Temple Of Saints - More than Deserved

Scottish Premier League - 18/11/2000

Saints 1 Arab Hackers 0 League Table Here

Team: Main,Sylla,Blaster,Dods,Weir,McCluskey,Dasovic,Kane, Russell, Parker, Pope
Subs: Cuthbert,McCulloch,JR,Paddy,Evers

We don't make it easy for ourselves do we? Still given the way this match was being built up in the papers today and the expectation of our Lux-lacking friends to snatch their first away point of the season I'll settle for a poached goal in the last 10 minutes anytime. And given the shall we say physical nature of our opponents, for Saints to leave the game with no player crippled or seriously injured is a real blessing.

Saints made 2 changes from last Sunday with Pope and Russell getting starting slots over Evers and Paddy. No place in the side for Tommy either which given the crap Arab defence this season meant that St. Sandy's either had a falling out with the player or else he was being more than a bit cautious in the line-up. Or both.

First half was a pretty dire affair with some nasty echoes of the Pars match hanging over the Saints side with passes going astray, slow reactions and a pretty apathetic attitude from a lot of the team (MoMo, Kane, Dasovic, Bollan all included here). We did make the first chance though when Russell got the ball on the left wing (spot the lack of a winger). His cross into the box landed the wrong side for Pope who missed the shot, as did Sylla when the ball came to him. Both keepers were pretty poor - Mains kicking and positioning were dire and he nearly came a cropper when both him and Cap'n Jim went for a 50-50 ball. At the other end Combe looked suspect at cross balls not that Saints were putting too much pressure on them with only a MoMo free-kick and Dasovic header even slightly on target, whilst Pope (who had a pretty decent game) saw his rocket of a shot blocked by a Lux-loather.

Of course with this being a derby match feelings were running high and Dasovic became the first player to be booked. Having said that the challenges that Hannah and his fellow Dove-dodgers were putting in early one were worthy of a Fernando - with both Nick and MoMo singled out for special attention. The cards evened up a couple of minutes later though when MoMo making his first break down the wing of the game was scythed to the ground by Partridge. Yellow card for the Arab and no shaking of hands.

Even worse was a Main clearance which was deliberately handled by the Arab Maradona clone up front - no action from the ref then either.

The game was scrappy by now and whilst Saints were never in any real danger there was a nagging doubt starting to creep into my mind that one goal was going to settle it. We should have done so in the 40th minute when a long ball found Kiegan. He sprinted up the park despite some desperate shirt-tugging only to leave it too late to shoot and thanks to the narrow angle, his low drive went inches past the post. Then a couple of minutes later Russell saw his shot well saved.

Second-half saw both sides having received an obvious boot up the arse during the break and was much more end-to-end. Dods saw his header go just wide after 50 minutes to get the fans going, and when Dasovic was again clattered 5 minutes later Saints got really fired up (the Canadian looks ok - for a minute or so it looked like broken leg stuff).

Almost straight after that the ref found where he'd put his cards. First in the book on the hour mark was MoMo for a tackle from behind followed a minute later by Weir for a foul on Pieman Miller - very soft considering what Hannah had been getting away with. Saints put JR on for Pope next before the game exploded. A McQ break (yup he had the guts to face us today) towards the goal saw him kick the ball too far in front. So with Bollan right behind him and still a couple of yards outside the box he does a Petta and goes flying. Mitchell gives the free kick on the edge of the box and Bollan is booked whilst McQ is left throwing a major tantrum on the pitch - I'm talking pounding fists and legs kicking - the works.

Saints took control after the Arabs screwed up their free kick and began to win a series of corners although Partridges man-marking of MoMo was close enough for the Saints player to lash out after he was fouled once too often. Luckily for us the ref gave the foul rather than red-carding MoMo. Paddy came on for Russell as Saints piled on the pressure. Bollan in his first real effort of the day made a good break up the left. Unfortunately his shot was delayed a bit too long and allowed a soap-dodger to get his mug in the way. Then a MoMo break down the right saw him cut into the box. He was fouled but instead of doing a McQ and throwing a tantrum kept on fighting to win the ball back.

With about 10 minutes left yet another corner was whipped in from the right by Kane. Paddy got up to header only to see Combe save - but there was Kiegan to blast in the rebound. 1-0 us, lots of singing from the Saints fans and the Hilltoon Whingers shut up. Almost immediately it could have been more. First up MoMo saw a 20-yard missile go just wide and then some good play between him and JR saw the former beat 2 defenders in the box and square the ball only for Hartley to shoot over.

A bit of the usual panicky defending - with Dods saving the day and Saints broke again. MoMo sprinting up the left wing only to be scythed down again by Partridge. No hesitation from the ref and off he goes and the Arabs were lucky that Pieman Miller and Jim "Career going nowhere" Lauchlan didn't join him for dissent. And there was still time for a Dods header to go just over and Dasovic to bring out a good save in Combe with a 20 yard drive before the final whistle.

Overall a bit of an inconsistent display. MoM Kiegan along with Dods, Russell and McCluskey put in a good performance. MoMo was at times classy and at times a nightmare but was much better when going forward towards the end. For the rest of the team - Pope was ok for 45 minutes, Weir a bit suspect. But both Dasovic and Kane were off form and Bollan's lack of sharpness and pace meant that any time we attacked down the left it usually meant committing Dods or Russell to the attack - exposing us elsewhere.

Still a 1-0 win over those scum is always nice. Pity we can't shut McQ up next year as well - but then we'll be in different divisions.

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