Temple Of Saints - Bugger

Scottish Premier League - 16/12/2000

HIVBees 2 Saints 0 League Table Here

Team: Main,Dods,Bollan,Weir,McCluskey,McCulloch,Dasovic,Kane, Paddy,Parker,Pope
Subs: Cuthbert,JR,O'Neill,Frail,Russell

So the unbeaten run ends and unfortunately even allowing for some strange refereeing decisions (I mean imagine a game where Stuart Dougal is reluctant to flash a card!) Saints struggled to piece together any attacks of note. Still there was enough of a sign in the performance to show that Saints are not totally off the boil. With Blaster returning from suspension he replaced MoMo in an otherwise unchanged side. It meant BoBo and Marco on the left whilst Forrest Gump was shifted out to the right.

Things got off to a decent enough start and we won a couple of free kicks in the opening 10 minutes. Bollan's effort was blocked by a wall of green but Kane at least managed to get a save out of Colgan.

The game was fairly even at this time although Dasovic and Kane were having to work hard to contain Del (diving little git that he has become) and Lotopee. We were also looking a bit lethargic in defence with far too often the Saints players failing to clear their lines cleanly. On the plus side though Pope looked good going forward and seems to be building a decent understanding with Kiegan and Paddy although both strikers (especially Paddy) were struggling to get past the Hibs defence. And Pope was singled out for attention with a couple of bad tackles including a nasty one from behind by Sauzee (not the cleanest of players) which saw the Frenchman and the Ginger git of a manager throwing tantrums at the ref.

Saints were under some pressure though and Hibs came close in 17 minutes with a header which went just wide. Just after that Paddy picked up the first Saints yellow of the day for a kick from behind - a bit harsh when you think of the challenges that Mixedup Pantyliner was getting away with. We were making some chances though and a neat ball from Kane to Kiegan saw the youngster get to the byeline. Unfortunately he was a bit greedy and whilst a simple cutback might have worked, he lost possession. It also showed just how much we missed Sylla with far too often Saints failing to create any moves up the wings - Marco had some runs but wasn't able to create anything, whilst on the right we had no one there meaning Kiegan was forced wide time and time again.

Hibs began to come back into the game and despite some panicky defending Main still had to look good to save a Laursen shot and then tip a Lotopee shot wide. Our luck didn't hold though and with 5 minutes to go to the break, a failure to clear our lines and Bollan out of position saw Lovell get the ball on the left and send a curving chip past Main.

Cue for the discipline in the side to go with Weir and Pope having a major barney before the match restarted and then McCluskey picking up a yellow card for tackling Pantyliner.

Second-half started in the same way with Dods picking up a booking. A free-kick saw Weir send a header wide whilst Sauzee was allowed to throw another couple of tantrums unpunished. Main made another great block before St. Sandy changed things with McCulloch being replaced by JR.

Just after the hour mark a nice through ball to Paddy saw him lay the ball off for Kiegan who got into the box and send a neat chip goalwards which Colgan had to stretch to tip over. Kiegan was coming in for a lot of attention though and 10 minutes later he was cruelly brought down by a Fenwick elbow in the face - should have been a straight red card but Dougal settled on a yellow (like I said weird game for him).

We had some pressure but little to show for it except for a Paddy volley over the bar. Of course that meant the sucker punch was still to come and a wasteful free-kick on the Hibs left saw a quick ball into the box and an unmarked Pantyliner head into the net to make it 2-0.

Michael O'Neill came on for Pope who had a good game and Saints tried to get back into the game. Some neat balls on the ground from midfield helped but only a Dasovic shot which was blocked and a Bollan effort over the bar came close. There was still plenty of controversy though with a Fenwick hack on Kiegan going unpunished as Dougal twigged that two yellows mean red.

Overall we were unlucky to go behind originally but for too long we were unable to create anything in the box. I believe that there's too much being asked of Kiegan these days. He was my MoM for his running and workrate (oops a Sturrockism slipped in there) but perhaps a fit Nathan will be able to take on some of his workload. Pope had a good game though and should keep his place. It would be nice to see JR get a run in the side as well and it'll be great to see MoMo back next week - he was badly missed.

This Match Report is copyright Temple Of Saints - not to be reused without permission. Contact webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk.

Remember to vote on todays ref Stuart Dougal send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk or just select a rating and press the button below ::

Saints Index Fixtures Index Grange Index

Any problems / comments mail webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk