SHIRE 1 QUEEN'S PARK 0

An absorbing and exciting evening of Challenge Cup football saw Shire advance into the third round of the tournament for the first time in six years.

And it was again the mercurial Sean Simpson who did the damage with a delightful 33rd minute goal that proved good enough to take the team through.

They withstood a second half onslaught from the visitors who threw everything they had at Shire, but David King did his best job yet in marshalling the defence to keep the Spiders at bay.

Despite the fears that Gordon Wylde would field a weakened team in what many had dubbed a "meaningless" competition the only member of the starting eleven who had won at Albion Rovers who didn't play was Paul Doyle, replaced at right-back by Gordon Moffat.

Shire got off to a real flyer and should have been a goal up after 25 seconds. Kevin McBride's lung-bursting run down the left set up Joe Savage and he was genuinely unfortunate to see his effort rattle against the post.

Savage was brought down outside the box after four minutes and Simpson's free-kick had Spiders' keeper, Mark Cairns, scrambling across his goal to prevent a certain goal.

The home team had the upper hand early on but the Spiders' played a pressing game which eventually forced them back into things.

But they had no joy trying to get in behind the home defence and when they did try their luck from long range they were mostly wayward.

The best was a 27th minute effort from Mark Ferry which he shanked horribly wide when he seemed set fair to strike the equaliser.

Simpson was becoming a real threat to Queen's Park. He had already had one good run which ended with a wayward shot before he broke the deadlock in spectacular style after 33 minutes.

A long ball was played in to Joe Savage who, in turn, laid it off to Simpson before the young midfielder unleashed a tremendous curling drive into Cairns' top right-hand corner.

The goal gave Shire the extra confidence they required and before the interval Andrew Brand saw his header from Kevin McBride's corner drift wide when well-placed.

After only two minutes of the second half the Spiders passed up a great chance to equalise when Ferry inexplicably shot wide of an empty net.

Shire had to contunie to ride their luck. There were two occasions where David King and Derek Ure had to hack the ball off the line with the Queen's Park players waiting to celebrate.

The visitors piled forward , leaving gaps at the back for Shire to try and exploit. Savage almost put the issue beyond doubt on 65 minutes but Cairns somehow kept it out.

And Gordon Moffat might have made it 2-0 on 77 minutes picking up the rebound from a Derek Ure effort and launching what looked like a net-bound effort but the ball flew just past the post.

Referee Steven Nicholls inexplicably added four minutes of injury-time as Shire fans squirmed in the face of the visitors pressure bt Shire held out for a famous win.

Shire : Hill, Moffat, K. McBride, King, Thywissen, Kelly, Donaldson, Brand, Savage(Struthers 85),  Simpson, Ure.

Queen's Park : Cairns, Paton, Dunlop, Sinclair, Agostini, Quinn(Bowers 80), Kettlewell, Cairney, McGrady, Canning, Ferry.

Refeee : Steven Nicholls

Attendance : 379.

 

 

Back