Queens Park 2-0 Berwick R
Sunday 17th January 2010
Berwick Rangers' winter blues continued when they returned from a record five-week enforced break to succumb meekly to a more committed Queens Park side on the pristine acres of the national stadium at Hampden on Saturday. The healthy away support,desperate for a football fix after living on memories of past glories since 12th December, left Hampden with their appetite unsated after Rangers produced a lacklustre,listless and leaderless performance which allowed a fairly ordinary Spiders outfit to win with something to spare.
Their nearest rivals still snowbound,Rangers missed an excellent chance to move above East Stirling into second place. In an ominous sign of things to come, the continued absence of principal striker Alan Brazil looks like causing them a major headache, because on this showing the black and gold had the cutting edge of a newly-made jelly.Steven Radzynski is struggling at this level and could'nt buy a goal at the moment, and although Ian little still has a fine footballing brain and a sublime touch, creating a goal threat around the wide open spaces of Hampden looked too big an ask for his aging legs. Fraser McLaren, who does have pace to burn,flitted in and out of the game and missed the Gers best chance when the game was still level.
With skipper Callaghan and Elliot Smith finally beginning their two-match suspensions, and Brazil showing worryingly little sign of improvement, Jimmy Crease had to embark on a major reshuffling exercise to put a team on the park. Oliver Russell filled in for Cal in the middle of the park, Paul McMullen took over at left back, and Ian Little partnered Radzysnki in attack.
Rangers settled quickly, and the early signs were promising. Radzynski whipped in a teasing cross from the byline in the first minute,before McLaren skinned Walker twice in the space of a couple of minutes to fire in dangerous crosses, the second of which Radzynski should have slid home from point blank range, but the ball got tangled under his feet and keeper Hamilton gathered. Oliver Russell was next to threaten in the 7th minute, cracking an 18 yard shot over after a good knock-down from Ian Little. Another superb McLaren/Russell move opened Queens up like a cheap can of beans in the 9th minute, and at this stage in the game, the omens were looking bright and shiny. Unfortunately,it was pretty much downhill from thereon in. Capuano embarked on one of those mazy "if he does'nt brake soon he'll crash" runs for Queens in the 13th minute,only for Quinn to clatter his final pass over Peat's bar.With the impetus draining away from Rangers, Queens' Chris Hamilton started to run Greenhill and McMullen ragged down their left flank, setting up a 26th minute chance for McBride, who skied his shot with only Peat to beat. Paul Currie, who had been relatively quiet thus far, almost wrote his name into the headlines in the 33rd minute,just missing out on a rebound after Greenhill's deflected shot fell to him. A minute later, Currie killed the ball beautifully 12 yards out,and turned his marker before scuffing a tame shot straight at Hamilton. With his midfield namesake getting the lions share of the ball,Queens forced a series of corners which caused more problems than they should have for an uncharacteristically uncertain Mark Peat - a tactic which the Spiders reaped maximum reward from in the second half. Paul McMullen rescued Rangers with a brilliant sliding block on Hamilton in the 37th minute when the Queens man looked certain to slot home at the back post,before Quinn sent a simple header well wide of Peat's goal a minute before the break.
The manager had his work cut out at half time, but in the opening period of the second half it seemed to have done the trick as Rangers stepped up a couple of gears from their subdued first 45. Eight minutes into the half, Rangers created the best chance of the game so far, Currie bisecting the Spiders' defence with a superb through ball to McLaren,whose heavy first touch allowed Hamilton to block his shot with his legs. In their best spell of the game, Ewart thundered a 30 yard free kick wide in the 58th minute, before Radzysnski headed Russell's corner over 60 seconds later. Despite this brief flurry of activity, Queens continued to look the more composed side and the away support was tormented by the growing sense that if the Spiders scored first, Rangers would find an equaliser beyond them. And so it proved. With 63 minutes gone, Hamilton's corner was glanced past Peat by one of the smallest men on the pitch, Barry Douglas. It was a soft goal to lose, and unusual for a Gers side normally watertight when facing set pieces. Jimmy Crease responded to the setback by bringing on Chris McMenamin for Radzynski,before the Gers had a decent penalty shout turned down when McLaren's back post volley seemed to be kept out by a hand. With 14 minutes left, Ewart made a hash of clearing the ball,allowing Hamilton to set up McBride but he somehow shot wide when it seemed easier to score. The killer goal was'nt delayed for long. Graham Guy was sent on for the tiring Russell in the 86th minute and his first touch was calamitous, his careless header giving away a corner, from which Quinn's header set up Murray for a razor-sharp turn and shot past Peat. Game over,and in fairness to Queens, their victory was thoroughly deserved.
This was a strange performance from Rangers. Jamie Ewart was a near-silent stand-in skipper, and most of his colleagues seemed to be mentally somewhere else. Like a beach or at the Next sales maybe. The exceptions were Russell, who linked play well enough, and Notman, who more or less maintained his excellent level of performance this season. Rangers face second bottom side Elgin in their Highland fastness next week, and should prevail against comfortably the worst side I've seen all season. To do that however,they need to rediscover a goalscoring threat, and at the moment it isn't clear where that's going to come from.
Peat 5; Notman 6; Ewart 5; McLean 5; McMullen 5; McLaren 5; Currie 6; Russell 7; Greenhill 4; Little 5; Radzynski 4
Crowd - 517
LINK : Table
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