THEY say that football is a cyclical game. Nowhere more so than at Queen's Park is that truer.

Constricted by their Amateur credo, QP rely on a seemingly never-ending production line of home grown talent from their youth set-up.

Unfortunately for Queen's even a modicum of success brings the preying eyes of clubs who can pay for their talent and once it has been prised away the wheel begins to turn inexorably again.

In Ian Watt the Hampden side appear to have developed another fleet-footed young front man who may earn himself a move higher up the food chain like Derek Carcary (Rangers) and David Weatherston (St Johnstone) before him.

Of course only time will tell if young Watt can fulfill the growing expectations in Mount Florida.

Some 17 months back Queen's, then under the tutelage of Scotland Under-21 supremo Billy Stark, won promotion to the Second Division in the most emphatic form via the play-offs, dismissing Arbroath at the semi-final stages with home and away successes en route while playing champagne football, at this level at least.

But while the bulk of that hugely talented side remained loyal for a further season in order to help consolidate their step up, the summer break-up before the beginning of the current season saw the Amateurs robbed of the s ervices of six key players.

Stark's successor Gardner Speirs, who steadied a rocking boat to steer Queen's away from the whirlpool of relegation after his arrival in January, was subsequently forced to cobble together a new squad.

To his credit Speirs has managed to keep his side, callow as it is, competitive.

And despite QP's 2-1 defeat at the hands of Arbroath on Saturday drawing them ever nearer the perils of the pre-Christmas danger zone, he remains upbeat about his young side's prospects of extending their tenure in the SFL's middle division.

Speirs said: "With these young players we have had games in recent weeks where we have played well and won well, then at Albion Rovers in the cup last week we had different problems to overcome and we managed that.

"When you look at the experience levels between ourselves and Arbroath on Saturday then we obviously have a lot to learn, but we are a young side.

"But I have every confidence in them every time we go out "I believe that the longer the lads are playing at this level the more they will learn. But we will have up and down performances and we must accept that as part of the process.

"But you can't ask a young side just built in the summer to get everything 100% right every time they go out. What I would say is that we are going in the right direction and we are getting some things right and I believe in our ability to stay up."

But Speirs admitted that the impending return of Paul Cairney to Partick Thistle - the ex-QP man's loan deal expires in mid-January - will be a blow.

He said: "Paul is a good player and of course we would miss him, but we will deal with that if and when the situation arises."

As for Saturday's action, Queen's found themselves behind with only a minute gone when Bryan Scott raced onto an Alan Campbell pass in the home box and drove a low strike past the helpless David Crawford.

With QP pressing relentlessly for an equaliser the Amateurs were caught with a classic sucker punch counter as they fell two behind in 27 minutes.

This time Ross Forsyth was the provider as he side-footed a pass to Barry Sellars and his low strike cannoned off another Thistle loan signing, Ricky Little, to flash home past a stranded Crawford.

But eight minutes from the break the Spiders were handed a lifeline when Roddy Black crudely chopped Ryan Holms at the edge of the Arbroath box. Despite needing some persuasion from his stand side linesman, referee Steven McLean correctly awarded a penalty.

Cairney sent Darren Hill the wrong way from the resulting spot-kick.

Yet while the Spiders continue to tread water it would appear that only Speirs' famed coaching nous and the ability of his youngsters to learn from the harsh realities of the life in the Second Division will help them confound the bookies and stay up.

And should Speirs manage to persuade Partick Thistle to extend Cairney's loan deal until the end of the season he may just manage to pull off Mission Impossible once again.