Queen's were denied a stonewall penalty on five minutes when Canning was brought down by Andreoni, but never let this get to them, and had the penalty they should have had earlier, on seven minutes. Cairney wriggled past two defenders, was nudged by Donnelly as he beat a third, and Mr O'Reilly pointed to the spot. Up stepped Alan Trouten, and he sent Stephen Robertson the wrong way to put Queen's ahead.
Bryan Prunty almost drew the hosts level when his long range drive deflected off the post with Scott Murray beaten, Mick Dunlop gave the ball an almighty hoof up the park, and we were safe for now. Allan Russell had a chance to bring Airdrie level, but his twenty yard free kick was bravely charged down by Robert Dunn. 16 minutes passed, and it was 2-0 Queen's. Dunn picked the ball up on the right, he sent a delightful long pass out to Cairney, who chested the ball down and hammered it low past Robertson for the second.
Both Stephen Canning and Alan Trouten missed great chances to give Queen's an even bigger advantage for half time, but they couldnt find the net when presented with one-on-ones against Robertson, something we would pay the price for in the second half.
Airdrie came out with purpose in the second period, and within two minutes were back in it, Kevin McDonald hammering a 30 yard low drive past the outstretched arm of Scott Murray in the Spiders goal. Queen's could have killed the match moments after, a great move up the left sent Canning one-on-one with Roberston, six yards out but he missed the ball as he swung his right leg, and the chance was gone. Alan Trouten then smacked the underside of the bar from thirty yards and then the Airdrie onslaught began in earnest.
56 minutes had passed, and our lead had been completely wiped out. A through pass into the feet of Russell was played by McDonald, he wriggled past Agostini, Sinclair and Dunlop before hammering the ball high into the net at Murray's near post with the lanky keeper static. McGrady and Reilly replaced Agostini and Dunn after 67 minutes as Queen's looked to settle for the point, but they still had chances to snatch a win. McGrady, Canning and Trouten all coming close to making it 3-2. We were to pay for these misses in stoppage time, as Airdrie scored number three and won the game.
Substitute Kevin Watt wriggled past Dunlop and with the defence in tatters and Scott Murray in no mans land, he chipped the ball to the back post where winger Steve McDougall tapped the ball over the line to secure the win. A harsh lesson for Starkie's youngsters as they go into the bosses last game in real relegation bother.
QUEEN'S PARK: Scott Murray, Paul Paton, Mick Dunlop, Richard Sinclair, Damiano Agostini (Stephen Reilly), Alan Trouten, Stuart Kettlewell, Paul Cairney, Robert Dunn (Stuart McGrady), Stephen Canning, Mark Ferry
SUBS NOT USED: Tony Quinn, Paul Ronald, Mark Cairns (gk)
GOALSCORER(S): Alan Trouten (pen 6), Paul Cairney (16)
BOOKED: Damiano Agostini, Stuart Kettlewell, Robert Dunn
REFEREE: Stevie O'Reilly
ATTENDANCE: 1244
MAN OF THE MATCH: Alan Trouten