Temple Of Saints -Roddy Smites Stirling
Scottish League Division One - 15/10/96
Stirling Albion 1 Saints 3
Team :: Main,McQuillan,Preston,Attila,Weir,McCluskey,Scott,O'Neil,Grant,
Fyhr,Jenko
Subs :: Whiteford,Tosh,Farquhar
In the end it was a good win but after the start we got when Attila shot
home a free kick a la Jenko after 8 mins, it should have been a lot better.
The score probably flatters Saints and it was only really the Albions poor
finishing and the greasy pitch which gave us the points.
With Georgio and Danny ruled out through injury, McCluskey and Fyhr got
their break in the team. Defensively Preston and McQ seemed to be the weak
points (although John was booted up and down the touchline in the 2nd half).
Up front Fyhr looks useful but still not match fit. Combined with a midfield
of ONeil, Scott and Attila who were playing it safe by not pushing forward
enough and Jenko not receiving any passes and its easy to see why we didnt
look the world beaters we really are.
Saints had plenty of chances in the first half to kill the game off with
Phizzy coming close twice and also missing a sitter and ONeil missing an
open goal by trying to place the ball instead of blasting it after being
set up nicely by Fyhr. At the other end Main was forced to punch clear
several times and Stirling came close with some long-range shots.
Second half started well for Saints when a McQ cross from the right on
52 mins found Jenko at the back post who shot home. All hopes of a Saints
deluge vanished when Taggart shot home a long-range effort 10 mins later. It
was all Stirling after that and the Saints defence and midfield seemed to
be playing for themselves rather than as a team. Tosh replaced Fyhr and got
some room on the right.
Eventually an O'Neill run into the box was halted by a Stirling defender
and referee McCluskey in about his only decent decision of the night gave the
penalty which Rod the God duly converted. There then followed some pretty
amazing ball skills from Roddy as he took the piss out of the Stirling
defence before narrowly shooting wide.
Overall a good result even if the performance wasnt too hot. The team
did seem to suffer from the wet pitch and visibly tired before the end of the
game. Stirling look like a good team altho I still think theyll be for the
drop.
O and a final word for the programme - definitely the best Ive seen this
season and only a quid - hell the kid even told me to "Enjoy the game".