Temple Of Saints - Rubbish

Scottish Premier League - 07/04/2001

Well 1 Saints 0 League Table Here

Team: Main,McClune,Forsyth,Weir,Kernaghan,Dasovic,Tommy,Marco, Nathan,JR,MoMo
Subs: Cuthbert,Kiegan,Kane,McCluskey,Crozier

Before the game today there were plenty of comments in the papers how this wasn't really a meaningless match and there was a lot of pride still to play for. Well after being charged 16 quid for that pile of crap on the park today someone needs to take the team aside and explain just what "playing for pride" actually means.

It's not even as though there were major changes to the side that turned on the sexy football last week with Marco coming in for the injured Pope the only change on the park whilst Kane and McCluskey came in on the bench as Frail dropped out. Oh yeah and Father Dougal could do with a bigger pair of shorts - maybe that explains his totally lethargic 90 minutes.

The opening stages gave us a pretty good idea of the rubbish that was in store. Motherwell started well enough and threatened Main's goal with a couple of early shots whilst the ref decided to back the home side and even Weir's shoulder charges counted against him. Father Dougal picked up the first of several knocks in the 8th minute when a bad foul saw him land awkwardly on his ankle. Still at least from the free kick a long ball forward (and boy we just loved those long balls today) found JR cutting in from the right wing only for his low drive to go well wide.

Weir had our next chance when after MoMo was fouled, a JR free kick saw the skipper head just wide. But these were about our only chances and as Well pressed forward more and more it became panic stations in the Saints defence with all the back four seemingly content to clear the ball rather than use any of the creative players. Mind you MoMo looked off form today and Tommy and JR were hardly given the ball whilst Nathan struggled to shake off his marker or lay the ball off properly.

Main was in action though - first a shot saved from Nicholas and then after the Well forward saw one of his attacks thwarted by an excellent last-ditch tackle by Flash (as Cartman struggled to keep up with play and get back in time), the Saints keeper tried to do a Blobby Rhodes halfway through the first period. Adams broke down the right wing and Main came to meet him. Out on the edge of the box he tries to tackle the player only for the wee diver to skin past him and sent the ball across an empty goalmouth.

It wasn't the end of it though and from the resultant corner Elliot rose seemingly unmarked to head the ball in although to be fair Troy McClune on the line was unfortunate not to block the shot. Adams was in the thick of it 5 minutes later as well when a nasty kick on Father Dougal saw the defender off the park for treatment (and IMHO should never have come back on). At the other end a good break from Nathan saw the ball sent out to Tommy on the left. He got to the bye line and put a good cross into the box. JR missed it and the ball broke to MoMo only for him to send it sky-high and off the roof of the stand. That probably summed up Saints performance.

The second-half was a bit better from Saints with the players at least willing to run about a bit. Unfortunately the ref had obviously decided on the winner and several times blatant fouls on JR and Le Mo went unpunished. Saints put some good moves together but far, far too often the last ball caused a problem and we posed little danger even when we did get into the box.

Our best chance came 10 minutes into the half. Tommy got the break of the ball with a header, MoMo took it and went on a mazy run before slipping a neat pass to Nathan on the right. But the Ginger Bomber left it too late and the shot was blocked. On the hour JR managed his first decent run down the right wing - a good cutback to Nathan at the near post saw him crowded out. A tap pass though broke to Dasovic on the edge of the box and his shot was only just deflected wide.

Kiegan came on to replace JR and there was an immediate increase in the pace up front. MoMo sent a free kick in and Flash at the back post saw a header go just wide. Kane replaced Marco next and with 20 minutes to go, Tommy and Flash combined well on the left. The cross came in and Caveman Strong blatantly handballed. Ref points to the spot but refuses to even book the Well player. Now to me that implies he didn't believe it to be deliberate handball - therefore it's not a penalty. Anyway the fury was compounded when MoMo stepped up only to see his kick saved by Woods. The ball went out for a corner and from it Cap'n Jim put in a decent header which the keeper saved.

After that the game went badly downhill. Kiegan was warned for diving by the ref after some bad fouls on him whilst the Well no 5 got away with the "Being Crippled On The Edge Of The Box But Still Able To Sprint The Length Of The Pitch A Minute Later" Oscar. The last 10 minutes were just desperation. McCluskey came on for MoMo and Kernaghan went up front. Oh yes and let's hear it for the Saints fans that applauded and cheered MoMo going off. Sure he was crap today but that sort of "support" is the sort that sees these players leave the club at the first opportunity. Anyway needless to say we had a few scrambles in the goalmouth but the fates and ref went against us.

MoM was easy enough to pick - Flash Forsyth put in plenty of effort and tackling over the 90 and easily stood out. Marco and Troy played well along with Kiegan whilst Tommy was back to being the boo-boys favourite target. Kernaghan, JR and Lowndes were all far too poor though and the whole team looked like they couldn't wait for the end of the season.

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