Clyde 2 Saints 2
Team:
Main,Sylla,Blaster,Weir,Kernaghan,Dasovic,Russell,Hartley, Jones,Pope,Kane
Subs:
Cuthbert,Parker,Connolly,McCluskey,Thomas,McCulloch,Dods
Well the sexy football theory might still be there but there was precious little on display tonight although admittedly Saints were up against a more typical bunch of Scots cloggers. On the plus side most of the problems were of our own making and due to slackness in the play and a distinct look of tiredness amongst some of the team - playing 4-5 games in a week obviously is a bit much.
A decent travelling support (treated oh so nicely by the Hitlers in Yellow Jackets known as stewards) saw Main make his return to first team action along with Goalden Graeme. New cult hero Mohammed Sylla stayed at right back whilst Weir came into the centre of defence. Tommy's ankle injury kept him out.
Saints opened well enough forcing some early corners and a hint that Hartley shows a bit more imagination in a corner kick than we've been used to in recent years. Pope came close with a shot just over the bar after 10 minutes and 5 minutes later Jones - looking a lot sharper than last season - saw his header rebound off the bar. It wasn't all Saints though and time and time again we looked slow to react in the centre of midfield and defence. Kane and Kernaghan both looked off form and were beaten to the ball on several occassions. But at least with Jesus in goal we had some stability and he made some telling stops in the first half.
Saints had their first injury scare when Blaster went down clutching his knee after an innocuous challenge - it looked bad for a minute or two but he recovered OK. And Sylla took a knock in the face from one of the Clyde thugs towards the end of the half and in fact appeared with his arm strapped up after the break.
But before then he helped Saints go into a comfortable lead. The first goal came after 38 minutes when Sylla's through ball to Goalden Graeme on the right wing saw the striker square it for Craig Russell only to see a Clyde defender nick in and put the ball into his own net. It got better 3 minutes later when Hartley (who was my MoM for the night) broke down the right wing at pace and sent a cross into the box for Kane to head home.
Unfortunately the good work didn't continue into the 2nd half and in 50 minutes the Wegies pulled one back with a clear header from McLaughlin (who made a miraculous recovery from a near-death injury only moments earlier). 5 minutes later and the scores were even when Kanes fair tackle in the box was judged to be a penalty (strange how Hartley didn't get one in the first half). Main didn't stand a chance.
Sylla showed some good touches in defence but his temper got the better of him a couple of times and he was again involved in a tussle with an opposition forward. Meanwhile the rest of the side weren't much better with Russell proving he's no left winger and Weir, Kernaghan, Dasovic and Kane all suffering from a lack of pace.
St. Sandy put on Cuthbert and Kiegan for Main and Jones after 58 minutes and McCulloch for Russell after 70 minutes. But it didn't help much with Saints missing some chances in front of goal (Parker and Pope were the unlucky ones) and looking more and more disjointed as the game went on. Overall it wasn't great but it was difficult to see how much was due to too many games and how much down to the players not being that bothered for a friendly.
As I said my MoM was Hartley for his hard work all night on the right wing. Just as well really cos there was little attack from the left from Russell.
Still Sylla looked as classy as last weekend and we're still unbeaten.