Arabs 1 Saints 2 League Table Here
Team:
Main,Sylla,Blaster,Weir,Dods,Dasovic,Tommy,Parker,Jones, O'Neill,Hartley
Subs: Robertson,Russell,McCluskey,Crozier,McCulloch
Ah that's better. Despite some worrying moments in the second half this game showed that sexy football will win through. If we'd managed to take our chances it would have been a total slaughter of one of the worst Arabs sides I've ever seen. The first half was easily our best performance of the season so far and although we tired late on make no mistake we more than deserved the win - in fact it should have been by 4 or 5 goals.
New boy Michael O'Neil and the un-suspended JR came into the side in place of Pope and Kane. Kiegan kept his starting jersey and moved up front as Saints went for a 4-4-2.
Straight from the kick-off we were on the attack. As early as the second minute we could have taken the lead as a JR corner was missed by 3 Saints players in the box with the home defence nowhere. To say their defence looks shaky is like saying a Coagie has a slight hygiene problem as time and time again they took several attempts to clear their lines - although this is a compliment to the way JR, Jones and Kiegan harassed them.
With this being a derby match there were some casualties. Jim Weir was the first to leave the park after a head knock with Heaney and whilst away the Arabs had their first chance when a corner was headed against the Saints post. By the time Cap'n Jim was back the danger was over.
13 minutes gone and Saints took the lead with a brilliant piece of build-up play. Kiegan picked up the ball in midfield and sent it out to the left to Tricky Tommy. He took a couple of touches as he ran up the wing before sending a defence splitting pass through the Arabs back four to the feet of the incredibly swift Goalden Graeme. The Corporal took a single touch before drilling the ball under Combe to make it 1-0. Five minutes later and Saints again were on the break. Kiegan was fouled off the ball and it's credit to the ref that he booked the Arab defender five minutes later after the ball had gone out of play. Meanwhile Parker had had another shot on goal and JR Hartley (looking fast on the right) had seen an overhead kick go over. Then it was MoMo's chance as he broke into the box, played a great 1-2 with Jones before shooting at the keeper.
With 25 minutes gone though we turned on the style. Kiegan picked up the ball on the right, beat a couple of useless Arab defenders in the box (including a certain McQ), turned and from a narrow angle 12 yards out sent the ball into the net. Absolutely brilliant goal. There were more injuries later with Bollan and Easton both leaving the park after another clash of heads, with the Arab deciding to stay off rather than be totally humiliated.
Just before half-time Saints had one of their best moves when MoMo breaking from defence, backheeled the ball to JR. A long pass across the pitch and Jones dummies the ball leaving it to an unmarked Tommy running in from the left. Unfortunately the final shot was just wide but for sheer entertainment it couldn't be beat.
The second half started off the same way with Saints getting a couple of corners in the opening minutes. But then we settled back and moved to the 4-5-1 formation of previous weeks with JR dropping into the centre of midfield. We still had plenty of chances and a JR free-kick on the hour mark saw Jones' header go just wide.
Five minutes later and it looked like it was going to go wrong again. With Blaster off getting a chromedome cut seen to the Arabs had a corner which Saints failed to clear properly and the resulting stramash saw AloeVera (?) score off a deflection. The Arabs were battling their way back into the game with battling being the operative word as the match became more and more scrappy.
Saints were visibly tiring but we still missed another glorious chance to increase the lead. MoMo hit a long ball from the midfield to Jones in the box. He brought the ball down, turned and shot only to see the ball bounce back from the underside of the bar. With Saints tiring the late challenges started to go in and Jones and O'Neill (who had a decent enough game for a guy short of match practice) both going in the book - something the former needs to watch. O'Neill was replaced by Marc McCulloch who looks more than capable of coming into the side at any time.
We had another penalty claim turned down when another MoMo ball found Kiegan in the box and a handballing Arab defender. There was another shaky moment in defence when Cap'n Jim had to leave the park for more treatment but we held on for the final whistle.
It was a good performance overall although there are still some problems with the fitness levels towards the end. But that's a fairly minor quibble given that a bit of luck would have seen us up 5-0 and the game over by half-time. JR and O'Neill looked good and whilst Tommy had a disappointing afternoon he set the first goal up brilliantly and created enough chances.
MoM for me was close with Jones and Parker having great games but for me Dasovic controlled the centre of midfield for the 90 minutes and took the proverbial piss out of certain so-called Arab starts (step forward Mr Hannah).
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| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Hibs | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 13 |
| Rangers | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 12 |
| Celtic | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 12 |
| Dundee | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Kilmarnock | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6 |
| Saints | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Aberdeen | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Dunfermline | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| Hearts | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| St. Mirren | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| Motherwell | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| Dundee United | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
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