Temple Of Saints - Saints Make It 6 In a Row
Scottish League Division One - 30/11/96
Saints 5 Stirling 0
Team :: Main,McQuillan,Davison,Attila,Weir,Griffin,Dasovic,Tosh,Grant,
Georgio,Preston
Subs :: Whiteford,O'Neill,Scott
6 in a row for the boys and 6 clean sheets for Jesus (Sturrock stated the
obvious of Radio Scotland tonight when he said that if Saints were in the
Premier then Main would be in the Scotland squad). Despite the size of the
scoreline Stirling made Saints work all the way.
Saints got off to a shaky start with Main making 2 world-class saves in
the first-half to keep us in the game. Stirling pressed forward well and the
Saints cause wasn't helped by a foul on Danny Griffin which left him with a
head injury and who was replaced in the first half by Andy Whiteford.
Still Saints gradually exerted some pressure with Dasovic looking good
in midfield. With Jenko out Preston was left on the left wing and Tosh on
the right, the latter looking as tho he hadnt trained properly for a week.
The first goal was a cracker - 16 mins gone and Davison had an excellent run
from defence to play a couple of 1-2s before running past a static Stirling
defence to place the ball past McGeown.
The game livened up now and Roddy was brought down next for a penalty -
tho to my eyes it was a pretty soft one. Complaints from the Beanos resulted
in a couple of bookings and some nasty scuffles. Georgio missed the kick
and the rebound so I suppose some sort of justice was done. Saints got their
second before half-time with Preston supplying a good cross from the right
for Georgio to head home.
The second-half started in much the same way as the first but as expected
Saints put on the pressure. No. 3 came from a clearance from defence which
found Georgio - he sprinted up the park but saw his angled drive rebound from
the goalie, which he squared for the oncoming Tosh to shoot home. The fourth
was from a Tosh run which he dummied the goalie and passed to Roddy to tap
home. Unfortunately Tosh also picked up an injury and was replaced by O'Neil.
The fifth goal was another classic as Preston broke clear on the left and
sent a cross into the goalmouth. The Stirling goalie was able to palm it away
but only to Georgio who sent a low shot in for his second of the day.
There was still about 20 mins to go but other than Phizzy Scott missing a
sitter (he was on for Dino who had been pretty crap all day), most of the
action and entertainment was concentrated at the other end as Saints fought
to preserve the shut-out record. The only real problem coming when
McQuillan managed to get himself booked for a couple of rash challenges and
to be honest was lucky to still be on the park at the end. MoM went to Georgio
(again !!)
Still a 5-0 win is pretty good and keeps us 6 points clear at the top.