Spiders ready to rest stars

Side have an eye on promotion play-offs

Queen’s Park coach Gus MacPherson aims to rest some of his first team regulars as they prepare for the play-offs.

The Spiders will face Arbroath at Gayfield next Wednesday night, before welcoming their rivals to Hampden the following Saturday.

But before then, QP will make the short trip to Cumbernauld to face their old rivals Clyde.

Gus said: “We will make a few changes for Saturday’s game. We’ve got to prioritise for next Wednesday and Saturday’s games.

“We’ve had a few close games with Clyde this season, and I think it balances out pretty even this season as we’ve both won, and had a draw.

“It’s honours even so far, and we know it’s going to be a tight game on Saturday.

“We’ll make the changes and bring in a few of our younger players who have the potential to do well in the game, but we need to make sure we give players some game time, to make sure we still keep the match sharpness up.

“For us, the most important thing is making sure we don’t get any injuries.”

Meanwhile, Spiders scorer Pat Slattery felt he couldn’t have picked a better place to net his first senior goal than Hampden Park.

The on-loan Queen of the South midfielder hit a first-half opener for the Spiders before Shire levelled after the break.

And it was a perfect day for Slattery as his parent club also secured a play-off place in the Championship.

The 21-year-old said: “My first senior goal was at Hampden and my dad was there to see it.

“It was an eventful day with me scoring, getting booked, winning man of the match and Queens making the play-offs.”

Gus added: “I thought we played pretty well in the first half, and maybe could have been a couple of goals up, but after we missed a couple of decent chances, East Stirling did well and took full advantage when they got their chance.

“All in all, I thought a draw was probably a fair result.” Queen’s Park were held to a 1-1 draw by East Stirlingshire in their last home league game of the season.

QP, who have guaranteed themselves a play-off spot, almost went behind early on after visiting midfielder Luke Donnelly struck the woodwork in the opening stages of the game.

Pat Slattery then went close for the Spiders.

The Spiders scored when Ciaran McElroy nutmegged Jon Tully to set up Slattery and he fired home.

Queen’s Park should have doubled the lead when Paul Woods headed over, and Nisbet equalised after poor defending.

Slattery went closest to a winner but he was denied by visiting keeper Richie Barnard.

QUEEN’S PARK: Muir, Mitchell, Burns, Berry, Quinn (MacGregor, 45), Wharton, Woods, Slattery, (McPherson (Carter, 66), McVey (Mortimer, 70), McElroy.