As we approach the final stages of the 2014-15 SPFL season, there have already been a number of outstanding matches – the kind of encounters supporters look back on and think, “Good grief, that was some game, wasn’t it?!”
Craig Telfer recalls some remarkable contests from this season so far in the Championship, League One and League Two.
Championship – Raith Rovers 3-4 Queen of the South (10 October 2014)
Is there anything in football as exhilarating as a last-minute winner? That feeling of ragged ecstasy, wild jubilation and unbridled joy is unmatched; there is nothing quite like it (and, equally, to lose a match in the dying embers is terrifying, like a bomb silently detonating in the pit of your stomach).
The match between Raith Rovers and Queen of the South at Stark’s Park was a blockbuster contest, a riotous rat-a-tat affair between two well-matched sides; for high-stakes drama, it might just be the game of the season so far.
Queens began the encounter as the better of the two teams. John Baird had already hit the crossbar before he opened the scoring after seven minutes – Lewis Kidd’s looping cross was spilled by Raith goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw and Baird reacted quickly to prod the ball into the net. The striker – Rovers’ hero in last year’s Challenge Cup, no less – celebrated awkwardly and looked unsure whether to express his glee or apologise to the home support.
The Doonhamers’ dominance continued throughout the first half and into the beginning of the second when Gavin Reilly finished adroitly from close range. The complexion of the game changed just before the hour when Raith introduced Grant Anderson and Mark Stewart from the bench – the latter, with one of his first touches, poked the ball beyond Zander Clark to reduce the deficit. Four minutes later and the home side restored parity when Christian Nadé thrust his pelvis on to Anderson’s parried shot.
The match had become a surging, high-tempo spectacle and Raith passed up several good chances to take the lead. The game appeared to swing in their favour on 73 minutes when Kevin Holt was dismissed for a crude lunge on Jason Thomson, but it was Queens who netted again, with Derek Lyle’s looping header nestling into the net shortly afterwards. Four minutes later and Stewart scored his second of the evening, turning in Martin Scott’s cute centre – 3-3, and tremendous entertainment.
As the game headed towards its conclusion, Raith looked likeliest to take the three points but were unable to capitalise on their dominance. Five minutes into injury time and a clearance found its way to Lyle and the forward smuggled the ball to Iain Russell – Russell’s shot clipped the feet of Laurie Ellis and deflected into the net. Euphoria for Queens; desolation for Raith.
League One – Stenhousemuir 4-5 Stirling Albion (23 August 2014)
The match between Stenhousemuir and Stirling Albion towards the beginning of the season was perhaps a little less dramatic but no less intriguing. It was, to run old an old cliché, a game of two halves.
Throughout the opening 45 minutes, the Warriors were the better of the two sides. Although Craig Wedderburn’s crashing header had cancelled out Bryan Hodge’s clever turn and finish, Stenny had enjoyed more possession and more chances. They restored their lead on 37 minutes when Sean Dickson, gathering the ball over 40 yards from goal, hit a stunning drive, full of dip and arc, over the head of Greg Paterson – there probably hasn’t been a better goal scored all season.
It is a pity that Josh Watt could not add a third just before the interval, as the game might have played out differently, but Stirling Albion rallied and excelled themselves in the second half. Gordon Smith took advantage of some shoddy defending to equalise with a neat lob then Sandy Cunningham put the Binos into the lead a minute later, sliding in to push the ball home.
Stirling scored their third goal in eight minutes when Darren Lee Smith’s sclaffed effort narrowly bounced over the line. Smith, released by Stenhousemuir in the summer, could barely contain his delight. Hodge reduced the deficit with his second goal of the match but it made little difference when Gordon Smith broke beyond a faulty offside trap to add his side’s fifth – between Smith’s first and second goals, a mere 15 minutes elapsed. Craig Comrie’s own goal in the 90th minute did nothing to alter the outcome of the match.
It was a deserved victory for Stirling. They would not win again until the New Year when they, once again, took on Stenhousemuir at Ochilview.
League Two – Berwick Rangers 2-3 East Fife (15 November 2014)
How about scoring a last-minute winner immediately after your opponents thought they’d won themselves a point after a late goal of their own?
In terms of searing theatre, the match between Berwick Rangers and East Fife has been unrivalled this year.
This was East Fife’s revenge – the sides had already met earlier in the season, with Berwick prevailing 3-2 courtesy of David Gold’s 89th-minute strike, but this encounter was far more histrionic.
After an inconsequential first half, the game sparked when the Fifers’ Allan Walker rose to meet Fraser Mullen’s clipped free-kick midway through the second period. Their lead was cancelled out nine minutes later when Darren Lavery crashed home a half-volley from 20 yards, his low shot passing through a forest of legs on its way to the net. Not long after, Kevin Smith put East Fife back in the lead with a stunning free-kick. It looked as though the visitors were leaving Shielfield with the win.
Not so – Lavery added his second two minutes into injury time, latching on to a poor clearance before slamming the ball over the line. His goal provoked ecstatic scenes amongst the Berwick team, while several East Fife players crumpled to their knees.
Jonathan Page had other ideas. With the game in its dying embers, Page pounced on some inadequate defending from a corner – something that had let Berwick down all afternoon – and forced the ball over the line from close range. Page, ripping his shirt off, sprinted away chased by his team-mates, their celebrations a picture of untainted elation. The Berwick players looked absolutely despondent – from delight to despair in less than 60 seconds.
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