Temple Of Saints - Theres Only One Paul Sturrock !!
Scottish League Division One - 26/12/96
Saints 3 Falkirk 1
Team :: Main,McQuillan,Davison,ONeil,Weir,Whiteford,Dasovic,Tosh,Grant,Scott,Jenko
Subs : Griffin,Ferguson,McAnespie
Well I suppose the only real disappointment was losing a stupid goal but
apart from that Saints were by far the better team for most of the game and
thoroughly deserved the win - pity it wasnt 4 or 5 tho. And a word for "Santa"
coming out before the kick-off to kick some balls into the home stands (and
taunt the Falkirk fans). It was also incredible the way he managed to get the
cheers going a la Dino :-) (including one from his seat in the West Stand in
the second half after a cry of "Santa, Santa, give us a wave!!!).
The game itself was only short of being an absolute classic thanks to an
amazingly bad performance by Mike Pocock as refwho managed to book ONeil early
on for a soft foul having let a Bairns defender get away with attempted murder
on Phizzy Scott and allowed a blatant handball by Andy Gray in the penalty
box from a Jenko inswinger.
Still there was some good football on display with Tosh and ONeil both
having excellent games and Dasovic proving that he can still play well without
Attilas company in midfield. Saints had a few good early chances with Roddy
managing a good dribble in the box before shooting across goal and Tosh and
Scott both suffering from soft shots after good build-up moves. In defence
Weir and Whiteford looked good and Davison and Jenko are forming a good
partnership on the left-wing.
Falkirk had some good moves as well although most of these seemed to be
directed through Andy "Fat Git" Gray in midfield (either that or they relied
on the crap refereeing). Main was forced to make a couple of good saves early
on and the defence were caught sleeping as well.
On the half-hour mark ONeil was adjudged to have fouled a whingeing Bairn
on the left side of the box and before Saints had a chance to recover from the
dodginess of the decision a cross was sent into the box for Main to miss
completely allowing McGrillen an easy header home. So much for the shut-out
record.
Credit to Saints tho and they fought back well to equalise within five
minutes from an almost identical situation with a cross from the left being
met by Head of Rod with the Falkirk defence static.
Danny Griffin came on to replace Davison just before half-time after the
latter was carried off with what looked to be a calf injury. This meant that
McQ switched to left-back (!) and Whiteford to right-back to allow Weir and
Danny to play in the middle.
It was Weir that put Saints deservedly in front just after the break with
a diving header after Falkirk failed to clear the previous 2 headers. He then
proceeded to run all the way back down the pitch waving fists in the air - I
reckoned he overreacted cos its not like its his first goal or that.
The third came soon after with another Falkirk defence sleeping to allow
Phizzy to shoot home from 3 yards. After that both Scott and Tosh failed to
capitalise on one-on-one situations as Saints pressed on. Credit to ONeil who
pushed up as centre-forward and resisted the great temptation to retaliate as
he was selected for some rough treatment from the Bairns defence. Tosh and
Roddy both also played really well with Roddy getting MoM.
Oh yes and as for the return of a certain ex-manager to McD - by far the
loudest singing today by the home support was reserved for 2 words - "Paul
Sturrock".