Queen’s Park display shows how high ambition has risen

ONE of Queen’s Park and Dundee looked the far more likely to return to top-flight football for much of a feisty, frantic affair on Friday – and it wasn’t the team that has played in it this century.

While a sickness-hit Dark Blues struggled to click through the gears at Ochilview, it was Owen Coyle’s Spiders who moved the ball around with a slickness that seemed out of kilter with the surroundings.

That was as much down to the bravery on the ball of Dom Thomas,

Malachi Boateng and Alex Bannon as it was Dundee’s own sheepishness, but Gary Bowyer’s men did eventually build up a head of steam. This was only after Tommy Robson had scored a fine goal to make it 2-1 on the night, with the full-back left to lament his team’s retreat into their own half for the final half hour.

“All the boys are sat in there and no one is talking,” he said in the aftermath of Derick Osei’s late leveller. “It shows how far Queen’s Park have come as a club. Drawing with Dundee 2-2 and the whole squad is not happy.

“It was a good feeling when I scored, but when you are defending for 30 minutes straight, it’s tiring.”

From a Dundee perspective, this felt more like a point gained rather than two dropped.

“It shows big character from the team,” said goalscorer Osei, a former France youth internationalist. “At half-time, the gaffer spoke to us and we were hungry to get back on the pitch and show what we could do.

“It’s a great feeling, and I am happy to score my first goal for the club. Hopefully, that’s just the start.”