By The Spider
December 29 2002

Saturday, 28th December, 2002 East Fife 1 Queen's Park 1 (Scottish League - Third Division)

David Menelaws' rehabilitation continues and, although he didn't make it off the bench for this game, it is progress that he was listed in the final list of 16 for the first time since joining the Club. John Gallagher was the player to drop out, but otherwise the squad was along the same lines as that which saw off Elgin City last week.

This was Queen's 5th trip to New Bayview for a League fixture and they were looking to maintain an undefeated record at this venue in that particular competition. For their part, East Fife were desperately seeking three points to maintain their promotion aspirations.

Queen's started the brighter of the two sides and Willie Martin brought out early saves from veteran 'keeper Jim Butter. The first was simple enough from a shot on the turn in the 7th minute, but the one a minute later was much better as he flew through the air to his right to palm Willie's fierce 30 yard drive away for a corner.

The big 'keeper didn't look so clever in the 11th minute though when he came for, and completely missed, a Ross Clarke left wing corner which was flicked on at the near post by John Gemmell, but there was no Queen's player behind him to take advantage.

The Spiders launched a superb attack in the 14th minute when Jimmy Allan, Willie Martin and Johnny Whelan all linked with John Gemmell to send the big striker clear, but Mortimer produced an excellent saving tackle to clear the danger. The big defender then pushed up to the other end and Colin Stewart was brought into action for the first time in the 17th minute to save  Mortimer's close range range header after Hall had headed a deep left wing corner back across the face of the goal.

Herkes them side-footed the ball over the bar from close range after Farnan had provided an inviting cross from the left touchline. As the Fifers created what few openings their were in the remainder of the opening half hour, Farnan himself came closest to opening the scoring with a dipping right foot hooked shot which narrowly missed the top left hand corner of the Queen's goal.

A precise Danny Ferry pass created an opportunity for Willie Martin in the 41st minute, but the Queen's striker lost his footing at the critical moment. As the half drew to a close, Hall sent a near post header narrowly wide of the target as Queen's clung on until half time.

Jimmy Allan had been completely anonymous during the first half but, with his excess turkey now fully digested, he began to make a considerable impact on the game. Firstly, having taken Russell to the cleaners, the home defender was cautioned for a very late challenge on the flying Queen's winger. However, Allan was also booked in the 59th minute, stupidly showing dissent after a foul had been given against him after he had obstructed his marker as they both challenged for a header.

Willie Martin brought Butter to his knees with a low shot hit with the outside of his right boot after an excellent surging run towards goal. Farnan then also received a yellow card for attempting to obtain a QP top for his collection.

As Queen's regained the ascendancy, Johnny Whelan sliced a 25 yard drive high and wide before a great through ball from Jimmy Allan gave Martin a clear sight of goal, but Willie's low drive came back off Butter's legs as the 'keeper came out to narrow the angle. Donaldson, who looked the home side's most dangerous player, then also got himself booked for raising his studs as he challenged Sinclair for a 50/50 ball which left the Queen's player hobbling badly.

However, even as Sinclair was receiving further attention out on the touchline, Queen's took the lead when a direct free kick on the edge of the area by Stephen Moffat took a cruel deflection to leave Butter flatfooted as the ball trundled by him into the opposite corner. Sadly, the lead was not to last long.

East Fife immediately threw on two very tall players to provide additional distractions thereby providing the main target man Deuchar with more space for himself. Taking full advantage of this, the big striker began backing into Damiano Agostini whilst waiting for a free kick to be played into him whilst referee Richmond kept his attention on the free kick. It was a clear infringement by Deuchar and meant that Agostini was already on the back foot trying to maintain his balance by the time the ball eventually reached Deuchar. In a desperate attempt to regain control of the situation, Agostini threw his arm round the front of Deuchar which then invited Deuchar to theatrically fall backwards which he duly did making it Richmond's easiest decision of the day to make the award. Had the official seen what was going on beforehand, he would undoubtedly have awarded a free kick to Queen's, but he hadn't and Agostini would have done better to avoid the wrestling competition that he got dragged into, and instead to come round Deuchar's left side to poke the ball away.

In any event, it ultimately was a clear penalty and up stepped none other than perpetrator in chief Kenny Deuchar to slam the award low to Colin Stewart's left.

East Fife now began to exert considerable pressure on the Queen's defence in the closing stages, although some stupidity from Farnan resulted in the player becoming the 4th Fifer of the afternoon to be booked when he needlessly fouled Fallon right at the stand side corner flag.

Given East Fife's new height superiority, it wasn't surprising that Queen's found themselves subject to an aerial bombardment and four reasonable opportunities were created and missed. The first was in the 79th minute when Deuchar headed past from a right wing cross before, five minutes later, Graham sent his header over the bar from a right wing corner. Then Deuchar glanced a right wing free kick narrowly past Stewart's right hand post before, in the last minute, the same player headed high and wide when right in front of goal.

In all the circumstances, a draw was probably a fair result, but the manner of the equaliser left a bad taste in the mouth of visiting players and fans. To make it worse, this was the second time this season that Richmond's incompetence had seen Queen's drop two points (the other was last month at Gretna), and hopefully Queen's can avoid this bungler for the remainder of the season. It's not that he's particularly biased against Queen's, but that he makes a lot of mistakes during games and, whilst some go in favour of Queen's, two major ones against have now cost us dearly this season.

Whilst some teams will spend New Year's Day slugging it out for League points, Queen's can now take it relatively easy as they prepare for the visit of Albion Rovers to Hampden on Saturday in a Scottish Cup tie which will be a lot more keenly contested than the recent encounter at Coatbridge.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5           STAR SPIDER : Stevie Fallon (immaculate)

QUEEN’S PARK : Colin Stewart, Richard Sinclair (Gordon Lappin - 83), Danny Ferry, Steven Moffat, Damiano Agostini, Stevie Fallon, Willie Martin (Allan Dunning - 89), Johnny Whelan, John Gemmell, Ross Clarke, Jimmy Allan

Subs (not used) : Tony Mitchell (GK), Craig Taggart, David Menelaws

Scorer(s) : Moffat (71 mins)

Booked : Allan (dissent)

EAST FIFE  : Jim Butter, Gordon Love, Euan Donaldson, Gordon Russell (Craig Lumsden - 66), Michael Hall, Paul Mortimer, James Herkes, John Allison, Kenny Deuchar, Craig Farnan (Ross Graham - 72), Craig McMillan (Gordon Gilbert - 72)

Subs (not used) : Craig Martin (GK), Jimmy Nairn

Scorer(s) : Deuchar (pen - 74 mins)

Booked : Russell (late challenge), Farnan (pulling opponent's jersey), Donaldson (dangerous challenge), Herkes (trip from behind)

REFEREE :  Charlie Richmond ** (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)