Queen's Park 0 v 1 Albion Rovers

Attendance : 516

Scorers ~ Albion Rovers : McKenzie (52).

The weather at Hampden was glorious on the day which saw last seasons' player of the year, midfielder Chris Silvestro made his first appearance in the 1st team since being injured against Queen's in April last year. In contrast to the quagmire of a pitch seen during a recent Scottish Claymores match the surface at the National Stadium was actually quite hard.

Queen's were first to perform when a flicked header from Jonny Whelan was caught without any trouble by Neil Bennett in 2 minutes. Seconds later Agostini had the ball in the Rovers net but Whelan had fouled a defender in the build up. Rovers first chance came in 5 minutes when Jim Mercer crossed the ball for Paul McManus whose shot was blocked by Ross Clark.

In 8 minutes injury forced manager Kevin McAllister to replace top scorer Paul McManus with Marc McKenzie. Queen's upped the pressure when Canning tried his luck with a snap-shop which missed by a small margin. Scott Crabbe passed the ball to McKenzie to give the youngster his first chance from the edge of the box but the shot was too weak to cause any difficulties for the Spiders defence.

Scott Crabbe and Jim Mercer both had shots in quick succession after some good build-up play. In 25 minutes a Stirling corner was headed over the bar by Mercer. Play switched to the other end soon after when a couple of Rovers defenders fell over each-other leaving Carroll in on goal, Andy Paterson appeared in the nick of time with a perfectly judged tackle 10 yards from goal to foil the attacker.

Just after the half-hour mark Alan Dunning saw his attempt from near the corner tipped over the bar by Neil Bennett. Rovers were on the attack soon after and gained a corner which was as ever taken by Jered Stirling. The ball was met by Mercer's head in front of goal but the ball went over the bar. Scott Crabbe was next up with a weak shot from 25 yards.

For about 3 minutes Rovers had a succession of about 6 corners but were unable to produce a defence troubling attempt on goal. With 2 minutes till half-time some quality build-up play led to Mark Yardley heading past the Queen's post from about 2 yards, he fell awkwardly requiring treatment until the whistle blew.

Second Half

Worryingly for visiting fans the veteran striker didn't emerge after the interval being replaced by young Ricky Patrick. Scott Crabbe was quick to move forward but his 30 yarder along the ground didn't trouble 'keeper Scrimgour.

In 48 minutes a corner by David McCallum was punched out by Bennett to Martin Bonnar whose strong shot was smothered by the 'keeper. 3 minutes later Rovers took the lead. Squib McKenzie ran onto a through ball leaving the defence standing and beat the advancing Scrimgour with a deftly struck low shot.

In 58 minutes a Stirling free-kick from 25 yards was a few feet over the home bar. A few minutes later a Stirling corner was hit over by Jordan Smith. Then a long ball found its way to McKenzie whose short run ended in disappointment when his shot was a foot wide of the mark.

An unusually well tempered meeting of these two sides flared up in 75 minutes when Neil Bennett was challenged for a high ball by Stuart Kettlewell. Although unclear who did what first Bennett was certainly hit on a couple of occasions while referee Hunter inexplicably watched from 20 yards when an intervention by him could have stopped the resulting melee. When the incident was just about over the ref warned a Queen's player when it could have easily been a few cards of one colour or another to either side.

Stevie Canning tried a snap-shot from 25 yards but it was a little too high. Chris Silvestro picked up a booking for a silly foul before Canning had another shot at goal, Bennett had no difficulty in retrieving the ball.

7 minutes from time a Stirling free-kick was touched onto Queen's crossbar by stretching 'keeper Scrimgour, the ball rebounded to John Bradford who failed to hit it into the empty net from 2 yards. A free-kick, this time taken by Crabbe also missed the target. Paterson was next to have his name taken for a foul.

The home side finished strongly trying to retrieve at least one point from the match although that's the sum total of points they'd gained in the three previous meeting this season. With desperation setting in Stuart Kettlewell received a yellow card for a foul. A final Rovers shot cleared the crossbar.

On the 90 minute mark Rovers were happily keeping possession of the ball in the corner at Queen's end of the pitch. The homesters weren't pleased and gave away two free-kicks within seconds.

Summary

Despite losing their top scorers through injury Rovers went ahead and stayed there thanks to an improved defensive performance. The game wasn't the best of adverts for football, but it certainly proved that neither team was just going through the motions in the final weeks of the season. The 3 points gained give Rovers a 3 point lead over Queen's and give them the chance to catch Montrose who are 2 points ahead in the table.

Queen's Park : Scrimgour, Agostini, McCallum, Bonnar, Sinclair (Dunning 24), Clark, Kettlewell, Harvey (Weatherston 70), Carroll, Whelan, Canning. Subs not used – Quinn, Trouten, McCue.

Albion Rovers : Bennett, Paterson, Stirling, Smith, Sweeney, Silvestro, Bradford, Crabbe, Yardley (Patrick 46), McManus (McKenzie 8), Mercer. Subs not used – Cormack, Farrell, Carr.

Referee : Andrew Hunter

Man of the Match - Marc McKenzie

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