Queen's Park 0 - 0 Stenhousemuir: Spiders fail to avoid the drop

Published on Sunday 17 May 2009 22:51

STENHOUSEMUIR saw off Queen's Park to take their place in the Second Division play-off final against Cowdenbeath and to leave Gardner Speirs' young side heartbroken at being relegated after two seasons in the Second Division.

A goalless draw means John Coughlin's Stenhousemuir progress after their 2-1 win at Ochilview on Thursday night.

"We had done the hard work on Thursday," said Coughlin afterwards. "We changed our system to deny their players space today and it worked.

"There was only a very minor celebration at the end as nothing has been achieved yet. Seeing off Queen's Park is a great result as they had a lot of spirit about them but the players will be back in training tomorrow."

It was an unfamiliar Queen's Park side that took the field wearing blue away shirts to avoid a clash with a Stenhousemuir side that must have travelled to Glasgow with only their own white away kit in their hampers. The ball was treated like a hot potato in the opening exchanges with Coughlin fixed at the edge of the vast technical area at the National Stadium pleading with his players to calm down.

Stenhousemuir striker Scott Dalziel burst free to create the game's first chance on 15 minutes, however he hit his shot well wide. Ryan Holms responded for the home side midway through the opening period when he robbed Chris McLeod on the right touchline before making a beeline for the Stenhousemuir goal. However, with team-mates screaming for a pass, Holms decided unwisely to shoot and his effort went tamely wide.

The home side tried to bolster their attack with David Murray brought on for Paul Ronald at half-time and Stuart McGrady coming on for Stevie Nicholas, but still they struggled to make any headway.

Dalziel almost put the tie beyond doubt as he took advantage of a Barry Douglas error, and Stenhousemuir came close again 13 minutes from time when defender Chris McLeod was denied by a fine one-handed save from David Crawford. That seemed to inspire the home side and they began to finally put pressure on the visitors' goal and substitute Stuart McGrady had the chance to level the tie with ten minutes to go only to blast wide.

Ian Watt threatened next with a blistering drive from 18 yards that looked net-bound until Scott Bennett touched over. With the home side pushing forward, Stenhousemuir substitutes Iain Diack and Andrew Brand both wasted good chances to add to their aggregate lead.

"We just lack experience in some crucial areas of the pitch and that showed," admitted Speirs.