Craig Telfer of the website Tell Him He's Pele takes a detailed look at the Queen's Park revival in his latest blog for the SPFL website:
There have been a number of impressive stories over the course of the 2014-15 SPFL season so far. What about Heart of Midlothian’s superlative 14-match unbeaten streak? Or part-time Forfar Athletic pushing for the League 1 championship? Or Arbroath, unfancied at the beginning of the campaign, fixing themselves at the summit of League 2?
Equally as remarkable has been Queen’s Park’s return to prominence. Last season was the worst in the club’s entire history; now, they are strong candidates to finish the year in the promotion play-off positions. The Spiders sit in third place and before the weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Albion Rovers, they had won seven of their previous eight league matches. Gus MacPherson deserves enormous credit for the manner in which the season has played out so far.
To understand how remarkable the current campaign has been, it is prudent to cast an eye back to the events of last summer. Having lost out in the play-off semi-finals to Peterhead in May 2013, manager Gardner Speirs was faced with a mass migration of key personnel. While it was inevitable that youthful superstars like Andy Robertson, Aidan Connolly and Lawrence Shankland would move on, long-serving, experienced players like Neil Parry, Ricky Little and Jamie Longworth also departed. The manager was placed in an invidious position and was unable to repeat the same trick once more.
Since replacing Billy Stark in January 2008, Speirs was always adept at maintaining Queen’s Park’s competitive edge. Following their relegation back into the basement league in 2009, his side achieved four consecutive play-off finishes. Speirs always had an eye for unheralded talents from the junior ranks – Longworth and David Anderson are two of the club’s finest players in recent years – and he was able to augment his squad with graduates from the youth academy.
Before he left the club in late December, Speirs’ side collected just seven points from 16 matches and languished in 10th place, 13 points behind their closest competitors. Speirs announced his resignation just before Christmas; it was an ignominious end to his otherwise solid tenure in charge of the club.
MacPherson was parachuted into the vacant managerial position in January but he was unable to bring about an immediate improvement – it was almost two months before his first victory, a thumping win over a depleted Albion Rovers. Over the latter part of the season, MacPherson tried out a number of different formations with different personnel but to no avail – Queen’s Park finished the campaign bottom of the table with the lowest points total in their history.
MacPherson spent the summer restructuring his squad, releasing the vast majority of Speirs’ players and undertaking a comprehensive recruitment drive. The manager scoured almost exclusively from the junior and amateur ranks, with centre-back David MacGregor, brought in from Stranraer, the only player with extensive experience of the senior leagues.
Only an observer with a thorough knowledge of junior football would have any insight into the imports – three players were brought in from Clydebank, two apiece from Shotts Bon Accord and Irvine Meadow and a handful from elsewhere – and there was a concern as to how they would perform in League 2. The standard between the SPFL’s basement tier and elite junior competition is greater than many might think and there is a difference in fitness.
Perhaps more than anything else, the mysticism surrounding this unknown group of players had them marked down as also-rans – a little better than last year, but nowhere near good enough to challenge the top four.
A sluggish start to the season gave some credence to this train of thought. Queen’s Park lost three of their first four league matches, but each defeat was by a slender margin – only the 2-0 loss to Arbroath saw them outmanoeuvred by a better team. Following mid-September’s fine comeback against Elgin City, the Spiders have been in tremendous form and have quickly ascended the table. There is now a significant gap between themselves and Berwick Rangers in fourth.
MacPherson and his staff should be praised for implementing and executing the successful transfer policy and for encouraging his team to play in an attractive manner. His players, too, deserve recognition for the manner in which they have acquitted themselves to the demands of the division - the starting XI is almost completely made up of new signings.
Willie Muir has done well in goal, bringing a presence to the position that has been absent since Parry’s switch to Albion Rovers. In front of him MacGregor – the new team captain, and probably the most important of MacPherson’s summer recruits recruits – and either the long-serving Tony Quinn or Bryan Wharton offer solidity at centre-back. Full-backs Shaun Rooney and Scott Gibson are the only players that pre-date MacPherson’s arrival who are afforded regular game time. Gibson in particular is developing into a marauding force.
It is in midfield where Queen’s Park are strongest. Vinnie Berry and Darren Miller have formed a superb understanding in the centre and their attributes have complemented one another. Berry is a subtle, nuanced passer of the ball while Miller is a more expressive, buccaneering player who can strike a ball from distance (his winning goal in the Scottish Cup tie with Gretna 2008 was quite sublime). Ciaran McElroy is a fleet-footed box of tricks on the left, while Paul Woods has become a reliable goal-scorer on the right. The 28-year-old, signed from Petershill, has five for the season so far and has a habit of striking at the most opportune moments.
Chris Duggan, a rangy forward borrowed from Partick Thistle, brought muscle to the attack and looked very capable in his five appearances for the Spiders but an ankle injury has curtailed his participation and he has since returned to his parent club. Shaun Fraser, with whom Duggan had played well with, is intelligent and thoughtful and, like Woods, scores at the best times. Ross McPherson, sidelined during Duggan’s spell in the team, is a stocky, battering ram of a player and adds industry to the frontline. There is plenty to be satisfied with here.
Can Queen’s Park win the division? Perhaps – they halted runaway leaders Arbroath with a fine 2-1 win at the beginning of the month – but their failure to beat Albion Rovers in their three meetings this season and the manner of the defeats still suggest this side are a work in progress. No-one is getting carried away here. Although the main aim is to improve on last season, their good form and current league standing suggests that finishing the season in the play-off places should be their target now.
With a presentable run of fixtures between now and the New Year, Queen’s Park can keep pace (and possibly usurp) the teams above them in the table. All MacPherson and his players need to do is keep on keeping on.
Twitter @tellhimhespele
Website www.tellhimhespele.com
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