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St JOHNSTONE 4 : 0 QUEEN OF THE SOUTH

6th August 2005

Barnard Rating: 5.74

Wood Rating: 3.67

Carr Rating: 3.86

S1 Reid Rating: 4.77

English Rating: 6.68

Payne Rating: 4.65

Paton Rating: 4.65

Lovell Rating: 4.96

S3 McColligan Rating: 5.00

McNiven Rating: 4.76

S2 McLaughlin Rating: 4.76

SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 46 Thomson Rating: 4.26	S2 - 54 Lyle Rating: 4.71	S3 - 75 Burns Rating: 4.83	Gibson	Scott

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MATCH SUMMARY

It would be hard to imagine a worse start to the league season than this! All so positive in pre-season and at the end of last season. Nothing positive in this one. Iain Scott had his hands tied a little before kick off with neither Steve Bowey nor John O'Neill fit to play. In came Eric Paton and Brian McColligan, with Paton in an unfamiliar midfield role in what appeared to be a 4-5-1 formation and Stuart Lovell taking on the captain's armband. The home side were at full strength with a number of new summer signings in place. The signs were ominous within the first minute as Goran Stanic got in down the left and delivered a perfect low ball for Steven Milne who swept over the top from six yards out. Queens first effort arrived in 6 minutes with Eric Paton's effort from the edge of the box not troubling Kevin Cuthbert unduly. Things took an ugly turn in 13 minutes when Darren Sheridan delivered a truly shocking challenge on Brian Reid. Two footed and knee height it was fortunate Brian wasn't seriously hurt and he wasn't slow in letting then Englishman know it! Sheridan was duly booked by Craig Thomson with the home fans annoyed that Reid's retaliation went unpunished. A couple of minutes later he was joined in the book by Goran Stanic for a cynical trip on Payne. Queens best chance arrived in 21 minutes when Paton cut in from the right and hit a curling shot which Cuthbert tipped round the post.

Payne breaks forward

The last quarter hour of the half though saw the team completely forget how to defend. The first problem arrived in 27 minutes when Reid miskicked Carr's knock down, allowing Dobbie through on goal but his early shot was straight at Barnard. On 31 minutes the opening goal arrived. Stuart Lovell was the man with the error this time. His loose pass across midfield was cut out by Steven Milne who found himself clean through the defence as a result. Brian Reid tried to get back to him but was never going to get there and Milne made no mistake in placing the ball behind Barnard. It should have been 2-0 two minutes later when Carr lost possession as he strode into midfield. Stephen Dobbie this time burst into the box and shot goalward. Barnard parried the ball but it ran free and it was good follow up work from Tommy English that saved us getting there before Milne. The second goal wasn't long delayed though and arrived three minutes before the break. It was more Keystone Cops stuff at the back as Chris Carr got himself into trouble and could only play Brian Reid into more trouble as a result. With two men closing him down Reidy tried to find Gary Wood with a pass but it didn't get there and Dobbie was able to burst into the box before sweeping a low cross along the six yard line for Steven Milne to knock into the empty net easily. Not long before the goal Gary Wood picked up a booking for dissent after being adjudged to have fouled an opponent somewhat harshly. That would come back to haunt him later. Brian Reid had received extensive treatment for a twisted ankle in the first half and it was no huge surprise when he failed to reappear for the second period. Instead Jim Thomson came back in and Carr shuffled across to the left side of central defence. The game was over as a contest on 48 minutes though. Gary Wood lost his man on halfway and, with acres of space in behind him, felt he had no option but to haul the Perth man back. Craig Thomson really had no option but to show the second yellow and inevitable red card. Two minutes later the home side made it 3-0. This time a ball into the box seemed to be dropping for Stephen Dobbie only for Jim Thomson to hook the ball away from him. Sadly it dropped perfectly on the edge of the penalty area for Ryan Stevenson to rifle into the bottom left corner past the stranded Barnard. That saw Derek Lyle introduced for Brian McLaughlin.

Goal

On 55 minutes Stephen Payne fouled Sheridan on halfway and the resulting free kick was flighted directly into the penalty area and buried powerfully into the bottom right corner of the net by the head of Mark Campbell. Jim Thomson received a cut head in the incident and had to leave the park for five minutes to receive stitches in his cut. That saw Brian McColligan of all people drop into centre half alongside Chris Carr, by now the only natural defender on the park for Queens! Just after the hour mark English caught Stevenson out and managed to pick out McNiven in the penalty box but his header, though on target, didn't really trouble Cuthbert. Straight up the other end though Dobbie was again behind the back four only to be denied by Barnard right on the edge of his box. On 64 minutes Iain Scott completed his changes sending on Paul Burns for Brian McColligan. The home side were still pushing though and Stevenson's superb long pass forward found Milne behind Thomson again only for Barnard to make a superb save to keep the score down. That was Milne's last touch as Owen Coyle made a double change, sending on Peter McDonald and John Henry for Milne and Ryan McCann. Soon Darren Sheridan was also given his well earned rest and replaced with Paul Sheerin. Barnard made another great block shortly afterward but the last ten minutes or so were largely played out without incident as the home side settled for the margin they had. This game just needs to be gotten out of the system and forgotten about. We know we can do much better than this. It's hard to see us doing any worse to be honest! At least we're back in action in midweek instead of having to wait for a week. To end on a positive note, two years ago we lost our opening game 4-1 at McDiarmid having already crashed out of the Bells Cup at Stranraer. Nine league games later we were top of the table........... Ewan Lithgow