Motherwell v Queen's Park, 7th January 2012

For a change, Queen's Park have enjoyed a decent run in the Scottish Cup this year. Coming in at the second round stage, we defeated Huntly 3-0 away from home. I wasn't there but by all accounts, it was a comfortable dispatching of the Highland League side. The third round saw us play well to defeat Elgin 3-1 in a replay at Hampden after a 1-1 draw. This set up a tie against Motherwell, 3 divisions higher than Queen's, at Fir Park.

Queen's Park have a rich history in the Scottish Cup, being the third most frequent winners behind Rangers and Celtic with 10 wins. Admittedly, the last one of these was in 1893 when 2 goals from W. Sellar defeated Celtic 2-1 at Ibrox. Sadly, pickings have been slim since. 1900 saw the Spiders' last final, an unfortunate 4-3 defeat to Celtic (Queen's had been a goal up). Season 1927-28 is the closest we've come to another final when we lost 2-1 in the semi final at Ibrox, again to Celtic. This year is the 120th anniversary of the 1892 final which we lost 5-1.....to Celtic! S.T. Waddell scored the Queen's goal.

We had a memorable Cup run in 2009 which took us to an away tie in the last 16 against, yes, Celtic, managed then by Gordon Strachan. An outstanding performance saw us only edged out 2-1. Queen's were 2-0 down. I think the roof came off the away end when Queen's sub Adam Coakley slotted past Artur Boruc to make it 2-1. It's hard to believe we were relegated that year.

I had a few hopes as I paid my £15 at the turnstile, namely, avoid losing an early goal, play as well as we can do, avoid a thrashing and perhaps sneak a replay or even better. I've seen Queen's play Motherwell twice in the League Cup, both resulting in 3-0 defeats. We were due a break surely.

Above: taking a photo of yourself is hellish. The club crest is (temporarily) tatooed on my right cheek.

With one of my old university acquaintances, fellow lawyer Kevin Clancy, officiating, we kicked off. We kept it tight for a whole 90 seconds before Motherwell had their first chance, attacking towards the away support. As Arthur Montford used to say, a bit of a stramash and we breathed again. Not for long as, after 6 minutes, Omar Daley somehow overcame being sandwiched by two Queen's defenders in the penalty area and fired a shot in off keeper Neil Parry's right hand post. I looked at Clancy hoping for a free kick. Sadly not. It looked like a long afternoon ahead. Early goal lost. Hope number one off the list.

I might as well run through the other goals. In 21 minutes, Jamie Murphy gathered the ball outside the penalty area. "He's aiming for the top right hand corner" I thought. Sure enough, that's where he sent it. "Bread and butter save for our keeper" I also thought until it spun through his hands into the net. 2-0. Oh dear!

Above: second half, Queen's on the attack.

In 72 minutes, Motherwell attacked with pace. Chris Humphrey's cross was converted by Murphy to put the game beyond us then in the final minute, seconds after Jamie Longworth had ballooned an effort over the bar for us, Henrik Ojamaa side stepped Queen's defender Jamie Brough and sent a shot past Parry. 3-0 would have been okay. 4-0 stung a little bit.

The bare stats don't tell all. In reality, Queen's put up a very strong fight and the main difference between the teams was lethalness in front of goal. At 1-0, Queen's had a couple of opportunities and, at 2-0 until Motherwell got the third goal, enjoyed the bulk of possession and pressure. Numerous times, balls were played across goal crying out for a tap in. I've seen us create less chances in the Third Division. We were also very guilty of over elaboration, too many touches and passes when shooting opportunities arose. Overall though, I was pleased with what I witnessed. The following from The Herald's match report is a fair assessment of what I saw with my own eyes.

"the scoreline does not reflect the crispness of so much of the visitors' passing and movement. They sought to keep hold of the ball, to be constructive and ambitious, and some sharper instincts and technique in and around the penalty area would have caused the home side to be a bit more troubled. The visitors were 2-0 down at half time...but were the more composed, more resourceful side for much of the second half. Had Jamie Longworth's drive not been tipped round the post by Darren Randolph...or Ian Watt's effort not drifted wide, the dynamic of the game would have shifted even more in Queen's Park's favour."

Unfortunately our constructive and ambitious team are out the Cup for another year. Maybe in 2013, 120 years since we last lifted the trophy, it could be our turn again.

For now, it's Elgin in the league on Saturday at Hampden. Come along and see us for yourself.

Queen's Park team against Motherwell: Parry, McGinn, Meggatt, Little, Brough, Anderson, Watt, McBride (Gallacher), Smith (Daly), Longworth, Murray (Burns), Subs Not Used: Ronald, Strain (goalkeeper)



Beith Harriers 4.8 Mile New Year Road Race, 2nd January 2012

Firstly, Happy New Year. I kept fairly busy over the festive period running wise, doing the club Christmas Handicap the day after the Turkey Trot. I was cruelly handicapped to the tune of 6 and a half minutes compared to the first runner so while running the fastest time overall for the 2.3 mile course (11:15), finished in 13th place, 42 seconds adrift of the winner, Dave Thom. Fix! All good fun. The rest of the week looked like this:-

Wednesday 28th: 10 miles easy (1:06:01)- back at work for a day, run afterwards.

Thursday 29th: 10 x hill reps, High Point, running hard off top, 8 miles approx including warm up and warm down- usual Thursday hills.

Friday 30th: 2 miles easy (13:13)- originally a rest day but having a lamb Madras at the club curry night made me feel like a run.

Saturday 31st: Track, 10 x 600m plus 2 x 200m, all with 200m walk/slow jog recoveries, 8.2 miles including warm up and warm down.

600s- 1 in 1:45, rest in 1:47-1:48

200s- 32 secs, 33 secs

Not been on the track in December due to weather conditions. Ideal chance. Windy back straight.

Sunday 1st January: 15 miles easy, Windfarm run (1:42:38)- cold and windy, trying to forget the Rihanna/Kylie/Lady Gaga tribute act from the night before.

All that gave me 56 miles for the week. It's fair to say I wasn't feeling totally fresh come Monday but I like this race and was going no matter what. I'd only have been doing a session on the road anyway.

After last year's mini tour of Ayrshire, I took the road to Glasgow Airport and, wait for it, got to Kilbirnie first time. Once there though, I forgot where Glengarnock Rugby Club was and got directions from the local police station. Crisis averted, I was soon there shivering in a bitterly cold wind. In terms of Cambuslang runners, I had Stephen Wylie for company. None of last year's Inverclyde trio had shown, Chris Mackay, Mark Pollard or Craig Ruddy.

As a refresh, the route is simple. One lap of Glengarnock Industrial Estate. 1.2 miles, run 4 times. I began by gradually pulling away from a disappointingly sparce field of 52 runners, turning straight into a headwind and cold rain. Ouch. Unfortunately it looked like I would have all the work to do alone and so it proved. I came up with a tactic of running as hard and fast as possible when the wind was in my favour and grinning and bearing it when it wasn't. I didn't bother with split times, instead, focusing on running at as high a tempo as possible. By the third lap, the rain had stopped and I was lapping runners. The wind stayed as strong as ever. I did think I would be struggling to match my previous time of 22:55. Nevertheless, I kept the tempo up to the finish, coming through in a winning time of 23:55. Behind me Iain Connell (Kilmarnock Harriers) clocked a good 25:03 for runners up spot, edging out Stephen Wylie by 8 seconds. Ladies winner Kara Tait was 40 seconds down on her previous time. With me a minute worse off, a sure indicator of less than ideal conditions.

After a warm down with Stephen Wylie, I had time for a quick shower before the post race grub and prize giving to receive the McLuckie Trophy and a bottle of wine from race organiser Susan McIsaac of Beith Harriers. There's a few well known names on the trophy- Lachie and Glen Stewart, Tommy Murray (1986, 1990 and 2001), Gordon Rimmer (1981), Laurie Spence and from more recently, Mark Pollard, Jamie Reid, David Millar, Chris Mackay and Ross Toole. Additional spot prizes ensured most of those present went home with something from this great wee race.

Above: with the spoils prior to driving home.

Speaking about two indoor 5000m performances, Charlie Spedding describes one as a Harvard performance and the other as a Tyne Tunnell performance. This compared one winter when he was churning out good track sessions at Harvard University's track and the next back in the UK training in the Tyne Tunnell to avoid the freezing weather. Applying this logic, I'd consider this year's run more a Tyne Tunnell one than Harvard. It didn't flow well and it wasn't fluent but got a good result. Next stop, the Alsager 5 on 5th February with no disco diva tribute acts in the build up.

Finally, a brief step on my soap box to start the year. Courtesy of former member Gordon Rimmer, here are some Cambuslang results from the 1980 race (4.5 miles).

2nd: G. Rimmer, 22:47
4th: S. Rimmer, 23:17
5th: E. Stewart, 23:51
13th: D. McAuley, 24:27
17th: D. Cooney, 24:55

Gordon Rimmer was a UK international steeplechaser yet couldn't win the race in 1980 (he did in 1981). In my 4 appearances at this race, it has saddened me to see it so poorly supported. If it was good enough for the calibre of runner mentioned in this post, it should be for today's generation as well. A hit rate of 800-900 per month indicates there are enough people reading this. £3 (£5 if a non-Scottish Athletics member), provides a good, hard workout followed by a feed and a social afterwards. Races like this are the lifeblood of the sport and will die out without support. Spread the word. I will be posting reminders nearer the time.

See you on the start line at Glengarnock on 2nd January 2013.