By The Spider
March 24 2003

Saturday, 22nd March, 2003 Queen's Park 1 Peterhead 2 (Bells Scottish League - Third Division)

Once again Queen's can consider themselves to be a little bit unfortunate as yet again they were denied taking the lead by the woodwork The starting line-up remained unaltered, indeed the only change to the squad was the inclusion of Jonny Whelan at the expense of Allan Dunning who has, once more, been pushed aside without being given any opportunity to show what he is capable of.

Peterhead made the long journey south looking to take all three points to maintain their narrow grip on second place, with both Morton and Albion Rovers breathing down their necks. They certainly started brightly and some terrible defending from a quickly taken throw-in gave Roddie an early opportunity which he could only succeed in prodding into the side net from close range.

Stevie Fallon, enjoying the greater freedom that his new left sided role is allowing him, surged forward in the 2nd minute to intercept a crossfield pass but Mathers did well to dive and hold his low hard cross cum shot.

As the game flowed quickly from end to end, Bone was sent clear on the right hand side of the Queen's penalty area, but his powerful shot across Cairns went wide of the far post.

Jimmy Allan beat the offside trap in the 9th minute and, having rounded Mathers, looked certain to score but McSkimming did very well to make up the lost ground and got back in the nick of time to chest the ball off the line for a corner. When that resultant cross did come over, John Gemmell headed it back across goal but Richard Sinclair couldn't direct his close range header beyond Mathers who caught it on the line.

Peterhead caught Queen's on the counter-attack in the 15th minute when Cameron broke at pace down the right wing, but Maclean could only send a diving header over the bar when it looked easier to score. Two minutes later came the moment when Queen's were left cursing their bad luck. Cutting in from the right, Danny Ferry embarked on a solo run through the heart of the Peterhead defence and his low daisy-cutter beat Mathers' despairing dive only to rebound back from the base of the right hand post and back into the prostrate 'keeper's hands with both Gemmell and Martin ready to pounce had the ball rebounded either side of the keeper.

Boosted by their good fortune, Peterhead gained a grip on the game and became increasingly dangerous with each attack. A whipped in free kick from Cameron on the right found MacDonald in a good position, and Cairns did well to touch the wing back's header past his near post. Then MacLean planted a header narrowly wide with Cairns looking unable to reach it had it been on target.

The breakthrough came in the 25th minute when Cairns went down bravely at the feet of Maclean, but the ball broke kindly to Andy Roddie who had the easiest of tasks to stab the ball into the empty net. Queen's tried to respond with a free kick from David McCallum, but after two great efforts against Stirling in midweek, this time the cultured left foot effort went just wide of the right hand post.

Stevie Fallon embarked on a great solo run in the 33rd minute and although Mathers was unable to hold on to the powerful shot that followed, no Queen's player was following up and he was able to gather it at the second attempt. Peterhead again took advantage of their escape and promptly went down the park again to put themselves even further ahead. Again Maclean was the provider, this timing squaring the ball across the six yard box for Andy Roddie to side-foot the ball home from close range.

Queen's looked vulnerable after this further setback and Bone headed just past as the visitors looked to put the game beyond The Spiders' reach.

Queen's started the second half well and McCallum forced Mathers to concede a corner when he latched onto a Gemmell lay-off. However, the game went very flat after that and Kenny Brannigan made three substitutions in the hope that the game could yet be turned around. The first of these was forced upon him in the 54th minute after Richard Sinclair had been poleaxed by a rocket of a shot which looked to be going in until Richard's inadvertent intervention which left him dazed and unable to continue.

With Jonny Whelan becoming increasingly influential and Chris Fisher started to see more of the ball than of late in recent subs appearances, Queen's did pull one back in the 67th minute when the aforementioned Whelan laid the ball into the path of Willie Martin whose sweetly struck low right foot shot from the edge of the area fairly zipped into the bottom of Mathers' right hand post giving the 'keeper no chance whatsoever.

It's amazing what a difference a goal can make, and now Queen's were on the ascendancy leaving Peterhead desperately clinging to a lead that had looked secure for much of the game. A Chris Fisher shot was deflected narrowly past in the 71st minute and then Mathers had to make a good save from a powerful Jonny Whelan drive.

However, by pushing forward so much for an equaliser, Queen's were often left man on man on the counter-attack and Peterhead had two glorious chances to kill the game off in the 75th and 79th minutes. The first breakaway saw Cairns make a great save before the rebound was also cleared off the line, and then the Queen's 'keeper made a great save low to his right when faced one on one with the normally deadly Iain Stewart.

Relieved to still be in the hunt, Queen's once more laid siege to the visitors' goal and Willie Martin came close with a quick shot on the turn which Mathers saved low to his left whilst at full stretch.

With two minutes to go, MacDonald made a surging run from the back and, having dribbled his way into a good position, wasted the chance by firing over with his weaker left foot.

It had been a keenly fought, but clean, contest so it was a pity that the game should finish on a sour note. Whilst other more vaunted Premier League players seem to get away with raising their hands to push opponents away, referee Eddie Mack zealously applied the letter of the law to send off Jonny Whelan in the last minute for what was clearly a "handbags at dawn" exchange. Then, as the final seconds ticked away, Chris Fisher was shown a card of a lighter shade for dissent after disputing a foul that had been awarded against him for a late tackle.

The teams play each other again at Peterhead's ground this coming Saturday, and hopefully Queen's will apply themselves right from the one o'clock whistle, or it could be a long day for the few hardy travellers in more ways than one.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5           STAR SPIDER : Stevie Fallon (a model of consistency)

QUEEN’S PARK : Mark Cairns, Danny Ferry, David McCallum (Jonny Whelan - 63), Richard Sinclair (Jamie White - 54), Damiano Agostini, Stevie Fallon, Stuart Kettlewell, Ross Clark, John Gemmell (Chris Fisher - 59), Willie Martin, Jimmy Allan (Chris Fisher - 72)

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

Scorer(s) : Martin (67 mins)

Booked : Fisher (90 - dissent)   Sent-Off : Whelan (90 - raising hands to an opponent)

PETERHEAD  : Paul Mathers, Calum MacDonald, Sean McSkimming, Robbie Raeside, Mark Perry, Kevin Bain (Stuart Mackay - 13), Kevin Tindal, Alex Bone, Dougie Cameron, Duncan Maclean, Andy Roddie (Iain Stewart - 61)

Subs (not used) : John Farquhar (GK), Mark Simpson, Keith Robertson

Scorer(s) : Roddie (25 & 35 mins)

Booked : none

REFEREE : Eddie Mack ** (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)