Stalemate leaves Potter optimistic for second leg
Championship play-off semi-final. First leg
Queen’s Park 0 Dunfermline 0
QUEEN’S PARK’S promotion hopes will be determined at East End Park this weekend after the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final against Dunfermline finished in stalemate.
Neither side could claim to have done enough to win the match that suffered from a dearth of attacking quality but interim Spiders first-team coach John Potter was optimistic about his side’s chances ahead of the return fixture.
“I thought we played pretty well,” he said. “We knew it would be a difficult game. Dunfermline have good players and they can hurt you. We matched Dunfermline and at times I thought we looked like the better team.
“Dunfermline will be favourites on Saturday. The pitch will be better and they will have a big crowd but we have nothing to fear. They have their position to lose.”
Dunfermline had more to lose as this match kicked off so perhaps it was little surprise that the home side enjoyed the better of it during the game’s opening exchanges. Louis Longridge, playing on the right wing, was looking particularly threatening but his team-mates were not able to capitalise on his deliveries.
The Pars grew into the game, though, and it was not long until they started to exert some pressure of their own. A drilled Matthew Todd cross from the right was begging for someone to apply the finishing touch but Ryan Dow could not quite reach it. A few minutes later, Todd nodded down the ball invitingly into the path of Kevin O’Hara following some good work from Steven Lawless down the left, but the striker could not connect properly with it.
Lawless was at the heart of most of Dunfermline’s positive play and a mazy run from the 31-year-old afforded the midfielder a sight of goal, only for his effort from 20 yards to trundle harmlessly wide of the near post.
The surface at Firhill was its usual mischievous self – a fiveyard pass along the ground that saw the ball bounce three feet in the air was a particularly damning example of the state of the turf – and forced both players to shell the ball long.
The momentum soon shifted in Dunfermline’s favour. Lawless and Graham Dorrans were providing more and more in the final third and the Pars were getting their reward. Some nice play from Liam Polworth saw the midfielder cut the ball back to Dow – this time, the winger reached it but his close-range shot was deflected behind for a corner.
A well-worked move a few minutes later resulted in O’Hara rifling a low shot at goal but home goalkeeper Calum Ferrie showed good reactions to bat it away.
The hosts won a free-kick on the edge of the box as the game approached full time. Up stepped substitute Simon Murray, who had only been on the park for a minute, but the striker skied his effort to ensure the contest finished goalless.
“I am not having a go at Partick Thistle because I know what Scottish football is all about in terms of income,” said Pars manager John Hughes.
“I get all that but this is a play-off game and you should not be playing on that surface. But it is only half time. We need to recover and get ready to go on Saturday.”