Temple Of Saints - "You're only 19 points behind us"
Scottish League Division One - 07/12/96
Morotn 0 Saints 2
Team :: Main,McQuillan,Davison,Attila,Weir,Whiteford,Dasovic,Tosh,Grant,
Georgio,Preston
Subs :: Donaldson,O'Neill,Scott
Allowing for the fact that we really missed Danny and that the heavy pitch
(shite weather in Greenock as usual) meant that Roddy was even slower than
usual, this result is a helluva lot better than it probably should have been
- in fact I reckoned that a draw might have been fairer. But their defence
is crap and we're now 7 wins on the trot with no goals conceded and 9
points clear at the top so who's complaining.
The first 30mins were all Saints with Tosh being used wide on the right to
good effect and Georgio doing a lot of good work in the centre. On the left
Preston and Davison are starting to show signs of a partnership. The real
problems seem to be in defence where McQuillan and Davison were caught out
of position (altho it has to be said that Danny would have acted as a sweeper
if he'd been fit). Andy Whiteford was caught out for pace a couple of times by
Rajiamaki but Weir had an excellent game.
Saints managed to miss several sitters in the first half Tosh being the
main sinner, with Georgio, Roddy and Preston also all coming close. As the
half wore on tho Morton began to push forward more and with Attila and
Dasovic not looking 100% in midfield a lot of loose balls went to Morton
players. They also seem to have adopted rather harder tackling methods of
late including elbows etc (as Roddy found out) which led to a couple of
bookings for their defenders. Morton also managed to have a goal chalked off
for fouling the defender - nice to see it happens to other teams as well.
Second half started well for Morton as well with several attempts at goal,
most of which thankfully went well over the bar. John O'Neill came on to
replace Tosh, although the way Attila was playing it looked like he'd be the
first to go off. Roddy tired quickly as well leaving Georgio as the sole man
up front with Preston giving some support. The Saints midfield were posted
missing most of the time with Dasovic defending more and more and Attila just
crap.
Gradually though, Saints pressed forward and a good break on the right saw
the ball cut back across the goalmouth where it landed at Attilas feet. He
proceeded to slot the ball home from 12 yards to force me to take back all
that I'd been saying about him for the game and send the Saintees in the
crowd mental.
It also sent the Greenock tinks mental as well with an attempted barrage
of pies and bovril coming over the segregation fencing into the away support.
Amazingly the polis eventually took some action and nicked a few of the
glue-sniffers. Imagine these big hard Greenock holligans getting done on a
charge of chucking a pie !!!!
Back to the match tho and with 15 mins still to go it became a case of
backs to the wall for the Saints with Morton starting to get the usual diving
free-kicks on the edge of the box. None came to fruition, altho Jesus was
forced into making some good stops (Scotlands No 1 !!!!).
Saints eventually got a break upfield and Georgio turned on the skills in
front of the away support by standing at one corner of the Morton box and
dribbling past goalie Wylie before squaring the ball for an onrushing ONeill
to score - 2-0 with 4 minutes to go. Cue for chants of "You're only 16 points
behind us" from the Saintees.
MoM for me was Georgio altho Weir had a cracker as well - its easy to see
how dedicated he is to the team by his reaction at the final whistle. Anyway
the result means we're now 9 points clear of the rest of the league with a
*vastly* superior goal difference - Oh Happy Days
Final word about the programme - 1.50 now and no Terracing Tam and the team
profile of the Saints was well out of date (either that or we really are
signing Peter Fyhr).