Here's a first even for the Scottish climate. While Gulliver sat in his office this morning preparing his notes for the game, his next door neighbour was getting SOLAR panels fitted to the roof of his house. A mere 33.6 miles up the road, tons of SNOW were being pushed off Recreation Park by a bulldozer. Does that go down as climate change, global warming - or what?
Anyway, a Herculean effort by the Recreation Park groundstaff got the pitch playable, but at the end of an astonishing 90 minutes, all those who follow the Hoops were left wishing the staff hadn't bothered. Another three points had gone AWOL, but your scribe reckons only Queen's Park could have created so much in one game and come away with nothing.
Alloa had given us a bit of a doing in this season's first clash at Hampden. And on the eve of this second encounter, Paul Hartley was able to bring in two Premier League youngsters on loan.
With resources like that, it was little surprise that the bookies fancied a home win this afternoon, and despite being under the cosh for much of the game, Alloa duly delivered that result.
Gardner Speirs had a good squad to choose from, with only Paul Stewart missing from last week's 16. The polisman's place was taken by young Gavin Lachlan.
The big debate was whether the boss would change his starting XI after they failed to really gel against Peterhead. It was no real surprise that he decided to give them another chance to shine, so all three flying machines - Smith, Watt and Murray - were sent out to run the legs of the Alloa rearguard.
That was the plan, anyway, but Alloa have guile, experience - and some deadly finishers. That mix somehow managed to undo Queen's.
It was distinctly on the foggy side as the game began, but the Spiders were soon illuminating the gloom with some silky passes. The best of the early moves saw Davie Anderson and Jamie Longworth combine beautifully. Longworth got his shot away, but it saled over the top. Little did we know it at that point, but the tone of the afternoon had just been set.
Queen's continued to push forward up the Recreation Park slope, but were caught out two minutes later by a classic counter-attack.
Winters howked the ball clear; May picked it up and played in Doyle, who smacked the ball into the net. It was a s simple as it was painful.
Queen's responded by winning a corner which was easily cleared and then almost lost a second goal with 10 minutes on the clock. Ian Watt tried to chest the ball back to Paul McGinn; left the pass short - and had Neil Parry to thank as the big keeper pulled out a great stop to deny Cawley.
Again the Spiders rallied and went on the hunt for the equaliser. Anderson and Watt sent McGinn free, but his cross was deflected for another corner, which again floundered on the giant heart of the Alloa defence.
Just before the halfway point in the first period, Queen's won another corner which was only half-cleared to Longworth lurking on the edge of the box. He brought the ball down on his chest and let fly with a beautifully-controlled volley. It beat Bain all ends up, but crashed off the post to safety.
The rest of the half was a fascinating case of Queen's pressing, with Alloa looking lethal on the break. After 27 minutes, a great ball from Martin McBride found Smith on the right, but Craig's cross was - to be kind - awful.
A couple of minutes later, McCord finally provoked referee Anderson into producing a yellow card. The home side had conceded
numerous offences - with Darren Young in particular being given at least three "final" warnings. McCord's trip on Anderson must have been the straw that broke the camel's back as the official then went on to brandish cards at another five players ... four of them wearing the QP colours.
David Murray was next to threaten for Queen's as he left McHattie in his wake before drilling in a low cross. Sadly, Harding's long legs deflected the ball behind for a corner, which was headed wide by Daryll Meggatt.
Ricky Little had our hearts in out mouths when he dallied after winning possession and was forced to foul Cawley on the edge of the box. With alarm bells ringing loudly, the free kick was wasted ... and we breathed again.
The final minutes of the half saw McCord spurn a half-chance for the home side before Murray wasted another opportunity for Queen's. He was in space as a corner was headed out to him, but he headed it tamely back into the arms of a grateful Bain.

Half-Time
Alloa 1 Queen's Park 0

The Spiders had started the first period brightly; they slumbered their way into the second. There were just 38 seconds on the clock when Little picked up a yellow card for flooring Cawley as he weaved his way on on goal. May struck the resulting freekick beautifully, but as the ball arrowed its way towards the corner of the net, the giant frame of Parry appeared from nowhere to turn the ball behind. Naturally, having produced such a brilliant save initially, the keeper then spilled the cross as the corner came in and was lucky to escape with his goal intact.
Queen's found it hard to get back into their rhythm for a while and McBride was a tad unlucky to pick up a caution for a nothing foul on May after 51 minutes.
The cards were coming thick and fast now. Harding was in the book after 52 minutes, soon followed by Davie Anderson.
But as the clock ticked on towards the hour mark, the Spiders got back into their stride. McGinn and Watt tore down the right and Chuckie's cross looked a threat until it was turned behind by Gordon.
McGinn then went it alone down the flank; beat his man; cut inside - and then wasted all the good work by firing a left-foot shot tamely into the side net.
Longworth then spurned a glorious chance when he tried to pass the ball into the net from a terrific position. Bain read his mind, however, and plunged down to keep the ball out.
There were 25 minutes to go, and with the traffic flowing in only one direction, it seemed a matter of time before Queen's finally took one of their chances.
James Brough was next up, but he couldn't beat Bain from around 10 yards. Typically, Alloa raced away from that let-off and McGinn was carded after the referee decided he had fouled McCord.
Back down the field came the Spiders and were rewarded with a foul inside the Alloa box after Bain stupidly picked up a miscued passback when he could have hoofed the ball clear. Unfortunately, as with most fouls of this kind, it came to nothing. Mind you, it's easy to charge down an indirect free kick if you are not forced back the regulation 10 yards before the kick is taken.
With Queen's becoming just a tad desperate in their attacks, Gardner Speirs decided it was time for a change. Mick Daly and Sean Burns came on for Watt and Smith.
The change should have brought instant rewards as Murray, now operating on the right, borke clear and rolled the ball across the area. Longworth waited for it to arrive; set himself perfectly for the shot - and then fired it wide with his left peg. The word "unbelievable" was written large in Gulliver's notebook after that one, and even though we have seen Queen's fail to take opportunities many times before, it really took a bit of doing not to have scored this one.
The last 10 minutes saw the Spiders try to force something out of the game, but frustration and desperation began to get the better of good judgment. That was sadly demonstrated when the talented McGinn romped forward again. He was never set for a shot - but took it on anyway. Nobody was surprised when the ball flew over the top.
The professionalism of the home side saw them kill time any which way they could, simply adding to the frustrations of a bitterly disappointing afternoon, which ended with Queen's on the attack, but failing to score.
We will play a lot worse than this in future games, and win them, but we can't afford many more hard luck stories if we are to harbour genuine promotion aspirations.
Such is the nature of the Division 3 table at the moment that three points today could have taken the Spiders into third spot if results elsewhere had gone our way. As it is, we are left languishing in seventh place.
There's still an awful long way to go in this league season, but Tuesday's re-arranged derby against Clyde is beginning to take on extra significance. Victory could help bring the feel-good factor back to Hampden and might spark another winning run.
Defeat ... well let's not even think about that.
Keep the faith - even if days like today test it to the limit.

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