Queens Park v Stenhousemuir FC

Match Report

Queens Park v Stenhousemuir at Hampden Park, Glasgow on 13.5.15

SPFL League One Final Play-off Final First Leg

Queens Park 0 Stenhousemuir 1 [McCormack 55]

Queens Park –Muir, Mitchell [McIlroy 67], Burns, Berry [McPherson 80], Quinn, Wharton, Woods, Slattery, Carter, Fraser [b62] and Rooney [b86]. Subs not used– George, McVey, McGregor, Gibson and Hynes

Stenhousemuir – Fleming, McCormack [b81], Summers [Faulds 65], Lithgow, McMillan, Meechan [b85], McMullan, Hodge, McMenamin, K.Millar [Fotheringham 82] and Watt [Marenghi 60]. Subs not used– Shaw, Duncan, Sutherland, Grehan and Fotheringham.

Referee – Barry Cook      Assistants – David McGeachie and Alasdair Ross.

Both teams had similar passages to this final play off with their games both being decided in extra time and thus neither had advantage of being able to ease down in preparation for this double header. Neither manager had freshened up their side for this game as both choose the same starting eleven from the semi-final second legs.

This was the first meeting of the clubs since the 2008-09 season when they also met in the play-offs with Stenhousemuir being victorious at the semi-final stage before gaining promotion against Cowdenbeath in the final. The Warriors started reasonably well but it was the home side that created the first real chance in the 8^th minute when Greg Fleming was called upon to save from ex-Stenhousemuir player Shaun Fraser. Two minutes later the keeper was in action again to cut out a cross from Paul Woods after he was allowed to skip along the by-line.

It took until the 19^th minute before Stenhousemuir had an effort on target and that was a Bryan Hodge shot that was partly blocked by a defender and ballooned up to William Muir in the Queens goal. A minute later a swift one two involving Ross Meechan and Colin McMenamin saw the former burst into the danger area but he struggled to get the ball out from under his feet and although he managed a flick it was not enough to beat Muir.  At the other end Sean Burns was causing problems with his set plays especially corners that were not being cleared properly but it was from a free kick that Fleming had to make a save in the 25^th minute. A Stenhousemuir free-kick from 35 yards showed vision by Paul McMullan who saw the keeper off his line and he scrambled to tip it over the bar. Muir was called upon once again in 35 minutes to tip a McMenamin header over. Towards the end of the half Muir once again denied McMenamin with a superb save to save a powerful strike and thus the half time whistle blew with no goals being scored.

 Just after the resumption McMullan was allowed to run at the Queens defence but his shot from inside the box drifted wide of the target There was a chance for Queens in the 52^nd minute when Burns saw a free-kick blocked and rebounded to him but he shot wide.

In the 55^th minute the deadlock was broken and it was Stenhousemuir that made the breakthrough when Jamie McCormack dived to head a Paul McMullan free-kick into the net. The best chance of the game for the home side came in the 62^ND minute when John Carter was thwarted by a fine stop by Fleming from close range. The visitors suffered a blow when Ciaran Summers clashed heads and had to be subbed. This saw Bryan Hodge drop to a defensive position and for a while the home side tried to exploit that flank. As in the first half though the main threat came from set pieces but they did get another opportunity from open play in 77 minutes when Burns got through after weak challenges but saw his strike parried out by Fleming. Stenhousemuir rarely threatened at the other end but in the 86^th minute they struck the woodwork through a Ross McMillan header from an almost identical position to the goal.

As the game progressed Queens threw more players forward with Stenhousemuir hitting on the counter with Hodge showing composure to run the clock down.  In the 94^th minute though Anthony Marenghi gave the ball away and would have been relieved when Paul Woods missed the target from close range. In the end though there was no further scoring and the Warriors take a one goal lead into the second leg.