Temple Of Saints - Latest News From the Oracle
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November
November 22d - While the players were celebrating yesterday's win, there was some bad news, as Martin Hardie has been ruled out for the season. His medial ligament injury is worse than initially thought and Del told the Official Site, "It’s a horrendous injury for a footballer and we’re devastated for him. He’s popular in the dressing room and with the fans and he’ll be a big loss but he will come back from it and we now have to make sure that we are still an SPL team when he is ready to start playing again."
November 21st - 
It's looking more and more likely that Graham Gartland(right) will be available today as he reaps the benefits of treatment this week. The defender told the Courier, "I had an injection in the shoulder on Tuesday and it really seems to have helped my recovery. I have a lot of movement back in the joint although obviously if I fall on it badly again, then I might have a problem. I’m desperate to play as I haven’t missed a game so far this year and it’s a record I want to continue. However, I would never say I was fit for personal reasons—if I didn’t think I was right, then I would immediately tell the manager. When the injury happened at Aberdeen, I initially thought that I had dislocated it and tried to put it back in myself. A player I knew who had a lot of problems with his shoulder once told me that if you rotate your arm, you can put it back yourself and it is better than having someone else do it as it’s more natural. However, it wasn’t a dislocation. The bone and the A/C had just popped up a little. My team mate Danny Grainger drove me home in his car after the game and it was quite sore then, although that was nothing compared to the pain on the Sunday. I was also scheduled to have an the operation on my nose on the Monday. I had broken it before and I was having a lot of sinus trouble. I kept getting sick and needed antibiotics every two months or so. I said to the gaffer that it was draining me so we scheduled the op for the international break—it definitely wasn’t done for cosmetic reasons."
He's looking for revenge today, after we dropped 2 points earlier in the season against the Jambos. "The first game we had against them back in August was like a lot we’ve played this season. We probably should have killed them off early on but we let them back into the game and only secured a draw. But one thing about the boys is that they have a lot of character and the manager has also instilled the belief that even if we are behind in a game, it can still be salvaged."
Latest is that both Danny Grainger and Steven
"Toe-job" Anderson have joined Kenny Deuchar in the list of late doubts for the game with all three facing fitness tests. For the Jambos Andy Driver and Jamie Mole are set to miss out.
5pm - It was a bit of a nightmare first-half that saw us go behind but goals from Collin Samuel and sub Jonatan Johansson saw us run out 2-1 winners at Tynecastle against a home side that were reduced to ten men late on. Del was happy with the win and told the BBC, "In the first half we were disappointed with our performance. We fell in love with the longer ball to Kenny Deuchar, but with the players we have we've got to try to pass it and move it more and I thought we did that in the second half. We mixed the game up and created chances and we thoroughly deserved our win. I thought we had the momentum from the start of the second half and we worked very hard for the equaliser. It was a great bit of skill from Filipe Morais digging it across for Collin Samuel. With the ordering off the game did swing more towards us. It was a break for us - I think it was the right decision - and I'm delighted to come away with three points."
November 20th - Latest from the camp is that Graham Gartland has an outside chance of playing tomorrow after receiving some intensive physio on his shoulder. Kevin Moon and Peaso are both in the squad but Kenny Deuchar is doubtful with a groin injury while Martin Hardie is out. Del spoke to the Courier and said, "We will test Garts on Friday morning and we have a big decision to make. It’s a bonus to have Peaso and Mooner available. We were delighted with the way we played against Hearts in Perth back in August and a 2-2 draw was the least we deserved. But they have only lost to Rangers at home so far this season and this is as tough as any away game. But we will go there with the right mindset looking for all three points."
November 19th - With Graham Gartland all but certain to miss out, it looks like a return for Stuart McCaffrey to the side as he renews his partnership with Kevin Rutkiewicz. Caff told the Courier, "Kevin and I played the bulk of last season alongside each other. And we played together a couple of times pre-season. But then he got injured just before the first game and only returned a couple of weeks ago. This season there has been a fair amount of chopping and changing at the back for us. But when you think about it that was perhaps inevitable. As well as people being injured, stepping up a division you are going to lose goals and games, and when that happens, the temptation is to make a change defensively. Between myself, Kevin, Graham and Steven Anderson, the manager has four guys, all of whom can play the position and that competition for places keeps you hungry. No one likes being out but over the campaign everyone is going to have a part to play at some stage. There wasn’t much wrong with me to be honest. I just had a wee bit of fluid in my pubic joint. So I got an injection a week past Friday to disperse that and was able to return to training on Monday."
Martin Hardie will have his injury scanned on Friday once the swelling has gone down but is expected to be out for weeks and possibly months.
8pm - Some signing news today with 17yr prospects Stephen Reynolds and Stevie May signing new deals to keep them at Saints until 2012.
November 18th - 
Despite winning yesterday's closed-doors game against the Bairns 5-1 the bad news was a knee injury to Martin Hardie(right) which has ruled him out for a few weeks. Speaking in today's Courier, Del said, "We suspect that Martin has medial ligament damage and that he’ll be out for a few weeks. And that’s a blow both for Martin and ourselves.". The midfielder had got one of the goals along with Peter MacDonald, Paul Sheerin, Kevin Moon and one of the two trialists that Saints fielded.
Peaso managed a full ninety minutes and looks set now to take some part in the action on Saturday. Del went on, "We had some good individual performances and scored a few goals — which was pleasing - but the injury to Martin has taken the shine off of that"
5.30pm - Another change to the diaries with the home game against the Sellik moved from the Saturday to Sunday January 24th with a 3.30pm kick-off to cater for Sky. Oh joy.
November 17th - With every Scots fan avoiding the word football after the weekend's debacle it's time to start thinking about this weekend's trip to Tynecastle. Unfortunately the injuries are mounting for Derek McInnes, with Kenny Deuchar the latest doubt for the game. That could mean a return to the first team for Peter MacDonald who has impressed the manager in recent weeks. Del told the Courier, "Peaso is doing fine. I’m seeing real improvement in his fitness, confidence and form. And I’ve been delighted by his attitude. Hamstring problems can undermine your confidence especially if, as happened in his case, they go on for months on end. But the treatment Peaso got in Germany has worked. He hasn’t missed a day’s training since he returned to us. And he’s getting there. We’ve got a match tomorrow which he’ll take part in. That would be his fourth closed doors game since he resumed training and he’s needed the match practice. You have to remember he hasn’t played competitively since March and even prior to that hadn’t been getting a lot of game time. But if he gets this fixture under his belt then he’d come into the reckoning. And I know Peaso’s qualities - I recognise that he would give us a goal threat. What I have to gauge is whether he could come in and play 70-80-90 minutes or would be better used coming from the bench."
Stuart McCaffrey was back in training yesterday and he was joined by Murray Davidson. Graham Gartland still looks like missing out this weekend though. Meanwhile Stephen Reynolds has joined Ayr on a 28-day emergency loan and the manager said, "Sometimes the SPL under 21 rule is to the detriment of the careers of young players. I watched Stevie playing in the youth cup last week and he was excellent. But he needs to be playing at a level which ensures he continues to make progress. And I can see huge potential benefits in this arrangement with Ayr. I’m sure he’ll come back to us a more confident player."
November 13th - 
Derek McInnes(right) has been speaking in the Courier today about the campaign so far and has admitted to being a bit disappointed with our points tally. "I set a target privately, which I didn’t tell the players, and we’ve fallen just short of what I wanted. So we’ve got a bit of ground to make up in my own mind over the next quarter. It’s important that we get more points, but it’s equally important that we don’t look back with regrets. We have to redouble our efforts to make sure we get more points in the next quarter. I’m breaking the season down into quarters and we’ll see how we go in the next one. Normally, when you come through the festive period you have an idea of where your battles are going to be. Hopefully, we’ll get enough points by then to keep us away from the bottom of the table."
"We’d told the players they were good enough for this level but, for those who hadn’t played in the SPL before, they now know they’re good enough to compete at this level and win games. Performance-wise I’ve been happy with how the season’s gone so far and I actually didn’t think we’d enjoy as much dominance as we’ve had in certain games. That’s been pleasing but now we have to make sure we make that dominance count and get more points on board."
Of course there have been some surprises this season and the right-back slot is one with Gary
Irvine not getting a look-in but the manager went on, "I’ve got a high opinion of Gary and he’s a valuable member of our squad. It’s been difficult for Gary because he had an operation in the summer and that hampered him a bit in pre-season. We signed Dave Mackay for competition across the back four and I’ve been really pleased with his performances. The door was opened for him and he’s taken his opportunity. It is difficult when you’re out of the team but Gary has to keep training hard and playing well in bounce games. I’ve no doubt his chance will come again and he’s got to be ready physically and mentally when that happens."
November 11th - First news is that the CIS tie has been confirmed for Wednesday Feb 3rd 2010 with a 7.35pm kick-off to suit Dougie Donnelly and his BBC1 chums - yup live on telly and against the OF so expect another plucky display.
Elsewhere tickets go on sale tomorrow for Tynie a week on Saturday. The game is all-ticket and season ticket holders can get their briefs priced £22 for the upper tier and £16 for the "stalls" from the club from tomorrow.
Finally the Evening Times has us linked with a possible January move for Liam Buchanan at Partick Fissel - expect more such gossip in the lead up to Xmas.
November 10th - More reaction from Derek McInnes to the cup draw today. According to the Courier, he said, "Whichever team we got we knew we would have a real opportunity to get to a cup final and I still believe that is the case. We’ve drawn the favourites, so it is probably the most difficult tie, but it’s certainly not beyond us. We’ve experienced heartache in three recent semi-finals and now we want to realise our dream of getting to a final. There has never been a lack of belief in our last three semi- finals—two of which I played in and one in which I was the manager—and we were a first division team in all of them. Now we’re an SPL club and that should make our belief even stronger. Anytime we’ve played Rangers in the last few seasons the games have always been close and we’ll be ready for the semi when it comes round. Between then and now the most important thing is that we pick up some good results in the league so we go into the match in good form."
Meanwhile Murray Davidson was called up as an additional travelling member to the U-21 trip to Azerbijan this week but he's been ruled out with a groin strain. Del said, "Murray had to pull out after our physio and doctor had a look at him. It was a huge disappointment for him. Maybe Azerbaijan isn’t the most glamorous place but when it’s your first cap you’d play anywhere.
My initial reaction when Murray was called in was one of delight for him. We were disappointed he wasn’t listed originally but this shows he is in Billy Stark’s thoughts. His time will come"
November 9th - To say Danny Grainger was a bit pissed off after Saturday's defeat (and more importantly the manner of the Sheep's winning goal) is like saying that Sellik slightly damaged Scottish football's reputation yesterday. The Saints left-back was still angry with the antics of Lee Miller for the penalty and the referee's decistion that clinched the win for them and told the Courier today, "I am not going to slag the referee off but he will look at the video and realise his mistake and, when I see him again, I will be looking for an apology".
Derek McInnes backed his player saying, "There was definitely a foul on Danny Grainger in the build-up because Lee Miller grabbed him and spun him to gain an advantage in the box. The ball was played into the area 10 yards away from the incident and what has happened is Danny has tried to make up the ground after initially being fouled and, as he has run back, Lee has stopped and Danny has nowhere to go and it is a coming together. The ref has said it was a push and a pull which it clearly wasn’t. He has got it wrong and the linesman should see the foul by Lee Miller.". And while the home side were whinging about our goal, Kenny Deuchar reckons that was just sour grapes. "I went up to challenge the goalkeeper and then headed it down. They were shouting for a free-kick but my argument is that whenever I go up for a ball with a keeper he is throwing his fists about while I am using my head. So, if I get my head on the ball, how can that be a free-kick?"
Graham Gartland will have his shoulder injury assessed today.
7pm - Well with all the predictability of the OF disgracing Scottish football, you'll never guess who we've been drawn against for the
CIS Semi-final? Yup it's off to Hampden again to face the Bankrupt Bigots as we take on The Forces of Darkness for the right to face the Jambos or St Midden in the final. Game to be played on Feb 2nd or 3rd 2010. Speaking on the Official Saints Site, Derek McInnes said of the draw, "Whoever we were drawn against would provide great opposition but none of the clubs hold any fear for us. The fact of the matter is that we have drawn the bookies favourites for the cup and it is a tie we can eagerly await when it comes around."
Elsewhere and the news on Graham Gartland wasn't great - his shoulder
injury was X-Rayed this morning and he's been ruled out until mid-December. Collin Samuel is due to be rested to give his knee a chance to recover over the next fortnight while Stuart McCaffrey is going to get an injection in his groin injury.
November 7th - 
Saints head north today looking for their third win in a row. Dave Mackay(right) is hoping to add some luck to our cause as well - he's only lost once against Aberdeen in 11 games. The right-back told today's Courier, "Hopefully I can keep this going now I’m a St Johnstone player. And I certainly see this as a game we can win. I’ve got a terrible memory but two matches against Aberdeen stand out for me. My last game for Dundee was a 2-1 win at Pittodrie when Derek Soutar made his first start for Dundee and Stevie Milne got one of our goals. The other one is that defeat up there with Livi which I remember for the fact we started really well but crumbled after losing the first goal and went down 3-0."
"I’m looking forward to going back to Pittodrie. It’s been three years or so since I last played Aberdeen and their squad has changed out of all recognition. Jamie Langfield would be one of only a few guys left at the club. We’ve now got two good wins under our belts. And the great thing from a confidence point of view is that we deserved to win both. It wasn’t as if we got lucky. Aberdeen by all accounts were unfortunate in losing to Hibs but we know that if we play as we can then we can win the game. The standard we have to match is the one we set in going to Easter Road earlier in the season and winning. That day proved we are capable of competing with the better teams away from home as well as at McDiarmid Park."
Collin Samuel and Steven
"Toe-job" Anderson both came through training yesterday so should be involved.
8.30pm - Saints put up a good fight today but a dodgy decision late on to give Aberdeen a penalty let them run out 2-1 winners at Pittodrie after Liam
Craig had cancelled out their opener. Added to that Graham Gartland went off early on after a knock and both Collin Samuel and Murray Davidson were carrying knocks by the end of the game. The performance was good but suffice to say that the overall performance and antics from the opposition mean that there's a bit of a grudge for our next game against them. Results elsewhere mean that we're now on equal points with both Killie and Accies with Falkirk five behind ahead of their game against Sellik tomorrow.
November 6th - 
We should have known better - I mean a player who doesn't play for the OF or in England getting into the Scotland squad? So no call-up for Murray Davidson. Elsewhere though Jody
Morris is in the Courier today and after admitting he'd "consider" a call-up to Scotland thanks to his grandfather's Tartan roots, he's been taking some stick.
Martin Hardie told the paper, "I’ve been at clubs where this sort of thing doesn’t happen—and it can be a long season. But fortunately at St Johnstone, Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty like having a bit of fun. And we’ve certainly enjoyed a laugh over this stuff about Jody playing for Scotland. He’d actually told me more than a year ago about his grandad having come from the Glasgow area. But there was no way there wasn’t going to be banter over Jody pulling on a Scotland shirt. Mocked up posters have gone up at our place depicting him wearing a kilt and tartan bunnet, with a bubble coming out from his mouth saying, “Gonnae gie me a pound of square sausage”. To be fair—he took it in good part!"
The lack of mention of Murray Davidson(right) in the Scotland setup though (either U-21 or full squad) has puzzled the Mad Mental One. "It’s a real surprise Murray not being named in either squad. You’d have thought he’d have got in the under 21s at least. But maybe being with a smaller SPL club hasn’t done his chances any good. I mean, there are guys being picked who aren’t playing for their club sides when Murray has missed just one game for us." . Derek McInnes was a bit more philosophical and he said, "If Murray keeps playing as he has been and progressing his career then at some point in time his talents will be recognise" - whether that will ever happen while he's at McDiarmid remains to be seen.
As for this weekend, the manager is expecting a tough match. "Pittodrie is going to be a test for us. They’ve been a bit up and down so far but over the course of the season they will climb the table and finish quite high up. But tough ask though this is, we go there on the back of two victories which we can take confidence from and if we turn in the kind of performance that we are capable of then hopefully we can bring something back from there."
Collin Samuel was back in light training yesterday but Stuart McCaffrey and Steven Milne are definitely out.
Finally the CIS draw is set for Tynecastle at 2pm on Monday.
November 5th - Latest rumour is that Wigan may be set to make a move for Collin Samuel. The striker, who should recover from his knee knock for the weekend trip to Pittodrie, is apparently being considered as a replacement for bad boy Marlon King. Elsewhere the Scotland U-21 squad was announced and was missing on-form Murray Davidson - there's now a rumour that he may be set for a call-up to the full squad today for the game against Wales.
November 4th - 
Saints beat Killie 2-1 in a closed-doors game yesterday with goals from Peter MacDonald and Paul Sheerin(right),
The lattter has also been speaking to the Courier about his decision to apply for the Arbroath job (which he lost out to Jim
Weir). He said, "I applied for the Arbroath job because the time is coming for me to get into that side of things.
I’m at a stage where I’m not playing as often as I’ve been used to and there comes a point where you have to accept that playing being your main focus is coming to an end.
And going through the process of applying for the post at Arbroath has only served to cement that with me.
I just feel I’m better looking for a job now than maybe next summer when—touch wood it doesn’t come to that—I might be out of work.
That was the first interview of my football career so I am glad to have had the opportunity.
And I was encouraged by the feedback I got from the Arbroath chairman who was kind enough to phone and tell me I’d interviewed well and they’d been impressed.
It was just lack of experience that counted against me.
I’m disappointed to have missed out but at the same time delighted for Jim Weir who I thought did well at Montrose and was harshly dealt with.
And I take consolation from the fact it could be worse for me. I could have been out of work and applying for the post.
At least I still have a job and with that the challenge of trying to feature more regularly for Saints, which I’ll knuckle down to.
But hopefully something else might come along in the near future —and I get the opportunity to obtain a grounding in football management.
"
"I look at Craig Levein and Miksu Paatelainen and I see two guys who learned their trade as part-time managers and went on to bigger things and that’s what I want to do. I could probably play another couple of years at a high level but I have to look to the future and the coaching/management side of the game. I’m doing my B Licence at the minute and my mind is made up. Before, I saw myself working with youths, but now I want to be my own man—to dip my toe in management. If I’d got the job at Arbroath I would have carried on playing but got the right kind of experienced person alongside me."
November 3rd - Despite the win at the weekend there are more than a few injury worries in the Saints camp. Steven Milne is still recovering from his injury and won't be available for the trip to Pittodrie this weekend while Euan McLean's ankle also rules him out. Collin Samuel has a knee knock which curtailed his involvement against the Bairns so will be limited in his training this week as will Jonatan Johansson who received 12 stitches in his head after a clash - that means he's likely to be wearing protective gear at the weekend. Finally Steven
Anderson missed out on Saturday after a "domestic accident" (he stubbed his toe) and his replacement Stuart McCaffrey was on the bench despite a pelvic injury.
Meanwhile congratulations to Jim
Weir who was appointed manager of Arbroath at the weekend.
November 2nd - 
Skipper Kevin Rutkiewicz(right) has admitted he was just glad to get Saturday's game out of the way so he can concentrate on his football again. After his second start of the season, the defender told the Sun, "That was my first SPL game in many years. My last one was with Aberdeen under Steve Paterson when we lost 4-0 at Kilmarnock. It has been a long time for me, but the boys were fantastic and they helped me through it. I was toiling a wee bit with my fitness for the last ten-15 minutes. It was a matter of hanging in there because it was important I got 90 minutes in my system as I have a full week to recover. Results-wise, we have had two wins in a row so hopefully we can keep it going. I enjoy my singing, but I will be looking for more positive football headlines now. It would be nice to be asked questions about my football rather than my music. I have a point to prove to myself in the SPL."
As for the win itself he knows how important it was. "Last season we found ourselves top of the league and it is vital to stretch away from teams. We are at the bottom end so any gap we will take no matter what time of the season it is. It is vital we get the points on the board as there may come a time when we are not picking up any. We have now played what we consider to be top six sides at home and we have given them all a game. You do get a bit nervous when a side comes back to make it 1-1 with a few passes going astray. But we scored at vital times with some quick goals that won us the game. It was a massive match. They came here with a chance to leap-frog us."
November 1st - Derek McInnes was happy with the win yesterday and after the game told the BBC, "We deserved it on chances created. Falkirk passed and moved well and made us nervous and edgy at times but we realise we won't get our own way for 90 minutes. We missed three or four clear chances to finish the game in the first half and I thought it might have been one of those afternoons. But the players showed a lot of qualities to win. It wasn't always good but it was always determined."
Meanwhile Murray Davidson told the Screws of the World, "My goal was a bonus - it was all about the result. I knew the keeper was out of his goal and gave it everything I had to get on the end of it. It was a relief after missing a first-half chance and going a few games without scoring. That's us five clear of Falkirk. We can hold our own in the league."
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