Temple Of Saints - Robbed Again

Scottish Premier League - 17/10/2000

Saints 0 Cheating Forces of Evil 2 League Table Here

Team: Main,Sylla,Blaster,Dods,Kernaghan,Weir,Dasovic,Kane,Connolly, Parker, Evers
Subs: Cuthbert,Malcolm,JR,Tommy,Pope

Well what a difference a couple of days makes. Okay so the conditions were farcical and the match should probably have been abandoned at half-time. And Rowbotham was easily the worst ref so far - even the Wegie Meedja post-match were giving him pelters. But for those of us who were starting to panic at least tonight showed that there is still a lot of team spirit and fight left at McD. And for anyone who has been complaining about the body language etc. of St. Sandy during the games there could be no doubt tonight that he's still able to get more than a bit heated up. Mind you with the so-called classy Forces of Evil resorting to so much fouling, cheating and diving that they make Chic Charnley look like a bloody angel it's no wonder.

More than a few changes were made from the shambles of Fir Park. The main one was the introduction of a 3-5-2 formation with Weir, Kernaghan and Dods at the back, Sylla and Blaster on the flanks and a central trio of Kane, Dasovic and the impressive Sean Evers in the middle behind Kiegan and Paddy. No place for the Pope and no place for the wingers who the manager admitted pre-match had not been performing well recently.

With the rain pissing down on God's pasture the game started at a hectic pace. But the Leprechaun O'Neill (Christ didn't he look like a wee gnome the way he was jumping up and around complaining at every decision) wasn't getting it his own way despite the usual diving antics from Henrik Streisand. Luckily though the OF can still rely on the man in the middle to keep them on top and with only 7 minutes on the clock and Saints holding their own in an impressive defence and midfield MoMo was the first in the book for a sliding tackle which missed the ball. It also missed the TFOE diver but that didn't stop Slapheid Rowbotham from taking action.

The game had chances few and far between with Main only troubled on a couple of occasions early on. Meanwhile Saints weren't getting any joy up front but were getting plenty of possession and putting the tackles in. Something which Petrov didn't like after a Blaster tackle. He took action of his own with a retaliatory kick which Rowbotham missed but the linesman didn't - only a yellow but when the wee Bulgar continued to whinge at the Saints players afterwards it should have been red.

Slapheid was keen to make amends to the wee Bulgar and Weir was next in the book as he lay on the ground getting treatment after a 50-50 clash.

Half an hour gone saw Saints get their first shot on goal when debut boy Sean Evers tried a cheeky lob. Then some good build-up play from the midfield saw the ball break to the left and Blaster just inside the box. He should have scored but unfortunately Grant Mitchell saved and there wasn't a Saints player to follow-up.

It started to go wrong for Saints after that. Five minutes later and MoMo over stretched going into a tackle. Limping heavily he was replaced by Stuart Malcolm who's first action was to concede a very soft free kick on the TFOE left. TFOE kicked the ball but Dods and Sutton (who makes Graeme Jones look like Mary Bloody Poppins) were having a tiff so the ref blew his whistle. A word in Sutton's ear and then he let TFOE take the kick again - This time Vulgarwhoren (the Boring Belgian) got up to head the ball into the net. Cue for the hushed bigots to start singing about bananas (or it might have been oranges - some sort of fruit anyway).

Second-half saw the match restart although if it had been a non-OF game or Saints winning no doubt it would have been abandoned as the constant rain made a mockery of God's pasture - think Tannadice two years ago for an idea of how well the ball was travelling on the pitch. The advantage was that the crap surface was evening up the game - Malcolm was looking more settled on the right and Kane and Dazza were winning more and more of the ball in midfield. One Kane slip did lead to a TFOE shot on goal but it was well wide, whilst at the other end Saints had a free-kick and a couple of corners which saw Grant Mitchell punch clear. Another free-kick on the left saw Dazza just header over.

Obviously this was getting too much for Slapheid and the Leprechaun and the yellow cards started to appear like O'Neills magic fairy dust. Kiegan was first to suffer for a tackle on a TFOE defender who moments earlier tried to strangle him and then Blaster got one (which even the radio said shouldn't have stood) for being near Diddy AggieTea.

Action was pretty sparse though - Sutton the thug had a good curling drive well saved by Main but for the most part the weather prevented any real creativity - meaning that the fighting spirit which had been missing for so long from Saints was starting to show some benefit. Kiegan had a good run up the right and skinned Mjallby and the Boring Belgian before sending the ball across the goal only to see both Dazza and Paddy miss it.

With 20 minutes to go JR came on for the hard-working but ineffective Paddy, whilst the wee Leprechaun provided the home fans with the best laugh or the night as he stood on the edge of the dugout and got soaked by a Dods clearance going out of play and landing in a puddle in front of him - didn't shut him or his FatBoy Robbo sidekick up though as they continued to whinge at the ref for the whole game.

So Slapheid decided to listen to them. With 10 minutes left the game left reality to head on over to FarceLand. First up a Dods clearance saw Main sprint 10 yards to his left to palm the ball away and prevent the corner. Passback shout the bigoted hordes so Slapheid agrees and awards the indirect free-kick on the edge of the 6-yd box. But whilst waiting impatiently for Streisand to master kicking the ball instead of dummying it Mjallby the cheat at the back post gets a kick in on his marker Malcolm. Stuart taps him back with his hand. Guess which action the linesman spotted - yup the latter. So Slapheid pulls Malcolm to one side. Now a fair and consistent ref who had only booked the wee Bulgar earlier for a similar offence would no doubt take the same action here. But as we know fair and consistent refs only live in the wee Leprechauns world. So Malcolm gets an undeserved red card and Sandy Clark lets rip with the F-word several times. Along with the home fans. And Kernaghan so he got a yellow card.

Back to the farce on the park and the free-kick comes to nothing. But with Saints down to 10 men and trying to get back into the game Rowbotham decides to up the stakes. A Petta run into the box sees him bodycheck Kernaghan. Father Dougal stays upright but the Flying Dutchman lives up to his nickname (well more the Diving Dutchman but you get the picture). Rowbotham points to the spot, Main gets a yellow for protesting, Streisand scores the penalty, we're 2-0 down and St. Sandy has steam coming out of his ears.

The last 5 minutes then became farcical with Hartley booked for not applauding the Diving Dutchmans final belly flop and Streisand diving in the box with absolutely nobody near him and picking up a yellow - as if Rowbotham thinks that will make him look fair in the eyes of any fan. Final whistle saw the Saints players applauded off the park. As for Slapheid - well you can guess how he was treated.

So another dodgy defeat to the OF. But for those of us who were at Fir Park there was a lot more promise in the side. The 3-5-2 definitely meant a lot more of the ball being played along the ground. Bollan was like night and day and easily my MoM although Parker, Evers, Weir, Kernaghan and Malcolm all deserve praise. And whilst St. Sandy's not totally forgiven the results don't seem to matter too much when you see the fight that the team and manager were putting into the game.

The crisis might still be over the club's heads but at least we can still have some faith.

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