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Five wins on the bounce

Annan Athletic 2 Queen's Park 3

Annan:A. Mitchell, Muirhead, McGowan, Gibson,Watson, D. Mitchell, McKenna, Jardine, Trialist, O'Connor, Cox. Subs: Harty, McKechnie, Steele, Sloan, Summersgill (gk). Queen's Park - Parry, McGinn, Meggatt, Little, Gallacher, Anderson, Watt, McBride, Daly, Longworth, Burns. Subs - Bradley, Quinn, Smith, Ronald, Strain (GK).

If anybody needed a classic illustration of a "Big Challenge", this was it as far as Queen's Park are concerned. Annan are a big powerful team, very adept at using their Galabank pitch to their advantage, especially when the wind howls up and down its slope as it did today.
They gave us two-goal start on our last visit before sending us home with our tails firmly between our legs, and a 5-2 defeat to start the league season. Since then, Annan have gone on to top the table for a spell, before settling in third, one spot above ourselves going into today's game.
To add to the challenge, Gardner Speirs was forced into changes after having a settled team for what in Queen's Park terms seems like an eternity.
Jamie Brough was missing because the long arm of the law needed him (to work of course not because of any misdemeanour). In recent times, when Brough has been posted absent, the coach's preferred option has been to switch Darryll Meggatt in one place and play Sean Burns at left back. That might have been his intention again today - had Davie Murray not tweaked his troublesome hamstring against Elgin.
When Murray has missed out on previous games, Burns has been drafted in to fill the wide slot up front. Again, that might have been the gaffer's plan, but while Burns has a lovely left-peg ... it can't be in two positions at once.
So a new solution would have to be found. The likeliest option was to replace Brough with Gallacher, Murray with Burns - and keep the shape that has served so well in our run of four league victories on the trot.
The likeliest option it may have been, and indeed, it was the one that we plumped for. Peter Bradley and the fit-again Tony Quinn took the two vacant slots on the bench. It was a strong looking side on paper, but Gulliver has often heard it said that football isn't played on paper.
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing our squad, however, was getting back down to earth after the astonishing rout of Elgin last week. The football produced in our devastating second-half goal-glut was as good as anything this scribe has seen from any team in black and white. It was unrealistic to expect a repeat performance today, yet if we were going to take anything from this game, we would have to play pretty damn well.
As always, the support travelled in high spirits. Gulliver doesn't know what it is about Annan, but it's certainly a "lively" trip. The advance party travelled down on the Friday night to make the most of the occasion, while Gulliver enlisted a maths professor to work out the intricacies of rail ticket prices, before heading off this morning in one of Mr Branson's finest coaches to rendezvous with his chums.
Not only did the Canny Lad travel up from Newcastle, but another pal ... believe it or not a former referee ... left the leafy suburbs of Fairlie to report on the game for his new employers at The Sun. It had all the ingredients of a grand day out, but then again, so did our last visit to this neck of the woods.
Our last visit was dramatic; this one lacked little in that sense, with goals in the first and last seconds - and plenty in between to keep the 507 fans enthralled..
Queen's were first to show, with McGinn and Smith combining in the opening seconds to set up Longworth. Jamie, who couldn't miss the target last week, could only find the side net on this occasion.
That was promising, but with 92 seconds on the clock, we were behind to what could be termed a typical Annan goal. Queen's failed to defend as a long shy was heaved into our box, and the home side's trailist striker drilled the ball home. Not what the doctor ordered.
Queen's reacted exactly as one would have hoped, playing neat football on a difficulty surface and taking the game to our hosts.
Within the next 10 minutes, Longworth shot wide after some lovely build-up play and then headed a Smith cross narrowly over the top.
Watt and Smith then had efforts charged down before Annan broke up field and drew a smashing save out of Neil Parry as O'Connor threatened. Ricky Little did his bit with a good sliding tackle as the home side tried to go for the kill, but just as things started to look a little ominous, Queen's carved out an equaliser.
Smith fired in a teasing cross, but before it reached Burns, the winger was hauled to the deck by Mckenna. It had to be a penalty; it was - and Martin McBride drilled the ball home with some style.
Back on level terms, Queen's started to take control. Anderson started spraying the ball about to good effect, McBride was here there and everywhere and the pace of Smith and Watt caused the home side all sorts of trouble.
Despite enjoying the bulk of possession, Queen's couldn't find the second goal - and there was always the danger that the powerful home side would catch us on the counter.
Meggatt was booked for a soft foul on one such counter attack, before McBride and Cox were fussily booked for an insignificant tussle off the ball.
As the first third of the game came and went, Queen's were denied on another two occasions. Firstly Mitchell stood tall to deny Smith as he outpaced the home defence, then it was Longworth's turn.. He won possession a mile out "miscontrolled" it for 50 yard as he tried to beat the home defence, before finally shooting wide.
That was as close as either side came in the rest of the first period and the interval arrived with both teams in the same position as they were when the game started.
Half tine
Annan Athletic 1 Queen's Park 1

The first half had got off to a flying start for the home side; the second period also saw one side race out of the blocks ... and this time it was Queen's.
There were only four minutes on the clock when Ian Watt produced a storming run up the right and the only way Muirhead could stop the wee man was by hauling him back. It was another stonewall penalty, and again McBride was calmness personified as he smacked another spot kick past the helpless Mitchell to put Queen's 2-1 ahead.
Queen's saw the chance to put the game to bed and Anderson did his best to supply the ammunition. Despite his promptings, and the selfless running of Smith and Watt, there was no sign of the third goal. Indeed, with the home side now shooting down their favoured slope, the pressure mounted on the Spiders' net.
Annan won a series of corners which were all repelled and despite throwing on all three subs, they couldn't breach a hard-working and well organised QP rearguard.
Solid at the back, Queen's sought the third goal that would have let us all breathe more easily. On 73 minutes, McGinn worked his way up the right, cut inside and let fly with his left peg. It would have been a peach of a goal - sadly, somebody moved the post and it flew inches by.
That was the sign for Annan to play their last card, with Ian Harty coming on. The home side threw bodies forward, and kept us pinned back. But despite all the pressure, Parry didn't have to perform too many heroics.
Just when it looked as if the game would finish 2-1, it exploded into action again.
Anderson fed a delightful through ball to Smith and the flying machine was composure itself as he stroked the ball past Mitchell to put Queen's 3-1 ahead. There were only two minutes to go - surely that was us done enough ... don't be so silly, this is Queen's Park we are talking about.
With the stopwatch showing more than a minute of stoppage time played, yet another ball was lumped forward.This time Paul Gallacher, who had been an excellent stand-in for Brough, slipped as he went to clear. Annan pounced; the ball was played to O'Connor - and he found the net to bring it back to 3-2.
That goal prompted more than a few anxious looks among the ranks of the QP faithful, but thankfully - before those nerves could transmit themselves to the players - Dallas blew the full-time whistle.
There's still a long way to go in this campaign, but Gulliver reckons this was a huge victory in a game that presented a big challenge. We weren't at our best; we had injuries and availability issues to deal with; we were playing a very strong Annan side ... and we came home with all three points.
The rollercoaster is very much on the up just now, but Queen's being Queen's, it will have its downturns before May sees the prizes awarded. What is becoming clear is that this Queen's Park team is good enough to challenge for the honours, and although Gulliver still reckons that anybody who finishes above Alloa will take the league title, there is plenty reason to be hopeful as our winning run stretches to five league games on the bounce.
Strap yourselves in and keep the faith; things are about to get very interesting.