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Sat. August 4, 2018
Ladbrokes League Two
Peterhead (0-0-0, 0 points, -) vs. Queen’s Park (0-0-0, 0 points, -)
Balmoor Stadium Peterhead, Scotland
Betting Odds: Peterhead: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: 5-1 Queen’s Park: 10-1
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L
Peterhead come into the season as the media’s favourite for promotion, coming off a second placed finish in League Two last season. They spent the previous three years in League One and had a third place finish in that league as recently as 2015/16 so I get why their chances are so good for promotion. They also finished as runners up in the Irn-Bru Cup in 2016. Their key player is striker Rory McAllister, who also serves as their captain and their starting keeper is Greg Fleming.
Perhaps against my better judgement, I’m going with a positive mentality despite being sizable underdogs. I simply want to see where our team stands against the best in the league on the road. With no Izhaak Ahmed, I’m going to try loanee Kyle MacDonald at DC and I’m going with Ross Gilmour at right fullback. 18 year old striker Connor Higgins will also start up front after his hat trick in our last preseason friendly.
Queen’s Park: 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow – Positive Mentality
GK – Jordan Hart
D – Ciaran Summers, Daniel Nimmo, Kyle MacDonald, Ross Gilmour
DM –Gregor Fotheringham
M – Derek Young, Jamie McKernon
AM – Kurtis Roberts
S – Connor Higgins, Josh Peters
Bench – Sam Lidington, Cammy Foy, James Grant, Ross Finnie, Dylan Thomas, Dominic McMeekin, Ewan MacPherson
Peterhead are in a 4-3-1-2 formation. Interestingly enough, they are starting 18 year old Ryan Gibson in goal. I tell the team the pressure is off so go out and play well for our travelling support.
26’ – Peterhead’s left fullback Paddy Boyle sends a ball up the middle to their main man Rory McAllister and he’s behind our defense. He’s in on goal and passes left to strike partner Derek Lyle, and his shot deflects off Jordan Hart and is in. PETERHEAD GOAL 0-1
34’ – Ciaran Summers sends a ball to the opposite flank to Ross Gilmour. He crosses into the box and there is Josh Peters heading it home for the equalizer! QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 1-1
45’+1 – We’re into extra time and Peterhead play a long ball up to Lyle. He gets into the area and his shot deflects off one of our defenders and rolls slowly toward the far post. Our keeper seems completely oblivious to what’s happening and there is McAllister tapping the ball into the empty net. Brutal. PETERHEAD GOAL 1-2
HALFTIME – That goal in extra time was a killer, as we were holding our own that half. We held 53% of possession and shots were 10-10 (6-2 on target) in their favour. I stress that the pressure is off in my half-time team talk and to go out there and show our abilities.
49’ – Peterhead have a free kick just outside the area and Jamie Stevenson sends in a cross that meets the foot of Cammy Eadie and we’re down two. PETERHEAD GOAL 1-3
60’ – I pull off Gregor Fotheringham and bring in new signing Ross Finnie.
70’ – Another change, as I bring in Ewan MacPherson for the ineffective Connor Higgins.
71’ – Stevenson has a corner kick and crosses into our area and it’s headed in by Lyle. That’s his second and we’re toast. PETERHEAD GOAL 1-4
76’ – We have possession down the left flank and Ciaran Summers sends a long ball up to MacPherson. It’s a perfect ball and he’s past the defense and one touches a shot into the far corner of the goal. Beauty! QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 2-4
78’ – One more change, as we bring on midfielder Dylan Thomas and take out Derek Young.
Oh well. Onwards and upwards.
Peterhead 4 - 2 Queen’s Park
Goals – Josh Peters (7.0), Ewan MacPherson (7.3)
Assists – Ross Gilmour (6.6), Ciaran Summers (6.6)
Man of the Match – Derek Lyle (Peterhead – 8.8)
Other Dover Notables –
Attendance - 752 (127 away)
We held 54% of possession and outshot them 17-15 (7-10 on target) – this tells me a couple of things: first, we have enough talent to hang around with anyone in this league. Second, we’re just getting exposed in the back due to a plodding defense that has little speed to keep up with quick opposing strikers. I need to tweak my tactics against favoured opponents, perhaps dropping my defensive line and maybe I need to hold off on pressing until our opponent gets into our half of the field to eliminate the long-ball goals against. We’ve also been terrible on set pieces and that’s a huge weakness with our tactics right now as well.
Season Ticket Sales Announced
-- Barcelona, we’re not. The Queen’s Park ticket office announces we’ve sold 250 season ticket packages for the year. Hampden Park will be looking pretty empty this season!
Loan IN
-- 17 year old centre-half Scott Glover joins Queen’s Park on a season-long loan from St. Mirren. This 2.5/4.0 defender is currently on the shelf with sprained knee ligaments and likely won’t be available for about a month but he may be able to help us later in the season.
U18 Update
-- Our U18 team opened up their season with a rousing 5-3 victory, propelled by goalkeeper Elliot Anderson, who SCORED TWO GOALS on penalties! Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before from a GK! We also got goals from Ross Fleming, Calvin McGrory and Taylor Berry.
Reserves Update
-- Our reserves team fell 1-0 to the Ayr Reserves in game one of their season. Right fullback Sam Robertson was named player of the match in a losing effort.
Next Up -
-- We welcome Berwick to Hampden Park in our home opener in League Two play.
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