Doonhamers make title tilt Academical

Feb 12 2008

THEY say hope springs eternal but it’s down to a trickle now after defeat in Dumfries.

Instead of putting the squeeze on Hamilton, the front runners will come to Perth this weekend with a handsome 13-point advantage and one foot already in the SPL.

Accies will need a makeshift stand and a new playing surface to step-up, but they can start making tentative inquiries without being labelled presumptuous. Even Dundee are seven points away now and losing ground.

Late last season, three points were left at Palmerston as Saints chased Gretna and this was an equally distressing and under par performance on the back of four victories.

Until manager Derek McInnes made wholesale changes, Saints were disjointed, unimaginative and labouring under the misapprehension that their two strikers would somehow thrive on high balls made-to-measure for towering centre-backs. Two down and in dire danger of a doing, they hauled themselves back into contention with Andy Jackson’s persistence rewarded with his 16th goal of the season. But it will take more than a deserved Irn Bru player of the month award to ease the hangover prompted by this setback.

Thirteen minutes remaining and Queens were anxiously defending a slender advantage, but there was no repeat of the outrageously late two-goal comeback which hallmarked a previous contest on day one of the campaign. Instead, bustling Sean O’Connor emerged smiling from a penalty box pile-up, with the ball in the net, bodies on the floor and a win bonus banked three minutes from the end.

It was a sixth win on the spin for a Queens side now hard on St Johnstone’s heels and a downcast McInnes frankly admitted his players got what they deserved. Nowt.

Skipper Kevin James found his return from long-term injury fast-tracked, with the home team enjoying an obvious aerial advantage. He might be ring rusty but a touch at the other end paved the way for Jackson’s crafty lob and fourth in four outings. The striker deserved it for refusing to submit to physical intimidation, which included a blatant but unpunished rugby tackle which went unpunished, instead of prompting red.

But by then Queens had tucked two past Alan Main, with unmarked Jamie McQuilken surging clear on one of countless delicious Stephen Dobbie touches to ram a shot into the far corner after 14 minutes, without breaking stride. Peter MacDonald was quickly switched to the right to distract one of several ex-Saints in the Dumfries ranks.

Saints did cause panic soon after the opener when Liam Craig embarked on a lung-bursting run. Jackson was denied by the keeper and fluffed his next chance in an intense but brief bombardment, with Paul Sheerin and MacDonald thwarted and Stevie Milne setting-up his frontline partner.

Goran Stanic had already mopped-up a netbound lob but 10 minutes after the break MacDonald was bowled over in midfield by evergreen Tosh and when Dobbie shuttled it on the midfielder rolled a perfectly weighted pass into the penalty area for a poised O’Connor to exploit via the post. A lovely goal, if you were a local.

Dobbie and Tosh were inches from a third and Saints were in disarray. McInnes took decisive action and with Greg Cameron and David Weatherston joining half-time sub Rocco Quinn, the ship was steadied. The tide even turned with Craig denied by a Harris stop on the line and both Weathertson and MacDonald close to an equaliser before Tosh set-up O’Connor’s second to close out the contest.

Queen of the South: MacDonald, McCann, Harris, MacFarlane, Aitken, Thomson, McQuilken, Tosh, O’Connor (O’Neill 88), Dobbie (Stewart 80) and Burns. Subs not used: Paton, Campbell and Grindlay.

St Johnstone: Main, Irvine, Stanic, Moon (Quinn 46), McManus, James, MacDonald, Craig, Jackson, Milne (Weathertson 62), and Sheerin (Cameron 62). Subs not used: McCaffrey and Cuthbert.

Referee: Stevie O’Reilly.