The Future's Out There, The Future's Youth

better as a wingback
By The Spider
March 20 2002

Tuesday, 19th March, 2002 Queen’s Park 0 Dumbarton 2 (Scottish League - Third Division)

Despite their lengthy injury list, Queen's had a strong squad for this game indicating that, whilst John McCormack has few players of star quality, he does have a good nucleus of players at his disposal even if he has found it difficult to pick his best XI from them all. Sadly for those supporters who have been calling for changes to be made, much of that strength was on the bench where Ross Jackson, Chris Fisher, Willie Martin and John Cunningham were left to click their heels yet again.

Keeping them company was Tony Mitchell who, like a few other Queen's 'keepers in recent years, must wonder why he is at the Club if he is always going to be second best to an on-loan goalkeeper. His case is particularly unfortunate as Graeme Smith has not had a good time of it of late, and there is a temptation to believe that had it been one of our own in Smith's position, then he would have been given a few games in the Strollers to regain his confidence whilst Mitchell was provided with his chance.

Dumbarton were first to show and Flannery, always a popular figure with Queen's supporters, shot over following a 4th minute breakaway. The visitors' top scorer tried his luck again from further out in the 11th minute, but his effort only resulted in an easy save for Smith.

James Bruce, restored again to a wide position following Saturday's disaster at Brechin, latched onto a Johnny Whelan tapped free kick a minute later and his stunning right foot drive from 30 yards almost took the junction of Wight's top right hand corner away, such was the force with which the ball was struck. In fact, the Dumbarton 'keeper could only watch as the ball whizzed past him for what could have been goal of the season, or any other for that matter. Mark Gallagher showed a good predatory instinct to react first to fling himself headlong for a diving header at the rebound, but it narrowly missed the far post with Wight still a mere observer.

Graeme Smith came out for a cross in the 16th minute but only succeeded in flapping at it. Fortunately Dunn's attempted lob was wide of the empty goal. Then left winger Robertson drifted across the edge of the area before laying the ball off to Dunn whose snap shot was again wide of it's intended target.

In a similar move, but from the right wing this time, Dumbarton's Brown cut the ball back for Flannery but his first time drive flew over the bar. In the 28th minute Allan Dunning was felled when in full flight but, to the annoyance of home supporters, referee Conroy took no action when a booking was surely merited; this the same gutless official who acted in a similar manner during Queen's last midweek game at Coatbridge. Again Bruce stepped up to shoot for goal and this time Wight did well to dive to his right to turn the ball away for a corner.

Just after half an hour's play, Gal headed on a long Whelan throw from the left wing and Allan Dunning turned quickly on it. but he was leaning back as he shot and unable to keep his effort down.

A minute later, and somewhat undeservedly, the visitors took the lead. A good ball was played in from the right wing and Robert Dunn slid in to slip it past Smith from close range. Queen's put their best move of the first half together in the 37th minute with Gallagher and Dunning combining well with Stephen Canning to give the youngster a good opportunity, but his shot went straight at Wight.

A feature of the first half was James Bruce's free kicks and the youngster showed his versatility by sending a great driven cross from another one in the 40th minute onto the head of Mark Gallagher who had cleverly run across his marker, but Gal's glancing header went agonisingly and narrowly wide of Wight's left hand post. Two minutes later, as Queen's stepped up their efforts to be level by the interval, Jim Brown's snap shot from the edge of the area flew narrowly over. The pressure continued and Gal rose well at the back post to outjump Wight but no-one had anticipated his header back across the face of the unmarked goal and the tall striker's effort was all in vain.

Gal was again instrumental in creating another good opportunity five minutes into the second half when his header found Canning in a good position, but Stephen lost his composure and his rushed shot bobbled weakly into the safety of Wight's arms.

In a by now rare Dumbarton attack, a cross came off the face of the crossbar, but was easily cleared. Ross Jackson then was send up the right wing by a pass from James Bruce as the Dumbarton defence appealed incorrectly for offside. Unfortunately the pass took Jacko towards the touchline when a better angled through ball would have taken him in directly on goal. In any event, he was left at the corner flag having to hold up play for several seconds until the cavalry arrived to help him.

Flannery's attempt at a lob in the 65th minute was of little concern as it floated harmlessly over and the same could be said of a Jackson volley from a Bruce cross seven minutes later which lacked sufficient power to trouble Wight. For a brief moment Stephen Canning, along with 411 others, thought that he had a grabbed the equaliser when he beat Wight to a through ball, but his prod past the stranded 'keeper ran inches by the left hand post.

Having niggled his way through much of the game, even the normally laid back Steve Conroy finally lost patience with Martin O'Neil with just a minute remaining following his umpteenth foul of the evening. On this occasion, the straw which broke the camel's back was a trip from behind on Willie Martin. From the resultant free kick, Ross Caven rose at the far post but was unable to keep his header down.

With the game in injury time and not having deserved to be on the losing side, although it has to be conceded that Dumbarton did string together the better moves of the previous 90 minutes, Queen's were struck dumb when Robert Dunn scored his own and also his side's second goal with what looked an innocuous enough shot, but which somehow evaded Smith at his near post, the second such goal that the big 'keeper has lost in consecutive games at this venue.

So, not the worst Queen's performance that we have seen this season by any manner of means, but still plenty of scope for improvement. Whilst it was pleasing to see that Cowboy acknowledged Paul Patterson's poor form and accepted that John Gemmell is a long way from being match fit by dropping both of them from the squad, his use of substitutes was extremely disappointing and drew criticism from several quarters. How the only player with genuine ability to take players on (and score goals too) is only worth seven minutes just beggars belief, and why an effective striker is given just 11 minutes (and in midfield to boot) is surely a cause of concern. It was also very disappointing that reputedly promising youngsters like Stuart Kettlewell and Alistair McNiven aren't being given a place on the bench so that they can get a taste of first team action this season to help mature them that little bit more quickly.

If they're good enough, then they're old enough. Bill Shankly apparently thought so, but what did he know about the game anyway? It pains this writer to say so, but Cowdenbeath and Albion Rovers have shown the way forward over the last three seasons with their reliance on youth for which they are now reaping some reward after a long spell of being the joke teams of Scottish football.

Get some more youngsters in for Peterhead on Saturday and forget about chasing second bottom place. We now have six games left for them to gain competitive match experience before next season - let's not waste them.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5    STAR SPIDER : James Bruce

QUEEN’S PARK : Graeme Smith, Jim Brown (Willie Martin - 79), Liam McVey, Neil Collins, Jim Bruce, Ross Caven, Anthony Quinn, Johnny Whelan, Mark Gallagher (Chris Fisher - 83), Stephen Canning, Allan Dunning (Ross Jackson - 55)

DUMBARTON : John Wight, Steven Bonar, Craig Brittain, Stephen Jack, Kevin McCann, Robert Dunn, Mark Crilly, Martin O'Neil (Craig Lynes - 90), Paddy Flannery (John Dillon - 81), Andy Brown, Joe Robertson