Scottish League Division 3
	Queen's Park	1
	Canning
	Dumbarton	0
Saturday, August 19, 2006

IT'S certainly been an interesting wee spell for the Spiders since we last ran out at Hampden; a nine-man victory against Elgin in the league and a couple of cracking cup victories.

The cup results brought about a pair of interesting draws - Aberdeen and St Johnstone - nothing like making it easy. The interesting factor is that both are former teams of our boss Billy Stark. As he himself remarked after also drawing Hamilton, the logical next step is Celtic, maybe in the Scottish.

Anyway, that's enough of the Cup thoughts, today is all about league business.

The good news is that Homer, who has proved a bit of a jinx thus far, having only been at the Arbroath game is again missing as he has shown utter disregard for the fixture list (or more likely her indoors has) and headed off for foreign climes.

The bad news for you lot is that means Gulliver sitting in.

But there wasn't much to get the mouse moving in the early stages, and what action we saw was generated by the visitors. Thankfully, as far as we were concerned, they didn't really threaten.

Maybe it was the changes that we were getting used to. the team showed four alterations from the staring line-up at Shire. Cairns, Whelan, Ronald and the suspended Ferry making way for Crawford, Dunlop, Reilly and Weatherston. Sadly, Frankie Carroll was still not fit enough even for the bench, which contained Ronald, Whelan, Trouten, Keenan and Cairns.

So we started out out: Crawford, a back three of Agostini, Reilly and Dunlop, five across the middle - Paton, Quinn, Kettlewell, Canning and Molloy, and Bower and Weatherston leading the attack.

Dumbarton looked up for things from the off, no doubt inspired by the magnificent arena that greeted them. To think that all those trucks waiting in the car park contain stuff that will see this surface covered for weeks to let the Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams strut their stuff.

Still, that's another matter. Let's concentrate on the football.

And there was plenty nice stuff being played, even if most of it came from the visitors.

Both teams seemed determined to play the game the right way, and play flowed from end to end.

After the initial exchanges, our first opportunity fell to Steve Canning, but his curler from distance hit the roof of the net.

The visitors' best effort early doors came from Dobbie, who rattled our bar.

Dillon was causing most of the problems down the left, and he earned a bookinbg for Big D when his feet were just a bit too quick for our man. Not surprisinlgy, however, the front man made a miraculous recovery after the card was brandished.

Pace was our main threat up front, and Weatherston got free on the right. Sadly, he was so quick that we couldn't get the support up quickly enough and the attack petered out.

Our best moment came after 25 minutes when a quick throw in released Bowers. His cutback gave Kettlewell a sniff at goal, but the snatched shot flew wide

Just after the half-hour, Canning again went close, this time after some neat lead-up play by Molloy.

The Sons then went straight up the park and Crawford had to be alert to turn Dobbie's header over the bar.

The first half drew to a close with more of the same, both sides flattering to deceive. Truth be told, however, Billy Stark would have been the happier boss to get to the break all square.

Half-time

Queen's Park 0, Dumbarton 0.

 

There were no changes by either side the interval,and no change to the pattern of play either. Within a couple of minutes Bagan had burst through and DC had to stand up well to beat away his shot and keep us all square.

Then seconds later Dobbie showed how much he was enjoying playiong on this billiard table by nutmegging Molloy and then trying a delightful chip which needed every inch of DC's 6ft plus to touch the ball onto the bar.

Any time we did get the ball forward, it came back far too quickly, so it was perhaps surprising that the first change was made by the visitors; Gentile replacing Winter after 52 minutes.

There was little doubt we had the pace up front to trouble the Sons' defence, the worry was keeping the ball long enough to play a pass into space.

I would never criticise any official, but Mr Muir had annoyed some in the home ranks by blowing up at what seemed like every opportunity. He did it again after 55 minutes when he penalised Quinn right on the edge of the box. Dillon's effort was just wide, however, and we breathed again.

The weather was the brightest thing in the stadium as the second half wore on, with neither side looking as if it had the key to unlock the goal door. We were particularly ineffective, and it was no surprise to see subs warming up. The big question was who would come off? Everybody was working hard enough, it just wasn't working.

Gulliver fancied Ronald for Bowers, who wasn't on song, and that's the way it turned out after 66 minutes. Young Richard will have happier days

Almost immediately, we enjoyed a wee spell of pressure, but it ended when Canning's curled effort flew well wide.

And then the breakthrough came, and as so often in these cases, it was a mistake.

Dumbarton should have tidied up before the ball reached Ronald down the right. They didn't; he squared - and Canning rapped home his third of the season on 70 minutes.

1-0 Queen's and Ronald enjoyed a wry smile as the taunts of reject from his former Sons' fans died in their throats.

That was the cue for Dumbarton to introduce their bag of tricks, Jose Quitongo, in place of the limping Dillon. Things weren't going to get any easier for the home defence.

And as so often happens in these circumstances, we started to sit too deep for comfort. That invited pressure, but the hope was we might get something on the break. Quinn played Weatherston through after 77, but Craig stood up well to the threat and the danger was cleared.

Shaun Molloy then limped out of the action, and Trouten took his place for the last 10 minutes. Never make a change at a corner they say. This was enforced, and thankfully it didn't cause any lasting damage.

Dumbarton made their final change after 82 minutes, replacing the excellent Brittain with Boyle.

Although there were just a few minutes left, the feeling was that this game could still end up in any result.

Steve Canning then landed a dodgy yellow card when he questioned an even dodgier free-kick against him. Billy Stark looked in no mood to sympathise after some of the problems he has encountered in recent games.

We then had a four-on-three break, but couldn't make the final pass count.

With two minutes left on the clock, the boss replaced Weatherston with Keenan (can you guess why) and we tried to run down the clock.

As the stadium clock hit 90, Trouten weaved his way throiugh and released Keenan. Many in the home ranks were none too happy when the assistant flagged for offside.

In the end, it mattered not a jot as we held on for a 1-0 victory which wasn't the most convincing we'll ever record, but who cares?.

Now, I wonder what's next ... a wee test against Premier League Aberdeen on Tuesday?

Just remember, it's at Firhill, there's something else heading for Hampden, but I know where I would rather be.