McLean Solo Effort Once Again Causes Q.P's Defeat

outbulked by Yardley
By The Spider
April 21 2003

Saturday, 19th April, 2003 Albion Rovers 2 Queen's Park 1 (Bells Scottish League - Third Division)

As the season nears its end, the pressure is undoubtedly very much on each of the four sides still capable of winning the title, and so all credit to those who are still able to produce victories at a time when one slip could ruin a season's endeavours. This season Queen's are under no such pressures, and therefore were looking forward to their third trip to Coatbridge this term, hoping to secure their third victory at this venue.

With a bumpy surface and a very strong wind blowing down the pitch from the east, this was never going to be a game to satisfy the purists, but it did manage to keep everyone on their toes right up to the final whistle.

After an initial period of jousting where both defences were happy to simply clear their lines and leave their forwards fighting for scraps, the first sight of goal came the way of David Menelaws in the 8th minute when he stooped low to meet an inswinging David McCallum corner, but his header went narrowly over the bar.

With the wind at their backs, the onus was upon Queen's to make a first half breakthrough, and Danny Ferry made a great run down the right wing to send over a tempting cross which Shearer dived low to hold at his near post. David McCallum was given a great opportunity to open the scoring in the 13th minute, and although his curling direct free kick had both power and direction, sadly it didn't come down quickly enough and dipped inches over the crossbar with Shearer beaten.

As the wind continued to make life difficult for the 'Rovers' defenders, Lumsden nearly put through his own goal when he misjudged a backheader which soared over the advancing Shearer, but also just wide of his left hand post.

With so much at stake for Rovers', and with Queen's equally determined to halt the home side's great run since the turn of the year, it wasn't surprising that there were a few tasty tackles going about and a bad tackle by Dick from behind on Stuart Kettlewell brought about a flare-up between the two players. Referee Winter quickly stepped in to separate them and after booking Dick for the initial tackle, he then turned his attentions to Kettlewell who had stupidly kicked out at Dick after crashing to the ground. Fortunately Winter was in a lenient mood and applied a modicum of common sense in flashing a yellow card at Kettlewell as well, although it would have been well within his power to display one of a darker colour.

Goalmouth incidents were at a premium, so all the more important to take any of the few opportunities that might arise. For all that his contribution to a fast flowing game is meagre because most of the play passes him by, there are few better than Mark Yardley at converting chances at this level and it was therefore no surprise when he clinically despatched a loose ball from 12 yards out which he had chested down to his favoured left foot in the 35th minute after the Queen's defence had failed to deal with a speculative high right wing cross.

David Menelaws had a half-chance four minutes later with a header, but he didn't see the ball until late and was unable to connect with it properly.

There were two more bookings before half time. Smith was very late with a challenge on Whelan whilst Richard Sinclair was guilty of a similar offence on Yardley.

Queen's could have anticipated being under much greater pressure during the second half and their hosts were in no mood to disappoint them as Mercer's free header at the back post from an inswinging corner went inches past the upright. Then a header from Smith forced Cairns into action for virtually the first time, but the best Rovers' effort came in the 55th minute when a rising snap-shot from McAllister fizzed inches over the crossbar.

Queen's nearly got the equaliser a minute later when David McCallum sent a delightful through ball to Stuart Kettlewell who had made a great run into the Rovers' area, but Shearer was off his line very quickly to block the youngster's shot from close range.

The home side were reduced to 10 men in the 59th minute when Dick made a ludicrous attempt to win his side a penalty with a blatant dive, and referee Winter who was only a few yards away at the time showed the errant midfielder his second yellow card which was quickly followed by the inevitable red one.

A minute later, Queen's should have had a penalty of their own when John Gemmell almost had his legs chopped in two by a reckless challenge from Cormack just inside his own area but, despite being given a sizeable clue by the noise of boot meeting shinpad, neither Winter nor his nearside assistant saw anything amiss, and played continued. With Queen's still furious about being denied such an obvious penalty, the equaliser did come just a minute later. It was in similar fashion to Yardley's goal, a high ball which was controlled in the area, but there is no similarity whatsoever between the scorers and David Menelaws had to work much harder to keep his lithe frame between Smith and the ball before he expertly slipped it past a static Shearer.

If anyone expected 'Rovers to try to hold on for a point they would be sadly mistaken as, if anything, the home side looked more dangerous from this point forward. Cairns had to make a magnificent double save in the 64th minute before even he had to admit defeat as a long range piledriver from Mercer bounced off the underside of his bar and away to safety.

Nonetheless, if John Gemmell had had his shooting boots on Queen's would have taken the lead a minute after that themselves, but the big striker completely mishit his shot when right in front of goal some twelve yards out. It was a costly miss as once more play swung back to the other end courtesy of a long diagonal ball from Mercer which sent Charlie McLean clear of Richard Sinclair and the substitute finished expertly from a tight angle by slipping the ball past a hesitant Cairns who must have expected McLean to attempt to go round him to widen the angle.

Still, with an extra man's advantage, Queen's had plenty of time left to get back on level terms, and David Menelaws thought that he would be given a scoring chance, only to be pulled back by a dubious offside decision. Protesting his case too strongly, Menelaws also found his way into Mr. Winter's notebook.  However, parity in player numbers was restored in the 79th minute when Stuart Kettlewell suffered from the rashness of youth as he stretched in vain for a ball that was never his, resulting in his going in late on Diack. The yellow and red cards that followed were merely a formality in the circumstances.

Unlike 'Rovers who had reacted well to their adversity, Queen's were unable to recover from this setback and the closest that either side came to scoring in the last 10 minutes was when Stirling curled a free kick narrowly wide of Cairns's goal.

So, 'Rovers remain in contention for promotion, and indeed the league title, but it will still be something of a shock if they do go up as they remain the least fancied of challengers. Queen's will have no say in such matters during the next fortnight which brings a trip to Elgin followed by a visit to Hampden by Montrose, but if Rovers do win their next two games, then Queen's will travel to New Bayview on the last day of the season with East Fife needing to take at least a point or Rovers could well squeeze into 2nd place.

East Fife or Albion Rovers - who would you want to prevent going up if you could only stop one of them?

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5           STAR SPIDER : Stuart Kettlewell (must learn to channel his aggression though)

QUEEN’S PARK : Mark Cairns, Danny Ferry, David McCallum (Stephen Canning - 81), Richard Sinclair (Jamie White - 69), Damiano Agostini, Stevie Fallon, Ross Clark, Jonny Whelan (Willie Martin - 56), John Gemmell, Stuart Kettlewell, David Menelaws

Subs (not used) : Tony Mitchell (GK), Paddy Gallagher

Scorer(s) : Menelaws (61 mins)

Booked : Kettlewell (24 - retaliation) & (79 - late challenge), Sinclair (43 - late challenge), Menelaws (74 - dissent)

ALBION ROVERS : Scott Shearer, Jim Dick, Jered Stirling, Jordan Smith, Peter Cormack, Todd Lumsden, Kevin McAllister (Charlie McLean - 64), Chris Silvestro (Andy Paterson - 43), Mark Yardley, John Bradford (Iain Diack - 40), Jim Mercer

Subs (not used) : Chris Fahey (GK), John McCaig

Scorer(s) : Yardley (35 mins), McLean (67 mins)

Booked : Dick (24 - tackle from behind) & (59 - diving), Smith (40 - late challenge)

REFEREE : Brian Winter *** (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)