AFTER THEIR THRASHING OF LIVINGSTON LEAGUE LEADERS QUEENS WERE BROUGH DOWN TO EARTH AT THE EXELSIOR STADIUM AGAINST A FIGHTING AIRDRIE UNITED SIDE WHO FULLY DESERVED THEIR WIN.
Queens looked very uneasy from the start as a determined Airdrie side took the game to their opponents. The Queen's defence made a hash of a clearance in the 7th minute and the ball fell kindly to Cardle who scored from close in and give his team a surprising lead. Queens urged on by a healthy travelling support tried to get back into the game but the Home side looked up for it and were giving nothing away in mid-field.
Having said that although struggling,Queens were making chances with Dobbie and Tosh very unlucky not to score. Another unfortunate clearance by the Queens defence almost opened the door for McLaughlan but only a great save by Bell prevented Queens from slipping further behind.
Just as it looked if Queens might survive until the interval another horrendous lapse by their defence allowed Lynch to pick his spot on 44 minutes to put the homesters 2-0 up.
In the second half' O'Connor was immediately brought on to try and salvage something from the game. Airdrie seemed content to sit on their lead as Queens threw men up. Their were several anxious moments in the Home defence and Smith almost put the ball into his own net after an Airdrie defender seemed to handle. Dobbie flashed a shot wide and McQuilken blasted a free-kick straight at Roberston but it was all Academic as Airdrie simply played out time until the final whistle.
There is no doubt that Airdrie just about shaded it but Queens did make a lot of chances but hesitancy in defence and in the end being outgunned in midfield contributed to their final downfall.
There is still a lot of water to flow under the bridge until the Spring and Queens will have games in which they will play worse and win. It's a tough tight league and Airdrie will surprise a few on their own patch although I wouldn't consider them serious title challengers. They will not be gifted
goals every week for instance and they don't look a potent force up front.
Really dissapointing today - we were second best in every department and that was dissapointing. Two slack goals that we feel they were defensive mistakes. To give two goals away like that and be playing that way, we just didn't look like we were going to get back into it."
"On the day they were the better team, but that was down to us. I can't say it much about my boys - in fact, I've never said it before - but we were outworked today."
Gordon Chisolm on trhe OS
Queen's Man of the Match - McGowan - was impressed by the stocky defender who stuck to his task as others around him struggled.