Queens are Kings - Part Two

Last week Queen of the South Player/Manager, Allan Johnston, and his assistant, Sandy Clark, concluded the first part of the review of the season by saying ‘that it was all about a reaction’ after the Doonhamers strong start to season 2012/13 suffered a set-back for the first time.

Queens had lost to Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup and then to closest challengers Alloa Athletic in the League and Johnston was wondering how his table-topping men would react to coming unstuck for the first time.

“And what a reaction we got,” said Johnston before adding, “We had seven wins in a row after those two games.  It was a test of character and one where good players stood up to be counted.  I did not have doubts that they would react that way and we did not do anything differently to ensure that they did.

“We continued not to think too far ahead as we decided just to concentrate on one game at a time.  We ensured that the players were prepared and we remained confident that if we continued to work harder than the teams we were playing, we had the ability to beat them.”

Despite their outstanding reaction to their cup and League setbacks, no-one got too carried away as Johnston added: “We never talked about winning titles before, during or after that run and we simply just got on with things.”

Clark added: “We went a goal down to Ayr United at New Year and came back to win 5-1 and that again showed the resilience we had.  We had done the same to them earlier in the season when we won 4-2 and we were finding out that if we really went at teams, they could collapse against us.

“They could be winning but we would push and push at them to get level and when we did, we had the momentum to overrun teams.  Arbroath the following week proved it again.”

The Gayfield side were leading 1-0 at half–time at Palmerston and Queens were down to ten men after Mark Durnan had been dismissed and what was to happen in the second half can only be described as remarkable.

Clark said: “We spoke at half-time about how we were going to get back into the game.  We knew that we could hurt them even when we were a man down.  Allan’s words were to ‘Go for it’ and we went man for man at the back.

“We pushed everyone further up the park as well and we got the reward with an incredible 5-1 win.  Nicky Clark won a Goal of the Month competition when he finished off a great passing move late in the game to make it 5-1.  That goal summed up our afternoon.”

Johnston said: “That was a special win and in fact, to win that game 5-1 was an incredible performance.”

Albion Rovers and then Forfar Athletic were defeated before a re-match with Alloa was held at Palmerston and Johnston said: “The game with Alloa was built up a bit as they were still chasing us.  The game was a bit tense and it ended up goalless.”

Another five wins in a row were put together including a 3-2 win over East Fife that Clark feels was more handsome than the scoreline suggests.

He explained: “Against East Fife, we lost a goal that should have been a free kick to us and their second was probably offside.  We did deserve the win that game and we deserved to win it by more than 3-2.”

There was a similar feeling after the 2-0 success over pre-season title favourites Ayr United with Clark saying: “It was 2-0 going on a lot more that day.  It was a brilliant performance.  I thought it was a solid professional performance with good goals from Derek Young and Gavin Reilly.”

The title was beginning to come into sight by mid-March however, a 1-1 draw at Arbroath slowed down the Doonhamers relentless march briefly with Johnston saying: “Euan Smith scored a great goal for them from about 30 yards out with about seven minutes left but we shouldn’t have lost the ball in the area we did.  Our guys however, refused to accept defeat or think they could sit back in the League and Nicky popped up with a last minute goal.”

After the Gayfield trip, Queens returned to Alloa’s Recreation Park ground where they had experienced their only defeat with Johnston saying: “It is a difficult place to go and we found the older astroturf surface that is there difficult to play on.”

However, with the match at Recreation Park tied at 1-1, Queens' Ryan McGuffie scored a late penalty to extend the Doonhamers' lead at the top to 24 points.

Clark said: “I do not think that it is a coincidence that the two games we have lost this season in the League were at Alloa and Stenhousemuir.  The older astro pitches are more of a leveller and if you are used to playing on them, you have a slight advantage.  That is not a complaint just an observation.”

The win in Clackmannanshire set up the chance to win the Second Division title against Brechin City ironically on the new artificial surface at Forfar’s Station Park which was used as a temporary home venue due to the well documented pitch issues at Glebe Park.

A 6-0 win is a pretty emphatic way to go about your business and Johnston said: “It was a very comprehensive way to win a title.  The pace we went out and played at was unbelievable and our passing and movement was good, really good.

“We were after an early goal and we got three and to be five up at half-time was great.”

Clark said: “Brechin had only lost one game under Ray McKinnon before that night and that was at our place.  They had said afterwards that they felt unlucky to lose but I did not see it that way.  Our boys were well up for the game especially as some people were seeing Brechin as potential challengers if they had won that night and against us again a few days later.  It was good to knock that out of the way in the manner that we did.”

Johnston added: “Our attitude was great and it was nice to create a little piece of history as both of Queen of the South’s previous title wins were secured at Station Park.  That will be a great quiz question in the future.

“Brechin came to Palmerston the following Saturday and looked to shut up shop.  They restricted us to very few chances but they had to change things after losing so heavily.  We still came out on top 2-1.”

The following weekend saw the first official piece of silverware head for Dumfries when Partick Thistle, who would go on to become First Division Champions, were defeated in a penalty shoot-out in the The Ramsdens Cup Final.

Johnston is not convinced that going into the Cup Final at Livingston’s Braidwood Motor Company Stadium having already won the Second Division title made things any easier against the Jags.

He explained: “You cannot predict how things will turn out.  We beat Partick and then just a few days later, they had a massive game against Morton and went out and won it.  We were able to relax a bit as the League was won but the Cup Final was won because of the hard work that was put in on the day.

“It certainly was not easier because we had won the League.”

Clark said: “We went into it knowing that Thistle were a really good side.  In fact, they were a SPL side in the waiting.  We had to close down their dangermen Chris Erskine and Steven Lawless.  We wanted to keep playing with two strikers ourselves but to do that and close Thistle down meant that everyone had to work extremely hard.  Every player had to do a bit of extra work.

“The tactics worked well and we deserved to win the game in the 90 minutes.”

Johnston carried on saying: “When you watch the highlights back, you will see that our players are absolutely done in at the end and that was nothing to do with Kris Doolan’s late goal.  It was about how hard they had worked against a strong and confident Thistle team.”

Stranraer were the next team to be defeated before Queen of the South tasted defeat themselves at Ochilview when they went down 2-1 with Johnston saying: “We played well but lost two bad goals which was not like us.”

Clark was not overly critical of his side for that reverse as he said: “We had a lot of possession and created a lot of chances, enough chances to win two games, but we never took them.”

Normal service was resumed at Forfar’s Station Park as the promotion Play-Off chasing Loons were defeated 4-0 with Nicky Clark grabbing a hat-trick.

Johnston was pleased to see a return to form as he explained: “You have to give great credit to the boys as the League and The Ramsdens Cup had been won by then but they went out and put in a great performance.

“They created chances throughout the entire game and whilst some teams may have taken their foot off the pedal by then, our players didn’t.  There was no relaxing or taking things easy and everything was still getting done at a great tempo.

“To be honest, I did not expect anything else from this group of players.”

There was still one remaining target to be hit with Johnston explaining: “We wanted to beat Gretna’s Second Division points record of season 2005/06.  It was important to do that for our fans who had to watch as Gretna rose through the divisions financed by Brooks Mileson.

“To get a new points record without spending over the odds again shows how well we have done.  It is difficult to win games but to do it week in and week out was tremendous."

Clark said: “It has been a real squad effort,” before adding, “And I include Marc Fitzpatrick and Michael Paton in that.  ‘Fitzy’ joined us at a time when we were struggling for defenders ahead of The Ramsdens Cup Final.

“It is a difficult decision to bring people in but again, Allan has shown that he knows how to balance his squad.”

Clark added: “Michael gave us a boost when he came in and got goals pretty quickly.  Decisions like bringing these two guys in can turn an average season into a great one.”

This Saturday Queens' season comes to an end at Cliftonhill against already relegated Albion Rovers and Johnston said: “After that, it will be a short holiday during which I will still be working on getting organised for next season.”

Clark commented: “Regardless of what division you are in, you are always looking to get better.  We are looking at budgets and planning ahead already.  We might not see a lot of each other over the summer but we will probably be talking every single day.”

Johnston said: “We have signed our new contracts and have some players signed up as well.  Hopefully, we will get some more boys to put pen to paper as they have shown that they can play at a higher level.  We are also looking to get a couple of new faces in as well to freshen things up.”

Clark confirmed why this season’s pool of players is getting the first chance to sign on again as he said: “Our players have worked their socks off to be successful and deserve the chance to be here.  However, that has not gone unrecognised and we could become a victim of our own success.  People will be looking at our players and saying I quite like the look of him.

“It would then become a financial battle and that could take things out of our hands.  We will look at what we can afford but if we can’t afford someone, we can’t afford them, it's as simple as that.”

Johnston finished by saying: “Everyone will want to play this weekend so I have a nice problem to solve.  We want to finish on a high.

“It has been a brilliant season and now it is all about preparing for the First Division.”