TONIGHT’S first round of the best-of-three encounter with Cowdenbeath took Gulliver back to his youth and the days when wrestling was the only live sport on the telly on Saturday afternoon.

Commentator Kent Walton’s immortal line about the winner being the first to get to “two falls, two submissions or a knockout” sprang to mind as we headed for Fife.

If we could win two out of three against the Fifers, we would be favourites in my book to dodge the play-offs, and victory tonight would set us up to land a knockout blow.

We travelled in good heart after the rare victory at Brechin on Saturday, but we knew our hosts would be hurting after their loss to Berwick.

And on top of that, we’ve only recorded four wins on our league travels all season, and we’ve not won two on the bounce away from HQ.

It pointed to a difficult evening, but aren’t those the ones where we tend to show our true mettle?

The boss wasn’t expected to make too many changes; in the end he made none to his starting XI.

Canning, Agostini and McGrady were fit enough for a place on the bench, however, with Molloy, Ronald and Bowers stepping down.

With so much at stake for both sides, the signs suggested a tense evening. Nothing could have prepared us for what followed.

One of the drawbacks about writing for an official club website is that you sometimes have to bite your tongue. This was one of those occasions.

You all know Gulliver would never criticise an official. Tonight he didn't have to. Referee Chris Boyle achieved the almost impossible by uniting fans of both sides in their displeasure at his decisions. Three penalties; four yellow cards; a straight red - and hardly a foul worthy of the name. One can only wonder what the supervisor made of it all.

The unfortunate thing is that there was plenty to get excited about on the park, with one remarkable Queen's goal, and one of the worst miss-hits to ever reach the back of the net.

There was no sign of the drama to come in the early stages as both sides struggled to settle.

Cowdenbeath are a big powerful outfit, who rely on getting the ball forward quickly. Their efforts went astray early doors, while Queen's couldn't get their passing game going.

Typically, the first chance after eight minutes came from a mistake. Stuart Kettlewell tried a shot, but hit it badly. Somehow it reached the feet of Robert Dunn, and he possibly should have done better than fire over the top.

The effort at least gave Queen's heart and we won a couple of corners without really threatening.

Sinclair had to be alert after 13 minutes as the home side were stung into action. The centre-half produced a great block to deny Ramsay.

Gates was next to threaten, and should have hit the target when sent clear down the left.

It was warming up on the park, even if it was freezing on the terracing, and things reached boiling point after 17 minutes.

Sinclair looked to get a fair bit of the ball as he challenged in the box, but Mr Boyle decided it was a penalty. Dempster converted with ease.

To say Queen's hit back quickly would be like saying Gulliver likes the occasional glass of red.

Dunn touched the centre inside and it was rolled back to Kettlewell. Stuart sent a shot from well inside his own half sailing over the stranded keeper and into the net. Three touches and we're level. That's the way to do it.

Much of the rest of the first half action focused on the referee.

Dunn and Shields were booked after 22 minutes for a real handbags at dawn. Then Kettlewell and Reilly were both booked for pushing their claim for a foul too loudly.

Dunn had a wee penalty claim after 36 minutes before Sinclair again came to Queen's rescue a minute later with a superb block to deny Robertson.

With the clock rapidly running down towards the interval, Kettlewell claimed loudly for a hand ball. Everyone in the ground heard the shout; few heard what followed, but Mr Boyle didn't like it and produced a straight red card for the Spiders skipper.

That left us facing the entire second half a man down, but you would never have known it.

Within three minutes of the restart, Dunn had shot wide and minutes later Cairney sneaked clear and found Ferry with his cut back. Mark's shot was badly hit, badly timed - and not all that well directed ... but it somehow found its way into the back of the net to put us 2-1 ahead.

That stung the home side, and they produced an aerial bombardment, which Queen's withstood.

McLaughlin shot over, Ramsay shot wide - and Zander Cowie's goal remained intact.

With just less than 20 minutes to go it got even better for Queen's. As the ball was crossed into the home penalty box, we made a half-hearted shout for hand ball. Mr Boyle pointed to the spot and Trouten sent the kick past Hay.

The home side threw on all three substitutes as they tried to chase the game, while Queen's replaced Dunn with McGrady.

There were just seven minutes to go when Neill produced a neat bit of play to send Cairney in on goal, and he lured Hill into a rash challenge that saw Mr Boyle again pointing to the spot.

Trouten again did the needful, and we were 4-1 ahead, and surely home and dry.

Doubts began to creep in when Gilfillan reduced the defecit with a header four minutes from time, and had Ramsay's cross-cum-shot gone in instead of rolling narrowly wide, we might have had a very unpleasant last few seconds.

As it was, we held on for a victory that could prove vital, even if we will be without our skipper for the visit of Alloa on Saturday.

This was a huge result, and a gutsy performance when you consider we were a man short for more than half of the game.

The players showed a will to win that did this old heart proud.

The one downside is that they will have to learn quickly to keep their opinions of the officials to themselves.

They may get frustrated at decisions which are clearly wrong, and it's incredibly difficult to keep your emotions in check at such times.

But the bottom line is that the official is not going to change his mind ... and if you get his back up, the only outcome will be a card.

Gulliver would never criticise an official, for the last seven games, the Queen's Park players will have to do likewise.

Keep the faith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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