OWEN Coyle praised his Queen’s Park players as they responded to a “horrible week” by opening a four-point lead in the Championship.
The Spiders saw off title rivals Ayr United in fine fashion on Friday night, with a Dom Thomas penalty and Nick McAllister own goal making all the difference at Ochilview.
That came just hours after the Scottish FA had thrown Queen’s out of the Scottish Cup for fielding an ineligible player in their win over Inverness Caley Thistle. Euan Henderson shouldn’t have played in the tie as he wasn’t signed in time for the fixture’s original scheduled date.
And while holding the club's hands up, Coyle believes a fine would have been a more suitable punishment for his team, which lost out on the chance to face Premiership Livingston.
“I don’t know how the [SFA] panel has looked at it,” he said. “It shouldn’t just be a case of what has gone before.
“I could understand if it was a replay. Did we make a mistake? Yes. We have held our hands up. I felt a replay and possibly a fine should have been in order.
“They were very swift. I felt the meeting could have been longer.
“We had to come back and get the boys mentally focused. A lot was made of what has happened this week.
“The boys showed great strength as a group and to a man.
“It was a good ending to a difficult week.”
To add to his side’s woes, talisman Simon Murray left to sign for Ross County just hours before that now moot 2-0 win over Inverness, the departure of their captain coming in the wake of a hiding by Dundee, another title rival.
“It has been a horrible week,” he said. “We were so bad at Dundee, then we went to Inverness and gave a terrific performance. We have been put out the cup, but I felt that was harsh.
“We made a mistake and we have held our hands up. To be punished when you have won a game on sporting merit [feels harsh].
“No one has a higher opinion of Simon than me. He benefited from the way we play, creating chances left, right and centre. I couldn’t believe we weren’t ahead at half time.
“We were outstanding and fully deserved to win the game. We are taking small steps to where we want to be.”
Meanwhile, Lee Bullen, the Ayr United manager, admitted it had just been one of those days at the office for his team.
“In this league, it’s all about who is better in both boxes,” he said. “They defended their box well and punished us for the mistakes we made. They deserved the win.
“We never played to our shape in the second half and were at sixes and sevens. It was a very frustrating day, but there are no scapegoats.
“We’ll patch ourselves up and get on with it.”
