in half, so late and severe was it. A less generous official than Frickleton could well have administered a straight red card as opposed to the paler yellow one that was dished out here.
The resultant free kick afforded Chris Fisher the opportunity to display his undeniable dead ball skills and Tony Quinn should have done better than to get slightly underneath a near perfect cross which was begging to be put away. Up at the other end, Teasdale thought that he had opened the scoring in the 68th minute with a magnificent hooked effort which looked to be a goal as soon as it left his right boot some 25 yards from goal. However, at the very last second, the ball curled inches past Tony Mitchell's right hand post with the Queen's 'keeper a beaten man.
Ross Jackson then had two good chances in the space of 60 seconds just a minute later. The first was a free header right in front of goal from an immense Johnny Whelan throw-in from the left wing, but his playing colleague headed straight at Pirie from six yards out. Before he had time to reflect on his missed opportunity, he was neatly played in to a one-on-one situation with Pirie but his side-footed effort was to weak to beat the big 'keeper.
As Fisher began to impose himself on the game, Stephen Marshall became the latest benefactor of his crossing accuracy when he was pinpointed with a left wing corner which left him free at the back post but Marsh was unable to get his header on target. Quickly returning to his defensive role, the same player then had an even more obvious miscue when he completely mis-hit the ball in his own area to allow Gilzean a free shot right in front of goal. Fortunately the normally reliable centre forward hooked his volley narrowly wide of Mitchell's left hand post.
With 10 minutes remaining, Frickleton finally lost patience with Mailer's griping and the home right wing-back became the third player of the afternoon to enter the official's little black book. It looked as if all Queen's efforts were going to come to nothing as they began to tire, and Tony Quinn visibly so after covering every blade of grass. towards the the end. This allowed Elgin more space than they had been used to and they sought to punish the visitors by moving the ball from player to player swiftly. The first opening was created for Teasdale who brought cheers of "goal" from home supporters' lips as he fired in a tremendous shot from fully 30 yards. However, the cries were brought to a hush by the sight of Tony Mitchell flying across his line to acrobatically tip the ball over for a corner.
Then Sanderson curled a left foot shot in from the edge of the area but it dipped just too late and landed on the roof of the net. Encouraged by these near things, Elgin pushed forward in even greater number but this was to partly contribute to their downfall. With Cowboy having himself thrown caution to the wind by pulling off James Bruce and replacing him with Paul Patterson on the right wing to allow Ross Jackson to join Willie Martin in the middle, with Chris Fisher pushed up on the left Queen's were effectively taking a leaf out of Jimmy Calderwood's book by playing with four up.
With just four minutes remaining, an exhausted David Ross sliced a skyward clearance towards his right touchline. There didn't seem to be any immediate danger, but what changed that position entirely was the skill shown by Willie Martin to pull the ball down and turn to face goal all in one movement. with the ball completely under his control, he had time and space to pick his options and what a choice he made. Although he couldn't have laid it back any more nicely than he did for the supporting Johnny Whelan at the edge of the area, there was still lots to be done but the Liverpudlian deliberately got his body over the ball in classic style (how often do we see players lean back in similar positions before blazing the ball over the bar?) and fired in a completely unsavable shot into the top left corner at such speed that the ball had already hit the back of the net before Pirie could set himself for the shot. A truly unbelievable strike and a great moment for all those supporters who had such belief in their side when they set off so early that morning.
Perhaps realising the significance of the goal more than Elgin's players did at the time, panic immediately set in with the majority of 'The Faithful' who were dreading the possibility of a late equaliser. However, despite much nail-biting and gnashing of teeth, there were no heart-stopping moments as Queen's comfortably hung on until late in the 93rd minute of play when referee Frickleton could find no further excuses to delay the by then inevitable outcome. The joyous players were quickly joined onfield by a clearly delighted John McCormack who still remains fearful of being undeservedly called "The Worst Coach In Scottish Senior Football", albeit that those who would seek to do so clearly have little appreciation or understanding of the miracles that he is being asked to work. In a nice touch, he led his players not only to the far side where the main body of travelling fans had gathered, but there was also acknowledgement too for the small band of supporters in the stand who had also refused to budge until they too had been able to offer their appreciation of a fine victory.
And so the dream lives on for another week and there is an amazing irony here that no-one else seems to have picked up on yet. 12 months ago, Queen's required the already relegated Stirling Albion to take at least a point up at Forfar whilst we were winning at Queen Of The South. However, now the tables are turned. Unless Stirling can take a point up at Brechin, if Queen's can beat Dumbarton, The Spiders will "relegate" Stirling to bottom spot. There is even the possibility of finishing in 8th place if East Stirlingshire can beat East Fife too!
Watch out for this site's special advance preview of Saturday's final league game of the season this Monday evening when we will begin the build up to the big game by looking at some of the dilemmas facing John McCormack when he ponders over his team selection later this week.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 4/5 STAR SPIDER : Jamie White
QUEEN’S PARK : Tony Mitchell, James Bruce (Paul Patterson - 84), Paul Borland (Chris Fisher - 51) , Neil Collins, Jamie White, Anthony Quinn, Danny Ferry, Johnny Whelan, Willie Martin, Stephen Canning (Ross Jackson - 51), Stephen Marshall
ELGIN CITY : Martin Pirie, Craig Mailer, Jordan MacDonald, Michael Teasdale, Steven MacDonald, Craig Tully, Fraser Bremner (David Hind - 60), David Ross, Richard James, Ian Gilzean, Michael Sanderson