Fans Don’t Know Whether To Laugh Or Cry

Harvey (qpfc.com)
By The Spider
December 14 2004

Saturday, 16th October, 2004 Queen’s Park 0 Elgin City 1 (Bells Scottish League – Third Division) (Picture from qpfc.com) It's supposed to be a funny old game, but it was no laughing matter as Elgin were pulverised for 90 minutes yet still won!

In their previous encounter this season, Queen’s had lost up at Elgin by a solitary goal in a game which will be remembered for reasons other than their failure to break down a resolute home defence.

As would be expected in a match between sides separated by a mere point, this game was also likely to be another tight affair, but Elgin hadn’t inspired in that earlier match so Queen’s had every reason to feel confident that they could avoid their third home defeat in a row.

Coach Billy Stark had elected to freshen up his midfield by including Paul Harvey and Mark Ferry in his starting line-up, with Brian Blair dropping to the bench alongside Shaun Molloy who had relinquished his left wing-back role to accommodate David McCallum’s move back to that position.

The re-shuffle was primarily designed to allow David McCallum more time on the left touchline to fire in his extremely accurate crosses, and from one such delivery in the 8^th minute, Ally Graham sent a header narrowly wide.

The same pairing combined five minutes later when big Ally got on the end of an inswinging right wing corner only to see his powerful header crash back off the bar. Frankie Carroll’s instinctive header from the rebound deflected off a defender and over the bar.

Paul Harvey was looking very assured in his central midfield role, and in the 23^rd minute after some excellent build up play he sent a 25 yarder narrowly past Renton’s left hand post. Two minutes later another superb passing sequence enabled Alan Trouten to burst into the area and his well-placed left foot shot took only the slightest of deflections to miss Renton’s right hand post by inches.

Queen’s were completely on top with Elgin seldom able to get out of their own half, and Frankie Carroll forced a low save from Renton

All that was needed for the home side to break the deadlock was a fortunate break of the ball, but totally unexpectedly it came at the other end, which allowed Martin Harty the chance of a shot from 15 yards. David Crawford was in its direct line of flight, but a cruel deflection off Gavin Rushford diverted the ball wide of the stranded home ‘keeper to put the visitors ahead.

Energised by this breakthrough, Elgin created another opportunity almost directly from the re-start, and Crawford had to look alert to hold a powerful Napier effort from 35 yards.

Ross Clark did very well to reach a right wing cross shortly afterwards, but he had next to no chance of guiding his header below the crossbar. However, David McCallum came much closer in the 39^th minute when his first time shot looked a sure scorer until a defender’s body deflected his bullet like shot inches past the far post. An Ally Graham free kick then met with a similar fate as the defensive wall did its job.

Right on the stroke of half time, Stuart Kettlewell earned the first yellow card of the game when he launched into a 50/50 challenge with his studs up.

Queen’s had been by far the better side during the first half, so the general consensus amongst home fans was that it was only a matter of time before an equaliser was forthcoming.

Renton saved again from Frankie Carroll before the sparse crowd was treated to some amazing keepy-uppy skills on the Elgin bye line from Paul Harvey who then delivered a perfect chip to the far post. It looked a certain goal, but somehow Ally Graham’s powerful downwards header from the edge of the six yard box was blocked on the line before being cleared for a corner.

When the ball came back in, Ally Graham again rose well above the Elgin defence to head for goal, but he was out of luck once more as the ball again came back off the crossbar with Renton beaten.

Queen’s were so much on top it just wasn’t true, and what was particularly impressive was the assured way that they kept possession and switched the ball from one side of the field to the other as they sought to create decent angles for crosses. Stuart Kettlewell was next to have a go with a header over the bar from a Paul Harvey free kick, but Elgin nearly broke away at the other end and David Crawford had to fling himself to his left to prevent a shot from Reid from putting the visitors even further ahead.

Some intelligent play from Paul Harvey engineered a free kick at the edge of the Elgin penalty area as he suckered Bremner into making a needless obstruction; the visiting midfielder clearly unaware of the presence of two his team-mates immediately behind him.

Mark Ferry had been having a quiet first start, but he too became increasingly influential and he sent a powerful header over the bar in the 70^th minute. Seven minutes later, he couldn’t have hit a shot more cleanly, but somehow Fenton flung himself to his left to pull off the save of the game. Another effort from Ferry beat the ‘keeper a couple of minutes later, but his low left foot shot also evaded the far post.

With coach Billy Stark resisting the temptation to put on a substitute, such was Queen’s dominance already, Queen’s mounted a last series of attacks in the closing seconds. Frankie Carroll saw Fenton save his third low shot of the afternoon, and then an overhead kick from Ross Clark was cleared in the six yard box as it headed for the unguarded back post.

The final chance of the afternoon fell to Frankie Carroll, but somehow he failed to make proper contact with the ball from an Ally Graham knockdown when only a couple of yards out.

As the game had drawn to its close, Elgin had been doing everything they possibly could to run the clock down, in particular the annoying habit of ensuring that each player about to be substituted was positioned on the far side touchline immediately before being taken off. This ensured that their slow departures ate up a further minute or so each and the only criticism of referee John Underhill, who otherwise had a near perfect match, was that he failed to allow more than two and a half minutes of time added on instead of the anticipated four from home supporters. It probably wouldn’t have made any difference to the outcome, but it also failed to punish Elgin for their blatant procrastination.

Next week Queen’s face a potentially tricky tie against Cowdenbeath at Central Park, but if they play like this again they could just as easily record a convincing win if they enjoy a little bit more good fortune in front of goal.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE :  4/5

STAR SPIDER(S) :  Ally Graham (a vintage performance)

QUEEN’S PARK :  David Crawford, Alan Trouten, David McCallum, Gavin Rushford, Damiano Agostini, Paul Harvey, Stuart Kettlewell, Ross Clark, Ally Graham, Frankie Carroll, Mark Ferry

Subs (not used) :  Stevie McGovern (G/K), Brian Blair, Shaun Molloy, Richard Sinclair, Bryan Felvus

Scorer(s) : none

Booked : Kettlewell (45 – dangerous challenge)

ELGIN CITY : Keiron Renton, Stuart Cumming, Martin Harty, Craig Higgins, Paul Kaczan, Jamie McKenzie (Iain Vigurs – 68), Fraser Bremner, Adam Nelson, Philip Reid (Anton Lennox – 90), Paul Napier, Andy Roddie (Garry Wood – 84)

Subs (not used) :  Stuart McKenzie (G/K), Darryn Kelly

Scorer(s) :   Harty (32)

Booked : Bremner (68 – obstruction)

REFEREE : John Underhill ****   (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)