Scottish League Division 3
	East Fife	1
	Gordon
	Queen's Park	0
Saturday, December 2, 2006

THE first thing you want after a disappointing cup exit is a nice, easy game to bounce right back. So what do Queen's get as a first chance to put Brechin out of their heads - a trip to Fife to face the league leaders.

Gulliver has suggested before that the old league computer has a wee bit of the devil in it. Today's fixture did nothing to dispel that theory.

To make matters worse for yours truly, Homer is off on the piste, and not just his usual Saturday bucket. The Big Yin has waltzed off the Austria for a spot of ski-ing, leaving his wee chum to make his own way to Methil. Some folk have absolutely no consideration.

But at least Gulliver did have some company for the journey, with Chester Robertson making his first appearance at an away game since his unfortunate accident. Quite what he made of Gulliver's driving, we'll leave for another day.

Queen's have already put the Fifers to the sword this season, at Hampden, but today was going to be an altogether different challenge. On their own patch, the big Methil men would provide a stern examination for anybody, and to have any chance of closing the gap at the top, Queen's needed all their big players available.

Thankfully, what had seemed like a nightmare injury list during the week had all but disappeared by kick-off time, leaving the boss with the welcome problem of what side to pick, rather than trying to find 11 guys who were fully fit. The only absentee of note was Mick Dunlop who had to serve his suspension for his red card against Stenny.

Mick was one of four changes to the starting line-up from the cup tie; Agostini, Dunn and Crawford the others to make way for Cairns, Canning, Sinclair and Quinn. So it was a solid looking team that took the field in what a Fifer might call a bit of a breeze. Anybody else would call it a bleeding gale.

To Queen's credit, they did the right thing, trying to get the ball down and play to our strengths.

East Fife also played to their strengths - long direct balls and pile the big men forward.

There's no arguing which was more pleasing to the eye, but this game was all about the points ... and Queen's came home with none.

The referee's whistle to start the game was indeed a welcome noise - especially after we'd had to listen to some truly awful Christmas records in the build-up.

You all know Gulliver would never criticise any official, but there were some Queen's Park supporters who suggested that first whistle was one of the very few things Mr MacDonald got right all afternoon. Gulliver couldn't possibly comment on that.

There was little sign of the disappointment to come for the Hoops as we kicked off and immediately tried to take the game to our hosts. As is often the case, Trouten and Paton were heavily involved down the right, while Ronald was a handy pivot for anything through the middle.

We definitely had the best of the initial sparring, producing some moments of genuine class. The best came after seven minutes when Mark Ferry played a glorious crossfield ball to Paton, who released Trouten and it took some desperate defending to keep his cross out at the expense of a corner.

A couple of minutes later, Mr MacDonald brought the play back for a Queen's foul after trying, correctly, to play the advantage rule. Paton's delivery was wicked, and Ronald's header was only inches too high.

Just before the first quarter-hour came to an end, the first yellow card was shown - to Smith - for clattering through Weatherston. Considering what was at stake, the tackling had till that point been relatively restrained.

Some of our football had been scintillating, but too often the end product was missing. A classic example came after 23 minutes when Paton, Kettlewell and Ronald all combined, but young Paton tried to be a tad too clever, and ran the ball over the byline.

Queen's had been rock solid at the back so far, but after 28 minutes we were almost undone. Stuart Kettlewell's misplaced pass let Blackadder burst free and it took an anxious spot of ping-pong in our box before Cairns managed to get the situation under control and clear.

Things were looking distinctly dim by now, and the lights really should have been on. Maybe that's why the linesman failed to flag for offside when Martin got his head to a wayward shot. To these old eyes, the striker was the closest player to Cairns by about five yards. Thankfully, he couldn't get his effort on target, and Queen's survived. Funnily enough, the floodlights came on seconds later.

The improved light merely helped the Queen's fans get a clearer view of Mark Cairns making a fine save from Jablonski after he was left one-on-one with the keeper.

We had definitely lost our stranglehold on the match, but made it through to half-time without loss. We certainly deserved to be at least level at the break, even if we hadn't made keeper Ross work too hard.

Queen's haven't been at their best in the second half of recent matches. And we struggled at Hampden in the first game against the Fifers to deal with the long throws of Smart.

So what happened after 59 seconds of the second period? East Fife won a throw, Smart hurled it into the box, we failed to clear and Gordon smacked the ball into the net.

Now we had a mountain to climb.

A measure of the respect Queen's have earned from their opponents was that keeper Ross was warned just two minutes later for taking too long over a goal kick. It wasn't the last time he was somewhat tardy in delivering the ball back into play. And it wasn't his last warning for doing so.

He never fell foul of the referee, however, but round about the hour we had a wee spate of bookings.

Courts raised his hands to Ronald and both earned yellow cards. Now you know Gulliver would never criticise an official, but there were many in the Hoops colours who wondered exactly what offence the QP veteran had committed.

Smart then went in the book for decking Tony Quinn, before Richard Sinclair deservedly joined him for a somehwat cynical wee challenge as Martin burst through.

The football action was raging from box to box. Queen's had a decent penalty claim turned down when Linton seemed to ease Steve Reilly out of the way at a corner ... with two hands in his back.

And McGowan certainly handled the ball moments later, but Mr MacDonald decided he had been pushed seconds earlier by Ronald and gave the foul to the home team.

East Fife then broke quickly and won a corner. They had looked dangerous at every set piece and this one was no exception. Paton cleared the first header and Cairns saved from Jablonski as Queen's looked in danger of losing the plot.

The keeper came to the rescue again after 67 minutes when another long thrown had us in all sorts of problems. This time the auld yin got down very smartly to save at point-blank range from Martin.

For the rest of the game, Queen's hammered away at the Fife rearguard, without ever forcing their keeper into serious action. We dominated possession; we dominated territory; we played some really lovely stuff ... and East Fife still looked the likelier team to score on the break.

The home defence marshalled our main threat, David Weatherston, as well as any team has this season ... and that includes higher league opposition in cup ties. But what was infuriating, was their tendency to sustain injuries.

After almost every Queen's corner in the latter stages, a Fife player needed treatment. Amazingly, every one of them recovered the minute they made it to the side line. At least the referee did allow a fair amount of stoppage time, more than five minutes, but truth be told, it was the Fifers who had the most clean-cut chances in that extra period.

This was a bad way to end a bad week. We've now slipped to third in the league and right into the middle of an almighty dogfight. Five teams are separated by just two points, while East Fife have got a nice eight-point cushion.

We won't now be top by Christmas, but being the eternal optimist, Gulliver still has eyes firmly set on the title. We've a wee break until our next game against the Shire on December 16, which we simply must win. We then round off the year with a home game against Arbroath and a trip to Dumbarton.

It's all getting very interesting, and we're not even at the halfway stage. No wonder Gulliver has been known to have an occasional libation.

On that subject, as this is our last away game before Santa comes calling, may I be the first to take this opportunity to wish all those who follow this glorious club a very merry Christmas. I know the present I want, and I suspect most of you would also swop the after-shave and socks for a presentation ceremony of the Third Division Championship to Billy Stark and his boys.

Keep the Faith!