Not for the first time this season,Queens were denied victory in the closing minutes and have only themselves to blame for such a calamity. Stirling can also take great credit from a display which showed great organisation,pace and enterprise a virtue I regret to say is sadly lacking in this Queens team.
The first half was a scrappy affair with Queens struggling again in midfield and Stirling not afraid to come forward. O'Connor was ploughing a lone furrow up front for Queens as others around him floundered and the big striker almost scored with a rising shot which just cleared the bar with Hogarth in the Stirling goal nowhere.
Stirling shocked Queens by taking the lead on 17th minute when Easton took advantage of some shocking marking in the Queens defence. MacDonald got his hands to the shot but it eventually found the net much to the delight of the small band of Stirling fans in the West Stand. Queens tried to get back into the game but Sirling held out until the interval. Needless to say Queens left the field at the interval to a rousing chorus of boos from the Palmy faithful.
Half -Time: 0-1
The home support got some early cheer from Queens at the start of the second period as O'Connor crashed through and placed the ball in the net to equalise. There was more urgency from Queens now as they went all out for the winner and it was backs to the wall stuff for the visitors for a spell. Several openings were missed until Dobbie was brought on from the bench. His introduction was immediate and he scored a superb goal on 74 minutes when he stroked the ball into the corner of the net after selling the most outrageous nutmeg to a Stirling defender.
Queens went for the jugular and Dobbie miskicked right in front of goal. Try as they may Queens could not add to their tally and Stirling came more and more into the game in the final stages. As full-time approached disaster struck as McBride got the break of the ball and fired a 20 yarder past a helpless MacDonald. Palmy was silenced and there was a sense of huge disappointment at having thrown away two valuable points.
Queens could and should have won this match but I certainly wouldn't deny Stirling a point. The visitors came out of the game with great credit and at times had Queens on the rack. Their manager Moore has a young team and has them well drilled but whether they last the full campaign is another matter. Queens on the other hand are a complete enigma at present with the midfield misfiring on all cylinders. After Dobbie scored we seemed to be crusuing but we suddenly fell out of the game and allowed the visitors back into the game.
I would imagine next weeks visitors Dunfermline will be a better team than Stirling and god only knows how Chisolm and his merry men will cope.
Duke's Man of the Match - Sean O'Connor - The big man was immense and how will Queen's cope without him ?
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