It began badly, early yesterday morning, with Gulliver perched precariously up a ladder in the pouring rain, trying to saw branches off a tree that had blown over and was threatening to bring down telephone lines and mangle what's left of his garage. Then it was back to work today, with the joys of a trip to Cliftonhill lurking. There had been some fears that the game would have fallen victim to the rains. With hindsight, that would have been the best thing that could have happened. As far as entertainment goes, this was on the poor side of dismal. The park was awful, and it quickly became evident that it was not a surface to try to play silky football. Evident to everybody except the Queen's players that is. Gulliver loves the way we try to pass our way out of trouble, and on surfaces like Hampden and the one we encountered at Dumbarton on Saturday, it's a joy to watch. Today, with the ball bobbling about on grass that threatened to obscure Tommy Murray from view, we put far too much work on the ball. Our tendency to over-elaborate cost us countless good possession; and ultimately cost us the game. The problems began even before the kick-off with Tony Quinn joining the list of the missing after picking up a knee injury at the weekend. Mark Cairns was again missing, as he might be for some time, while the one plus was the return of Richard Sinclair. His presence allowed the boss to push Paul Ronald further upfield, giving David Weatherston some much needed support. Murray started in place of Quinn, while Bowers dropped to the bench to give Sinclair his start. Three minutes in we won a corner and when Canning's first delivery was cleared back out to him he whipped in a magnificent ball that keeper Ewings had to fly across goal to tip it away from the head of Dunlop. With 10 minutes gone another Canning delivery gave Richard Sinclair a free header, but he couldn't direct his effort on target. Rovers got their first real sight at goal after 20 minutes when a Murray clearance rebounded to Walker who shot over. Weatherston had been quiet so far, getting very little in the way of service, but he finally got the chance to run at the Rovers' rearguard after 24 minutes. His ball in found Ronald and he laid it off to Ferry, but his effort cleared the bar. There was a comic moment just after the half-hour when Stuart Kettlewell tried to take a quick free-kick and smacked it into Ferry's stomach. He then got a severe ticking off from referee Charleston, but nobody knew quite why. There was one moment of genuine quality in the first period, after 35 minutes. Ferry drove a delicious ball across the field to Weatherston, and he let fly on the gallop. Ewings reacted superbly to push the ball behind. All that was left of a disappointing first half were bookings for Nicoll and Murray after they both tripped opponents. So the score was blank at the break for a second game in succession. But unlike Dumbarton, where both teams produced some cracking stuff, there was precious little here to get excited about. Queen's had the better of it, but never looked convincing. We were first out of the traps in the second period and Weatherston carved out an opening for himself down the right flank. He left Donnelly for dead, but sadly for the visiting fans, Lennox produced a great block to deny the striker. Things got worse for the Hoops after 50 minutes with a goal that would have coach Stark spitting blood. Mick Dunlop got drawn too far infield allowing Rovers' trialist the space to get in a cross. And when the ball reached the far post Walker had so much time and room that even Homer could have converted. The loss of the goal at least sparked a reaction from the Spiders and a series of chances were quickly created ... and all missed. Mark Ferry is probably the most reliable striker of the ball from distance that we have in our ranks. He was the man on the end of most of the chances today, but a combination of bad bounces, bad luck, good defending - and bad shooting contrived to deny him. His first effort was blocked after he was set-up by neat play involving Weatherston and Paul Cairney. After 58 minutes he had another effort deflected just wide. Then it was the turn of Paul Ronald and David Weatherston to see shots scrambled clear, and the big man came closest of all after 65 when his glancing header from a Canning corner was cleared off the line by Lennox. Just when it seemed the break would never come, we were back on terms, from the penalty spot. Ronald was manhandled as another cross came in and referee Charleston pointed straight to the spot. Keeper Ewings got a strong hand to Canning's shot, but couldn't keep it out. It was just reward for our best spell of the game, but we couldn't keep the momentum going. David Crawford gave everybody a scare when he went over on his ankle, but he recovered to block well from Chaplain and then turn a header from Donnelly round the post. Then the injury situation got even worse with Big D, who has been superb since stepping in at the back, hobbled off after 75 minutes. Robert Dunn came on and Paul Ronald dropped back into the defence, robbing us of a potent attacking force for the last spell of the match. And we paid an awful price when we again dallied in midfield, lost possession, and two passes later Walker drilled the ball past a helpless Crawford. We huffed and puffed in the final moments, created a bundle of half-chances, but failed to make any count. Nobody should really be surprised at this outcome. Having shocked Arbroath and then taken a point from Dumbarton, it was perhaps inevitable that we would stumble at Cliftonhill. Paton and Trouten will be available for our next game - a real six-pointer against Berwick. However, Gulliver is hoping that Tony Quinn will also be there as our midfield just isn't the same without him. Young Cairney looks a real prospect, and Kettlewell has an immense engine, but neither of them can hit people the way TQ can. This league is so tight that there will be a lot more twists and turns before the prizes are dished out. What Queen's can't afford to do if we harbour genuine title aspirations is to keep losing to teams like Shire and Rovers. We play some lovely football, but we've also got to be able to win ugly, and that art has eluded us too often. Still, look on the bright side, 2007 can only get better.
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