More Variety Required

Scrimgour (qpfc.com)
By The Spider
November 3 2003

Saturday, 1st November, 2003 Queen's Park 0 Gretna 1 (Bells Scottish League - Third Division)

On one occasion when someone said to John McCormack of a particular Queen's star, "That's the kind of player who can win games for you", the former Spider's coach is reported to have quickly replied, "Aye, but he's the kind of player who could get me the sack as well!" So just where does that leave Kenny Brannigan as far as Ally Graham is concerned?

Quite rightly, KB sees Ally Graham as one of our biggest assets, and has built our style of play around the big man. When it works, as it did at the start of the season, it's great but when it doesn't as has been the case in our last few games, it leaves us short of other options particularly as Kenny now seems to have developed a mental block about taking Ally off and trying something different.

If Queen's had a lumbering midfield, that attitude would be perfectly understandable and a case of playing to your strengths, but when you look at players like Stevie Reilly, Stuart Kettlewell and Ross Clark who thrive in a high tempo environment, it seems strange to bypass them by continually playing high balls from the back Worse still, forwards like Stevie McAuley, Frankie Carroll and Derek Carcary are all very comfortable receiving the ball to feet with their backs to goal, so why have them spend most of their time trying to pick up flicks or scraps off the big man.

By no means is this a suggestion that Kenny should drop Ally who definitely brings a different dimension to the side, but he should at least be open to other possibilities if things are not going the big striker's way. In any event, the decision appears to have been made for him next Saturday as Graham is apparently ineligible due to suspension.

This latest defeat was a perfect case in point as Gretna's experienced central defensive partnership of David Irons and David Holdsworth looked very comfortable for most of the game, and it was only after Gretna scored that Ally had any joy against them at all.

As you would expect from a full time outfit who are now beginning to gel, in much the same way that Morton did last season in fact, the visitors looked very sharp in the early part of the game. As early as the first minute, Stevens ran onto a through ball and his first time shot flashed inches over Derek Scrimgour's bar. Then, five minutes later, the Queen's 'keeper did well to tip away an inswinging corner when at full stretch.

Stevens was given another opportunity in the 9th minute, but his header went straight to Scrimgour.

It took Queen's until the 22nd minute to mount their first real attack when Danny Ferry took a pass from Paddy Gallagher in his stride to get to the byeline but his deep cross went beyond Ally Graham and Stevie McAuley who both remained static as if they were unsure of what positions they should be taking up.

Two minutes later, John Thomson cleared a Cameron effort of the line following another dangerous inswinging corner from the right, and then in another dangerous attack Cameron fed Stevens on the edge of the Queen's area who proceeded to waltz past three defenders in a mazy dribble only to see his final close range effort blocked by some desperate defending.

Paddy Gallagher tried to get Queen's going with a run from midfield and a shot which was sliced well wide, but Gretna were soon back down at the other end again to cause further problems and Derek Scrimgour made a good save with his feet to deny Stevens after Stevie Reilly had been caught in possession in his own half.

Cameron looked to have opened the scoring for the visitors in the 34th minute, but fortunately his header was disallowed for offside which looked to be a tight decision. A minute later and Gretna maintained their grip on the game when Holdsworth headed over the bar from six yards out.

Then, completely against the run of play, Queen's themselves nearly took the lead when Stevie McAuley twisted two defenders inside out to run clean through on Mathieson, but the big 'keeper stood up well and beat away the striker's drive which made up in power for what it lacked in precision.

That was the last goalmouth action of the half and there were expectations that Queen's would make changes during the interval in an effort to stem the red tide during the second period.

As it transpired, neither side made any changes during the interval. Again Paddy Gallagher tried to show the way with another shot at goal, and this time his low effort on the turn zipped narrowly past the upright.

However, it was only a brief respite and once more Gretna gained the upper hand. Another header past Scrimgour was again chalked off for offside in the 51st minute, but the visitors remained undeterred. Scrimgour tipped a shot from Baldacchino over the bar and then a long range shot from Maddison flew wide. The left back was on target in the 66th minute though, and Derek Scrimgour had to dive full length to palm away the well struck shot.

It was Scrimgour to the rescue again just three minutes later when he made a fingertip save from a low Prokas drive. The lack of Queen's attacks was a major concern, and one prominent Club Member received a warning from a visiting lady a few rows in front of him when he was so incensed that he used foul language to relieve his frustrations!!!

By now though, Queen's three substitutes were beginning to come to grips with the pace of the game, and it began to look as if Gretna were starting to be forced back onto the back foot themselves. However, any emerging optimism that Queen's could actually win this game swiftly evaporated in the 80th minute when Martin Cameron rose at the near post from a left wing corner to glance a header across Scrimgour and into the far corner of the net.

As often happens, Gretna now sat in to defend their lead and only now was Ally Graham able to make his presence felt. In the 82nd minute he headed over from a Reilly free kick, and then Kettlewell saw a snap shot go agonisingly close. With four minutes remaining, big Ally showed great control to chest down a through ball onto his favoured left foot but, after steadying himself for the shot, he uncharacteristically snatched at it to blaze wildly over the bar.

It was very much a case of "too little, too late" and Queen's atrocious home form continues with just a solitary victory in their last 14 games at The National Stadium.

This Saturday provides another opportunity to improve upon that dismal record when Cowdenbeath are the visitors, but hopefully Queen's can rediscover some of their early season form which is in such contrast to this latest performance.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5

STAR SPIDER : Derek Scrimgour (looked safe and confident throughout)

QUEEN’S PARK : Derek Scrimgour, Danny Ferry, John Thomson, Richard Sinclair, Damiano Agostini, Stevie Fallon, Paddy Gallagher (Ross Clark - 64), Stevie Reilly, Ally Graham, Jonny Whelan (Stuart Kettlewell - 64), Stevie McAuley (Frankie Carroll - 67)

Subs (not used) : David Crawford (GK), Stephen Canning

Scorer(s) : none

Booked : none

GRETNA : David Mathieson, Mark Birch, Lee Maddison, Richard Prokas, David Irons, David Holdsworth, Ryan Baldacchino, Mike Galloway, Martin Cameron (James Allan - 87), Ian Stevens, Gavin Skelton (Wayne Gordon - 70)

Subs (not used) : David Wylie (G/K), Steven Cosgrove, Ryan McGuffie

Scorer(s) : Cameron (80 mins)

Booked : none

REFEREE :  Crawford Allan **** (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)