By The Spider
April 13 2002

Saturday, 13th April, 2002 Queen’s Park 0 Montrose 1 (Scottish League - Third Division)

A defeat for either club in this so-called "meaningless fixture" would have had certain consequences. Montrose still harbour promotion aspirations and need to win their last three games to stand any chance of going up. For their part, Queen's are still hoping for a good end to the season that could see them climb to 9th place in the table.

Danny Ferry was restored to the side at the expense of John Gemmell whilst Stephen Marshall took over from Paul Borland at left wing back; the position that he looked so comfortable in when he first joined the Club at the beginning of last season.

Montrose were first to threaten in the 4th minute when Kerrigan sent a looping back-header wide of Tony Mitchell's left hand post. Stephen Marshall then freed Ross Jackson on the left wing, but the subsequent cross was weak and was easily gathered by McGlynn.

Tony Mitchell had to look lively in the 12th minute when he saved well from Leask before sticking out a leg whilst still prostrate to block Laidlaw's first time attempt at the rebound. A couple of minutes later, Tony Quinn released a neat pass into the penalty area for Stephen Canning but the youngster's ball across the face of the goal went beyond Ross Jackson who was not supporting the move as well as he could have been. A minute later, Quinn again created an opportunity for Canning but, from a similar position, this time Stephen went for goal only to see his shot get deflected for a corner.

In the 19th minute, Stephen Marshall advanced from his own half before passing to Chris Fisher some 30 yards from goal but although the left foot shot was well struck, it went straight at McGlynn. Five minutes later Tony Quinn attempted to lob the visiting 'keeper after turning on a Ferry throw-in, but it was another easy save for McGlynn to make.

Ray McKinnon shot well wide in the 25th minute before Stephen Marshall went on an amazing run from deep in his own half, right up the left hand touchline, and then along the Montrose byeline before cutting the ball back for Chris Fisher whose first time left foot shot was well blocked by McGlynn.

Undaunted by the failure of his earlier effort, McKinnon had another go from long distance in the 36th minute and this time he was very unfortunate to see his right foot shot evade Tony Mitchell but come crashing back off the 'keeper's right hand post. This time it was Craig who was first to the rebound, but his effort was weak and Mitchell saved comfortably.

Stephen Marshall had looked a constant threat whenever he got the ball on the left touchline as, time and time again, he drifted by opponents with apparent ease. Christie required illegal measures to halt "the flying Spider" in the 42nd minute, and referee Toner quite rightly took a dim view of the deliberate obstruction and booked the large centre half for his troubles.

Within a couple of minutes of the restart, Montrose took a quick and ultimately decisive lead. A hopeful Brand cross from the right was neatly gathered by Steve Laidlaw at the edge of the area, and although he had his back to goal he was allowed too much room to turn and fire a low left foot shot off the inside of Mitchell's left hand post and in for the only goal of the game.

Danny Ferry tried a speculative first time effort from 30 yards in the 55th minute before Willie Martin and Stephen Canning combined to send Ross Jackson through with McGlynn to beat, but it was all that the nippy striker could do to get his toes to the ball as defenders struggled to get goal side of him, and McGlynn managed to get a hand to the ball at close range to keep it out.

Stephen Marshall had a go for goal himself in the 59th minute but his well struck right foot shot was too close to McGlynn to stand any realistic chance of beating him. Ray McKinnon was booked in the 63rd minute for a far touchline trip on Danny Ferry near the halfway line, before the former Scotland U-21 player shot narrowly wide of goal in the 73rd minute.

Brand fired over from inside the area as the game petered out to its, by then, inevitable conclusion as The Gable Endies comfortably played out time to secure the win they so desperately wanted.

So, it's now almost official. Unless Queen's can win their last two away games (and East Fife lose both of theirs, or Stirling Albion only manage a point from theirs) Queen's will be the worst team in Scotland for season 2001/02 and thus end over a century of proud tradition as, despite their amateur status, The Spiders have never finished bottom of the Scottish Football League. There's little point in examining the merits of those discussions which centre around the belief that the team are as good as any in the Division on their day. The sad truth is that on more days than any other team, they are worse than the other nine and that is why they are firm favourites to finish bottom.

But enough of wallowing in self pity, for there is much to be optimistic about, provided that Cowboy is able to re-sign the nucleus of his squad for next season. The key players are Neil Collins, Johnny Whelan, Stephen Canning, Stephen Marshall, Tony Quinn, John Gemmell, Chris Fisher and Willie Martin. The others are good squad players but they are of a similar standard and which ones come in and out of the team do not significantly weaken or strengthen it.

The eight players mentioned above are all players who would grace other team's squads, and it is therefore to be hoped that the vultures currently circling Hampden do not find too much by way of rich pickings in a fortnight's time. To lose two or three of them would be manageable as John McCormack will no doubt find some good quality new players during the close season, but if more than that are lost then it is unlikely that the squad overall will be any stronger than it was this season.

The days of having a nucleus of 13 or so players to last you through a season (like the 1980-81 team) are gone forever and success (or lack of it) will be measured by the quality of a squad of 20 players. If you have 7 or 8 players who are capable of consistently turning in good performances and who can play 30 or so games for you in a season, then you have a good chance of achieving success. Lose half of them and it means that you have to fill their places in your "1st team" squad from the bottom, which is likely to mean young players with little or no league experience and who need better quality players around them to bring out the best in them.

A couple of "old heads" would be most welcome, but let's hope that Cowboy doesn't bring in too many who fit that description, otherwise he will only suffocate players like Gemmell and Fisher who would need to step down to make way for the former pros. Some like John Cunningham, and like Jamie Smith before him, may well decide that it's not worth their while waiting indefinitely to be given their chance. Sadly, it may be with other clubs that these players show that what we are discarding are better than what we are replacing them with.

Hopefully it won't come to that, and John McCormack will be able to achieve the right balance between bringing in experienced players without stifling the cream of our precocious talent. His is an extremely difficult task and should never be under-estimated. He has to look at "the now", because failure to do so would cost him his job, but if the Committee can see steady improvement as more and more youth players come through the ranks and into the first team, that also must be a sign that the Club are heading in the right direction.

John's contract is now up for renewal and the Committee will shortly meet to decide his future. The League table says that he is the worst manager in Scotland, and there can be no doubt that he is hurting just as much as the Club's supporters, who have remarkably failed to demand his resignation at any point this season. At any other club, that would be an unimaginable scenario, so that proves that the supporters recognise the magnitude of his task. Hopefully Cowboy will be given more time to allow our youth policy to bear fruit, rather than being pressured into spending his summer looking for short term "quick fix" signings.

More about that will emerge during the coming weeks. For now, Queen's remain on "death row" and it needs a great result at Elgin next week (+ results elsewhere to go in our favour) to set up another nerve tingling last day of the season. Last season it all ended in so much disappointment. Perhaps this season a little miracle is lying in wait and our destiny is to deny Dumbarton winning promotion whilst at the same time leapfrogging Stirling Albion or even East Fife to avoid the impending ignominy.

Hard to believe? Well, East Fife have three away games (two against East Stirlingshire and one at Brechin) the Beanos last two games are against promotion chasers Albion Rovers (home) and Peterhead (away) so maybe, ........just maybe?

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 2/5               STAR SPIDER : Stephen Marshall

QUEEN’S PARK : Tony Mitchell, James Bruce, Stephen Marshall (Paul Patterson - 81), Neil Collins, Jamie White, Anthony Quinn, Danny Ferry, Johnny Whelan, Ross Jackson (Richard Sinclair - 74), Stephen Canning, Chris Fisher (Willie Martin - 52)

MONTROSE : Gary McGlynn, John Allison, Stuart Ferguson, John McQuillan, Graeme Christie, Mark Craib (David Craig - 25), Ralph Brand, Grant Johnson, Moray Leask (Andy Hutcheon - 65), Steve Kerrigan (Steve Laidlaw - 9), Ray McKinnon