Albion Rovers 2 v 1 Queen's Park 
Division 3
19th April 2003
Albion Rovers 2 v 1 Queen's Park
Division 3
19th April 2003
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Attendance : 581
Scorers ~ Albion Rovers : Yardley (35), McLean (68). Queen’s Park : Menelaws (62).
What a game! What a goal! What a result! Well, in actual fact the game wasn’t all that good, but two out of three isn’t bad! Oh, it was exciting enough, especially in the second half, but the purists would have been shaking their heads.
During this second period, Rovers were looking quite good when the stupidity of Jim Dick might have put the kibosh on all the work which had been done to establish a bit of supremacy over a stuffy Queen’s outfit. From the start, Dick’s antics were ridiculous, because even when an incident had nothing to do with him he would run to the scene and insist on having his extremely voluble say. So, his many misplaced passes, mistimed tackles and the dive which latterly got him red-carded were the antics of someone who contributed absolutely nothing to his team’s success.
Aided by the breeze, there’s no doubt that the Spiders had the better of the opening skirmishes. David Menelaws headed a corner over the crossbar, Danny Ferry saw his low cross held by Scott Shearer and a 27-yard free-kick from David McCallum was just too high. In 20 minutes, McCallum was again prominent, firing in a good cross which was booted clear by Todd Lumsden. Two minutes later, Lumsden almost undid his good work when a header back to Shearer beat the ‘keeper and, fortunately for Rovers, passed outside the post.
Rovers Go Ahead
In 24 minutes, Dick and the visitors’ Stuart Kettlewell indulged in a spot of aggression which saw both yellow-carded, foolishness which was to have repercussions for both later on. Following something of a lull, Rovers took the lead when, in 35 minutes, Kevin McAllister fired over an angled cross which Mark Yardley did well to control before firing a low shot past Mark Cairns in the Queen’s goal. Soon afterwards, Jordan Smith was booked for a rash tackle, then just before the break, Rovers suffered two blows in quick succession when John Bradford and Chris Silvestro, both injured, were substituted by Iain Diack and Andy Paterson respectively. One minute before the whistle, Queen’s Richard Sinclair was cautioned.
Early in the second half, a Smith header from a McAllister cross was saved by Cairns, then Crunchie himself gathered a Yardley lay-off and fired in a super shot which jetted past a post. On the hour, Dick, racing through into the opposition area, fell to the ground and to referee Winter, perfectly placed, it was a blatant dive. The wayward one saw yellow then red and was off! Two minutes later, with Rovers already trying to regroup, Queen’s struck the equaliser. Menelaws and Smith went for the same ball, the visitor won and his low shot was behind Shearer before anyone could move.
McLean Wonder Goal
It has to be admitted that things looked black for the Cliftonhill men at the stage with the amateurs back on level terms and a man to the good. However, McAllister, having put in his usual excellent shift, was replaced by Charles McLean who took only four minutes to make his mark. After a cracking Jim Mercer drive crashed off the crossbar, McLean, gathering the ball at least forty yards out, raced down the touchline, beating two bamboozled Queen’s defenders on the way, and cut along the bye-line where from an impossible angle he somehow managed to squeeze the ball into the net. Goal of the season? Quite probably.
After Menelaws had been booked for dissent, playing numbers were evened-up when Kettlewell received a second yellow. Jered Stirling was just wide with one of his trade-mark free-kicks and although there were still a couple of anxious moments in the home defence before the end, Rovers gathered the vital three points.
Albion Rovers : Shearer, Dick, Paterson, Smith, Cormack, Lumsden, McAllister (McLean 64), Silvestro (Paterson 43), Yardley, Bradford (Diack 40), Mercer. Unused Subs : McCaig, Fahey.
Queen’s park : Cairns, Ferry, McCallum (Canning 81), Sinclair (White 69), Agostini, Fallon, Clark, Whelan (Martin 56), Gemmell, Kettlewell, Menelaws. Unused Subs : Gallagher, Mitchell.
Referee : Brian Winter
Man of the Match : Mark Yardley
