Falkirk 0 Queen’s Park 0

A difficult fixture against the league leaders saw Queen’s Park come away with a share of the spoils at the Falkirk Stadium. Against a free flowing and easy on the eye Falkirk side, Queen’s Park put in a disciplined and hard-working display to thwart the league’s top scorers in what turned out to be an intriguing match.

The early exchanges saw Falkirk take control of the midfield area and linking up with both their wingers to stretch the Queen’s Park defence who had settled into a 4-4-2 formation to block the opposition’s free flowing style through the middle of the park. Falkirk pressure on the Queen’s defence resulted in several corners and crosses thrown into the opposition box but carried little threat as Queen’s central pairing of Ujdur and Tizzard dealt comfortably with them.

With Falkirk promising attacks carrying little threat in the final third and Queen’s happy to sit deep and hit on the break the creation of goal scoring opportunities was as rare as the sun breaking out over the Falkirk Stadium.

On fifteen minutes Queen’s forced a corner to test the Falkirk defence which was easily cleared and resulted in a fast counterattack into the Queen’s box and earned Falkirk another corner. which was punched clear by Keeper Calum Ferrie.

Mid-way through the first half the interplay from Falkirk’s Nesbitt, Miller, Morrison and Tait was beginning to dominate the midfield culminating in a cross field pass on the break to Falkirk’s Miller on the left flank who touched it passed Queen’s makeshift right back, Longridge only to be body checked 25 yards from goal which resulted in a booking for the Queen’s defender. The free kick was cleared by the Queen’s defence but a sign of things to come.

On the 30-minute mark Queen’s Welsh fouled Falkirk’s Nesbitt on the Queen’s bye line from a quick throw in which presented a free kick in a dangerous position for Queen’s to defend. Keeper Ferrie comfortably caught the resultant cross at the back post to repel Falkirk’s threat.

Queen’s were beginning to frustrate Falkirk’s free flowing attacks and on a number of occasions had opportunities to test the Falkirk keeper only for the final pass to be rushed or under hit. Queen’s top scorer Turner had one such opportunity 10 minutes from half time finding himself free on the 18 yard line and after composing himself fired in a left foot shot that tested Falkirk keeper Hogarth who made a smart save down to his left to parry the shot away for a corner.

Falkirk had pace in their attacks and on 40 minutes crafted an opportunity for Miller on the left flank who evaded his defender and fired in a left footed shot from inside the box only to see it skew wide of the left hand upright. A let off for Queen’s.

Half time: Falkirk 0 Queen’s Park 0

The opening minutes of the second half saw a couple of goal scoring opportunities for Queen’s. On 50 minutes Dom Thomas close control in the Falkirk box in the centre of the goal presented a chance to open the scoring but after being crowded out by a number of defenders he could only manage to scoop an effort which Keeper Hogarth gratefully accepted form 10 yards.

Queen’s were having more opportunity to launch counter attacks whenever Falkirk’s midfield overplayed their attacks. On 55 minutes Queen’s Thomas picked up the ball centrally some 45 yards from goal and ran at the Falkirk defence flanked by Turner to his right. After drawing the Falkirk central defender, Turner was played in on the right inside the penalty box and unleashed a powerful right foot shot at goal which could only be parried out by the right hand of Keeper Hogarth and cleared for a corner before Queen’s Rudden could get onto the rebound to score.

Falkirk again showed their attacking intent with right winger Morrison creating an opportunity for himself by firing in a shot on target that beat Queen’s keeper Ferrie only to shave the outside of the keeper’s right-hand post. A chance to break the deadlock.

In 60 minutes, Queen’s again look dangerous with Ryan Duncan firing a shot just wide from 18 yards that had the Falkirk keeper looking on anxiously. A couple of minutes later Dom Thomas had an attempt that Keeper Hogarth saved after good footwork from the Queen’s captain before getting his shot on target.

Energy levels were beginning to dwindle from the Falkirk attacks given the effort put into their play in the first half with Queen’s midfield beginning to enjoy more possession and territory in the second half. Second half subs on the 65-minute saw Falkirk’s Morrison and Miller being replaced by Ross and Agyeman to ignite some pace into their play.

Falkirk’s Ross quickly made an impression 5 minutes later cutting in from the left flank but firing high over the Queen’s bar. Nesbitt also fired in a shot from 20 yards which Callum Ferrie comfortably saved.

Further replacements were made by Falkirk on 76 minutes to win the game with Queen’s putting on fresh legs in the form of Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia for Jack Thomson and Seb Drozd for Dom Thomas. A series of quick corners followed for Falkirk which were comfortably deal with by the Queen’s defence who collectively had remained tight and disciplined in their defending as a unit throughout the game.

The last 10 minutes of the game saw it becoming stretched with both defences being tested by attacks from both teams in the dying stages. First Queen’s Rocco had the chance to open the scoring when played in from the right on a counterattack only to delay his shot and run into trouble with the opportunity lost. Next Falkirk carved an opportunity on the right flank with Adams cutting in and firing a shot towards goal that sailed over Ferrie’s bar.

Into added time Queen’s Duncan was played in on goal on the left and managed to get his left footed shot away across goal, but it curled away from the far post for a goal kick.

The referee blew for full time which saw both teams having to settle for a point each, with Queen’s being the happier of the two sides having secured a credible result away to the league leaders.

Full Time: Falkirk 0 Queen’s Park 0

Falkirk: Nicky Hogarth, Keelan Adams, Liam Henderson, Coll Donaldson, Leon McCann, Callumn Morrison (Ethan Ross 65), Brad Spencer, Aidan Nesbitt (Gary Oliver 76), Dylan Tait (Michael McKenna 88), Calvin Miller (Alfredo Agyeman 65), Eamonn Brophy (Barney Stewart 76).
Unused Substitutes: R. Munro, D. O’Connor, S. Mackie, F. Yeats,

Queen’s Park: Calum Ferrie, Louis Longridge, Nikola Ujdur, Will Tizzard, Joshua Scott,
Jack Turner, Sean Welsh, Jack Thomson (Rocco Hickey- Fugaccia 69), Ryan Duncan, Dom Thomas (Seb Drozd 76), Zak Rudden (Liam McLeish 85).
Unused Substitutes: J. Wills, M. Thomson, J. Hinds, J. Smith, D. Carrick, A. McGinlay

Referee: Chris Graham