QUEEN’S Park coach Billy Stark welcome last weekend’s international break - and has his players raring to go this weekend.
The Spiders ended a hectic period with a Challenge Cup defeat to East Stirlingshire at Firs Park, but the boss was still full of praise for his side.
The Spiders went into the game without several key players, but the coach didn’t feel it was a major test for his squad depth.
Billy said: “It’s always difficult to be specific about whether it was a problem or not.
“At the end of the day, we can talk about a squad size, but you always have to remember we’re not players in the transfer market. For us it’s about bringing in players that are not going to let that level of ability drop.
“The squad we have is like that - if you lose key players, you can’t replace them, but every club has to manage that. The size of our squad is okay, but we’ve had injuries to Robert Dunn and Paul Ronald, and Alan Trouten’s suspension.
“Trouten is a key player for us in terms of scoring and creating chances, and if he gets himself stupidly sent off, he can’t complain about it. But we can’t just produce another player of his quality to go straight in.
“Alan has to sort out that part of his game, and cut down on the silly bookings and sendings off.“
The Spiders have had a busy start to the 2007-08 campaign, and picked up plaudits along the way.
Stark said: “Since the start of the season, we’ve played nine games in 30 days, we’ve progressed in both cup competitions, and had a great night against Hibs where we’ve had lots of compliments.
“The East Stirling game was one where the attitude was tremendous, and we didn’t get the result we deserved.
“We’ve won 5-0 there in a recent season, but they have improved a lot.
“The other night, we gave a performance in terms of the levels of commitment I’m looking for, but we just didn’t get the break we were looking for.
“They got a wee break, got the goal, and that was enough for them. It would be churlish to begrudge them the win.
“But I felt for our boys as they were just spent in the dressing room after the game. We had to deal with a better East Stirling team on the break, and all that was missing for us was that wee bit of luck around goal.”
This Saturday, the Spiders travel to face bottom of the table Alloa Athletic, for their second meeting of the season after Queen’s cup win over the Recreation Park side.
Billy said: “We’ve experience of them from the cup game here. They were looking the better team until we scored - they surprised me a lot, as they were a better team than I expected.
“The league table is pretty tight - they’ve won one, drawn one and lost three, but they’re also coming to terms with a new pitch.
“We’re happy with our own position, though - if I’d been told we would be second top of the league in September by the time we had the international break, I’d have bitten your hand off.
“The knocks and strains we’ve had because of the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday routines have had a wee chance to clear up with the break - Alloa will have had it too - but we’re all ready for them.
“We’re going there in a good position, and are ready to build on it.”
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