By The Spider
September 28 2002

Saturday, 28th September, 2002 Queen’s Park 2 Albion Rovers 4 (Bells Scottish League - Division Three)

For a referee to unfairly influence a game he needs to show bias (unintentional or otherwise) against one of the teams involved in it so, in that sense alone, Steven Duff could not be accused of unduly affecting the outcome of this afternoon's game. However, he should be put in the dock to face accusations of incompetence as his early decisions to award penalties to both sides were questionable at his best. These incidents apart, his general demeanour was one of over-officiousness as he tried to impose himself on the game, rather than allowing the game to flow. The best referees manage to remain in the background, only popping up to intervene when necessary, and if Mr. Duff is to progress in his career then he needs to learn to contain his zeal a bit more.

All that said, whilst the official certainly lived up to his name on this occasion, Queen's can have no complaint about the final outcome as they only have themselves to blame for failing to capitalise on a plethora of gilt edged chances than came their way in an incident packed game.

The pre-match talking points centred around John McCormack's starting line-up which was surprising, to say the least even taking account of the absence of Damiano Agostini through injury. That Tony Quinn moved back to fill Di's role seemed an obvious solution, but that he should start with Allan Dunning and Brendan Crozier in place of the injured Stephen Canning and the relegated Willie Martin was puzzling. Dunning has been out with a serious injury for six months, so it would have barely raised an eyebrow had he been allowed to play himself in via a brief substitute's appearance, whilst Crozier had yet to demonstrate that he was worthy of his place based on the form shown in his few games to date. To be fair to both, they acquitted themselves fairly well, but it was only after both had been withdrawn that Queen's began to do themselves justice. Also, John Gemmell didn't even get to join Willie Martin on the bench, so unless he was injured that decision raises some other interesting questions as it most certainly wasn't based upon any lack of ability.

Albion Rovers arrived at Hampden preceded by a reputation for having played some great attacking football this season, much of which appears to have been influenced by Kevin McAllister who has helped to raise their play to a higher level. Right from kick-off the Coatbridge side showed that this was no faint praise as they immediately moved the ball around at great speed before a deep cross came in from the left and Colin Stewart had to look alert to save at his near post from a Paterson volley.

Indeed, their early play almost looked as bright as their colourful red and yellow striped tops, the only problem being that the numbers on their jerseys were barely discernible thus making it extremely difficult to ascertain which of their players were involved in certain key incidents.

Johhny Whelan replied for Queen's in the second minute, but it was only a token response as the weak shot barely reached Shearer in the Rovers goal, a 'keeper who had been receiving some rave reviews in recent weeks and who would go on to demonstrate exactly why later in this game.

Cowboy had been making a big issue of the need to avoid losing an early goal, but the recent trend continued, albeit with some outside assistance. Gordon Lappin challenged with Bradford for a high cross ball at the edge of his area in the 6th minute, only to be as astonished as everyone else in the ground when referee Duff stopped play to award a penalty for what he can only have deemed to be climbing on Lappin's part. Jered Stirling calmly stepped forward to slot the ball low into Colin Stewart's bottom left hand corner.

Brendan Crozier was only inches away from getting on the end on a long through ball in the 11th minute, before Queen's were given an equal opportunity from the spot in the 17th minute. Although there was cause for claims this time, it seemed as if Lumsden had put in good challenge after Allan Dunning had done well to get himself goalside of the big defender. However, after Allan had tripped over Limsden's outstretched leg which appeared to have made contact with the ball first, Duff quickly blew for another penalty. As usual Johnny Whelan stepped forward to take it and, as with every one of his previous ones, he hit it low and hard to the 'keepers left. However Shearer gave the impression of knowing exactly where it was going and made an excellent save to push the ball wide of the post. If Johnny takes any more he needs to be able to put an element of doubt in the opposing 'keeper's mind to buy him the extra split second of time which would count in his favour as the ball headed towards its designated target.

Colin Stewart then made a good save from McAllister before Stuart Jack had a good left foot shot deflected narrowly wide at the other end. To give one questionable penalty was forgivable, to award two was culpable, but to award a third was scarcely believable and that was what the 500 fans had to witness in the 26th minute when Mr. Duff put himself straight into the limelight once more. Silvestro dashed into the area and pushed the ball between two Queen's defender before falling dramatically to the turf. All that was missing was the cry of "ayah" as he did so, and even though the whistle went the immediate reaction of many was that Duff was going to caution the winger for what seemed the most blatant of dives. They should have known better though as the hapless official quickly ran towards the spot. Up stepped Jered Stirling once more and he demonstrated his versatility to send Colin Stewart the wrong way by putting the ball into the opposite side this time.

For the remainder of the half, 'Rovers played some great possession football, even having the audacity to attempt to do across the edge of their own area when under pressure, almost gifting Danny Ferry the ball in front of goal on one occasion as he rushed forward in anticipation of the possibility of an interception as the visitor's tried to be that bit cocky for their own good. However, for all their pretty play and the nice patterns that they weaved, there was little end product to Albion's possession and all they had to show for it was a close range shot from McLean in the 34th minute which brought out an excellent left handed save from Colin Stewart. Nonetheless, they should have been denied even that brief scoring opportunity as McLean played himself offside by virtue of participating in an attack which should have deemed him to be "interfering with play" having originally been several yards ahead of the ball as Bradford worked it towards him.

Queen's sole further effort of the half came from Stevie Fallon who saw his left foot shot saved by Shearer.

It had been a disappointing half as far as goalmouth action from open play was concerned, but what a turnaround during the second period. John McCormack can claim much of the credit for this, as his halftime rectification of his initial error of playing Stuart Jack down the left wing worked wonders. By taking off the enthusiastic, but still largely ineffective Brendan Crozier and replacing him with Jimmy Allan who still looked far from fit, it freed Jack to link up with the main striker on the right hand side and what a difference it made. However, the other catalyst in this transformation was the introduction of Willie Martin for Allan Dunning who clearly and understandably still needs a few more games under his belt before he gets his fitness level up to the required standard.

Queen's second, and final, substitution took place in the 53rd minute and immediately brought to life a half which had been totally devoid of incident at that point. With Willie fighting for every loose ball, the rest of his team-mates reacted to his example and began to feed the ball out to the wings where Allan and Jack were able to pull defenders out towards them, thereby leaving gaps for others to exploit.

Stuart Jack's willingness to come into the middle when Queen's were breaking down the left through Allan and the supporting Fallon was also a crucial factor in their recovery and nearly brought an instant reward in the 55th minute when Stuart latched onto a head-flick from Willie Martin before firing a left foot shot at Shearer. However, a Queen's goal was only delayed by two minutes and it was a great example of how to let the ball exploit open space. A fine first time pass from Steven Moffat found Danny Ferry with his back to goal and in a central position some thirty five yards from goal. Turning beautifully, Danny quickly slipped the ball into the space vacated by the defender who had come out to close him down and Stuart Jack ran onto the pass before despatching it into the net and beyond the reach of Shearer's outstretched right hand.

Without only an hour played, Tony Quinn was beginning to show signs of tiring following his Tuesday night exertions, and whilst his booking for tugging Bradford's on jersey at the edge of the centre circle was little in itself, it was an early warning sign. As Queen's quickened the pace, Rovers fell out the game completely and spent the next twenty minutes virtually penned into their own half.

Taggart tried his luck from long range in the 63rd minute and his effort was quickly followed by a great run in from the right wing by Willie Martin, but his left foot shot lacked sufficient power to unduly bother Shearer. However, the big 'keeper was now about to put on incredible display of reflex goalkeeping to keep his side in a game that was now clearly Queen's for the taking.

A 67th minute right wing cross from Danny Ferry found the visitor's defence in complete disarray and the ball flashed across the six yard box where it was met at the back post by Stuart Jack who was denied twice by Shearer who saved not only the initial shot but, amazingly the rebound too when it looked as if he would be helpless to get up to block the second attempt. Immediately afterwards, a great ball from Johnny Whelan sent Jimmy Allan right through, but from a great position right in front of goal he blazed his shot wildly over the bar. It was a bad miss.

Before the noise of the crowd had died down from that attack, Queen's were once again inside the Rover's area and Stuart Jack was unable to finish off a mazy dribble due to the lack of power in his left foot. Then Danny Ferry worked his way to a position directly in front of goal, but he too was unable to beat Shearer who by now was putting on a one man act of defiance whilst his defenders were providing him with no protection whatsoever.

Rovers briefly threatened in the 75th minute when a netbound volley from a corner deflected off one of their own players and narrowly over the bar.

Entering the last ten minutes, the game became even more incident packed! Smith was booked for a trip on Stuart Jack before Queen's deservedly equalised in the 81st minute, although the circumstances were again questionable. A deep cross found it's way to the unmarked head of Willie Martin but, before he could direct his header towards the far corner (and just over the bar), referee Duff awarded yet another penalty for what appeared to have been an off the ball push on the back of Moffat by Smith. Even if that award was correct, the official should have waited to see the outcome of Martin's header before blowing as, by doing so, he was denying Queen's the benefit of the advantage rule which was intended for exactly that set of circumstances. Had Willie Martin's header gone in, but Queen's had missed the penalty, the poor quality of that decision would have been more harshly exposed.

In any event, Steven Moffat made rendered any further discussion academic by calmly side-footing the ball beneath Shearer's dive although the big 'keeper again did remarkably well to get his hand to a shot that was less well struck than Whelan's earlier effort; the difference this time being that he lacked the confidence to completely commit himself until he knew which side for certain that Moffat was aiming for. If the award of a 4th penalty in a game was a statistic worthy of pondering over, how about the fact that none of them even resulted in a booking, let alone the dismissal that Lumsden's merited if Duff's interpretation of his last man challenge was to be taken to its logical conclusion.

At this point John McCormack had a crucial decision to make. The setback would obviously sting Rovers into response, so should he put on some fresh legs (Sinclair's or Gallagher's) at the back, or should he gamble on leaving things as they are and hope that the remainder of the game could be played in Rovers' half.

We are unlikely to know whether a change was being contemplated, but Queen's were behind again within 60 seconds. Tony Quinn's legs were unable to stretch to reach a through ball that he would normally have comfortably intercepted and Ian Diack slipped the ball across Colin Stewart with his left foot from a tight angle and into the far corner. A minute later, Silvestro was booked for kicking the ball away at a free kick, a time-wasting tactic of which there had been several recent other unpunished examples during the previous twenty minutes.

No sooner had play restarted than Danny Ferry, perhaps harshly, also entered the book, this time for appeared to be an accidental obstruction. Danny quickly shrugged off this blot on his captain's jotter and sent a great ball inside a defender to put Stuart Jack clean through on Shearer, but somehow the 'keeper got down to thrust out a right hand to block the youngster's point blank effort. If only he had played like this in the first half too, then he would have been truly deserving of the sponsor's man of the match award which could just have easily gone to Fallon for his overall contribution throughout the ninety minutes.

As Queen's pushed forward to grab a late equaliser, they were cruelly punished in the very injury time which was being awarded for Albion's earlier tardiness. With Steven Moffat rendered a virtual spectator by an injury which had seen him spend the previous two minutes hobbling about (why no substitution?), James Coulter ran past the clearly struggling Tony Quinn to produce an equally clinical finish from an identical position to that of their previous goal.

This is very much a game where the final scoreline doesn't tell the true story, but which also highlight's Queen's inability to finish the great chances that they are creating. Until this particular problem is overcome, the inevitable rise up the table may be delayed just that bit longer.

Next Saturday, Queen's visit Stirling to play the other Albion, and hopefully this time they will take their shooting boots with them

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5           STAR SPIDER : STEVIE FALLON (improving with every game)

QUEEN’S PARK : Colin Stewart, Gordon Lappin, Stevie Fallon, Steven Moffat, Tony Quinn, Craig Taggart, Danny Ferry, Johnny Whelan, Allan Dunning (Willie Martin - 53), Brendan Crozier ( Jimmy Allan - 46) Stuart Jack

Subs (not used) : Stewart Thomson (GK), Richard Sinclair, John Gallagher

Scorer(s) : Jack (57 mins), Moffat (pen - 81 mins)

Booked : Quinn (61 - tug of jersey), Ferry (84 - obstruction)

ALBION ROVERS  : Scott Shearer, Andy Paterson, Jered Stirling, Jordan Smith, Peter Cormack, Todd Lumsden, Kevin McAllister (Ian Diack - 58), Jim Dick John McCaig - 83), John Bradford, Charlie McLean (James Coulter - 65), Chris Silvestro

Subs (not used) : Chris Fahey (GK), Jim Mercer

Scorer(s) : Stirling (pens - 6 & 26 mins), Diack (82 mins), Coulter (90 mins)

Booked : Smith (80 - trip), Silvestro (83 - dissent)

REFEREE :  Steven Duff * (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)