Scottish League Division 3
	Queen's Park	1
	Quinn
	Berwick Rangers	0
Saturday, October 28, 2006

Homer would have been wearing sunglasses had not the sight, on a dull, overcast October day, not have put him in real of being visited by the men in the white coats.
It was the Queen's annual dinner last night. Dull heads and sensitive eyes were the order of the day this morning, so what better way to blow off the cobwebs than a game against our dear friends from Berwick.
Our recent form has had more than Homer waxing lyrical, but this was another big test. Our record against Berwick is not the best - Homer remembers one win for Billy Stark in his time here - and if we were to make an impression at the top of the table this was one we had to win.
Billy Stark was able to get a bit of continuity in his starting line-up. The only change from the 3-0 defeat of Elgin was the fit-again Paul Ronald returning in place of Richard Bowers, who dropped to the bench.
And it was a confident start by Queen's. Straight from the kick-off, Trouten danced through the middle before being stopped at the edge of the box, and
then Kettlewell had a shot blocked. The scoreboard still registered 0 minutes.
Dunlop overlapped down the left, Kettlewell back heeled his pass into the path of Weatherston, and he shot wide. Good stuff.
But Berwick are not second top for nothing, and they showed nhow dangerous they could be with a cou8nter-attack in 12 minutes.
The dangerous Wood was played into the box and Cairns did well to beat away his shot for a corner. From the corner, the ball fell kindly for Fraser, but Ronald made a brave challenge to block.
Quinn was booked for encroaching at a Berwick free kick which never looked like a free kick in the first place, and was eventually cleared, and then Queen's had a penalty claim rejected when Noble pulled down Trouten as he burst into the box.
But Queen's continued to dominate and were rewarded with a fine goal in 22 minutes.
More great teamwork down the left by Dunlop and Ferry, and a perfect return pass set up the midfield man for a powerful drive from 20 yards which OÇonnor could not hold. The keeper could only knock the ball up and against the bar and, when it came down, there was Tony Quinn getting up in support to drive the ball into the net. Great stuff.
Queen's continued to hold the upper hand, pressing the game and pushing Berwick back. Ferry shot over from a blocked corner, and in a rare Berwick attack McLaughlin had a shot saved low by Cairns
In 29 minutes, Wood ­- who appeared to be wearing some kind of mask as face protection - was booked for a foul on Sinclair, having a minute earlier gone unpunished for a high challenge on Cairns.
Trouten was booked for a typical Trouten foul in 39 minutes, a trip on Noble right under the nose of the referee. That gave Berwick the chance to launch a free kick into the Queen's box, but Quinn cleared with a great challenge.
It had suddenly become quite dark, and Andy McGlennan was despatched to put some money in the meter. Let there be lights, and there was light.
The lights almost went out on Berwick a minute from half-time, when McNicoll headed a Ronald cross onto his own bar with the keeper beaten.
Noble became the fourth name in nthe book for a foul on Weatherston right on half time. But a good 45 m inutes for Queen's and they were well deserving of their lead.
Half-time: Queen's Park 1, Berwick Rangers 0.

The rain was sweeping across the park - and also across Gulliver's laptop; but not dousing Homer's flames of creativity - at the restart. And no changes.
Within four minutes, Britton was booked for hauling down Weatherston after the striker's pace had robbed the Berwick defender.
And then Reilly became the sixth yellow card for a sliding tackle that looked 50-50.
Berwick came dangerously close to an equaliser in 57 minutes. Ferry dithered on the edge of our box and was dispossessed by Thomson. Woods met his cross at the near post, but Paton did brilliantly to get in a challenge and deflect Wood's powerful header for a corner.
Two minutes later and Trouten could have put this one to bed. Quinn's through ball put him clear with only the keeper to beat, but he shot straight at OÇonnor, who batted the ball away.
And we should have scored two minutes after that. Brilliant play down the right by Weatherston turned a nothing ball into a goalscoring chance. The striker cut inside two defenders and squared for Ferry, who was unmarked on the penalty spot, but his weak shot was easily blocked by OÇonnor. Last week, Ferry's mishit provided a goal, but not this time.

Also like last week, Queen's were wasting a barrowload of chances after some excellent build-up play.
Berwick sent on David Greenhill for Britton in 68 minutes, and Wood was pushed back into defence, and then namesake Gary Greenhill became booking No 7 for dissent. It was a race to see who get writer's cramp first, Homer or Mr Smith, who was certainly no Homer
Cairns pulled off an excellent save to keep the lead intact in 70 minutes, going full stretch with his left hand to tip a Thomson header over the bar after Reilly had been caught out by a long cross.
Mr Smith equalled last week's tally of eight bookings when Fraser joined the list after a rash challenge on Cairns, who will have a few bruises in the morning.
Canning came on for Queen's in 75 minutes, replacing Paul Ronald, who had put in a good shift on his return from injury.
Berwick hit the bar again in 77 minutes with a speculative cross from Fraser which deceived Cairns, but the visitors so far had been restricted to crosses and long range efforts, like the Thomson drive in 80 minutes which whistled over the top.
But Queen's were living dangerously and Berwick were gaining in confidence. Sound familiar?
Four minutes from the end - a very long four minutes, Homer predicts - Bowers was sent on for Trouten, who also had put in a shift.
But then the four minutes were up and Queen's had taken an excellent three points. Just the thing for a hangover.
.