Temple Of Saints - Sexy and Unlucky

Scottish Premier League - 29/07/2000

TFOD 2 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team: Main,Sylla,Blaster,Weir,Kernaghan,Dasovic,Tommy,Parker,Jones, Pope,Kane
Subs: Cuthbert,Russell,Dods,Paddy,McCulloch

So it begins again. Sitting amongst the 200 or so optimists that are willing to give TFOD their hard-earned dosh to sit in an atmosphere of poison and bile as the season gets under way properly. Unfortunately Saints again failed to come away with anything from the Death Star though no doubt the pundits and journos will be dusting down the "Plucky Saints" headlines since for a change we went to Ibrox and attacked. Okay so we might not have gotten the result but for a large part of the game we ran the Huns ragged and with sexy football like this it's going to be a good season.

Sylla and Tommy came into the side and Weir managed to get a starting slot alongside the re-signed Cartman. Up front it was Kiegan who got the nod over Russell to play up the right wing.

The game itself got off to a fairly dull start with Saints more than holding their own but TFOD looking apathetic to say the least. Still within the first 10 minutes or so we'd forced a couple of corners with Jones and Parker combining well. And for a change when Pope took the kicks it looked like we were doing something constructive.

Of course with a sexy attacking style it meant we were a bit more open at the back and the Hun Hun missed a sitter in 10 minutes that was worthy of Gerry McMahon. For Saints new boys Sylla and Tommy were settling in well with the latter getting a testing time of it from the Hun Hun but holding his own (and his temper). TFOD had their first request for a penalty turned down in 13 minutes after Sylla made a fair challenge - shows how rusty they were that it took them that long to waken up the ref. It didn't matter cos a couple of minutes later the bigots were silenced.

Saints won a free-kick just outside the box. Up steps Blaster and Kane but the latter sends the ball into the box. It's headed back across goal for Goalden Graeme to try an overhead kick. It didn't quite come off but came to the legendary Father Dougal who blasted a volley into the net. Cue stunned silence then Saints fans going mental.

For a period afterwards, Saints were in charge with Kane Dasovic and Pope running the show in the middle and TFOD bereft of ideas. In fact they resorted to cheating as usual and Main had to look sharp to save a shot from Andrei the Bread Queuer who managed to get away with a foul on Blaster to get the shot in. The game had livened up now and TFOD were putting in some good shots although Wallace's header was a soft one for Main to gather easily and he sclaffed an open goal. Then we had a Hun Hun free kick which Main saved brilliantly.

At the other end, some excellent build-up play by Saints saw a Sylla cross just missed by Tommy with Klos nowhere.

Second-half saw Vidmar replaced by McCann and he was immediately in action giving Sylla a hard time of it - it didn't stop the new cult hero doing a cheeky backheel across the Saints defence to remind the bigots who was controlling the game though. As the game wore on though the ref began to have more of an influence. Despite Jones being fouled constantly it was TFOD that seemed to get the benefit of any 50-50 decisions. Although they did pick up their first bookings with Ricksen and the Bread Queuer booked for fouling Tommy and Blaster.

55 minutes gone though and it started to go wrong. With Dasovic off getting treatment the ref changed the rules to allow play to continue rather than let the player return to the park (as Van Dickhorse was in the first half). A break up the park and Jug-Eared Billy put the ball past Main. With Kane, Dasovic and Bollan all protesting wildly Saints managed to shoot themselves in the foot.

A lack of concentration from the restart and 2 minutes later we were behind as Jug-Eared Billy put the ball past a slow to react Jesus again.

We weren't out of it by any means though and Saints came back into the game to cause some problems of their own. Tommy had an excellent shot just tipped over by Klos and a series of corners saw shots blocked by a packed TFOD defence. It wasn't all Saints though and in defence Cartman put in a last-ditch block to prevent a TFOD third and McCann hit the crossbar with a flukey cross.

St. Sandy put on Jack Russell for Kiegan in 70 minutes - Parker looks good but he's still a bit lightweight and had tired visibly in the second half. With the introduction of Russell he went to the left wing and Tommy to the right which isn't the best formation. Saints by now were looking a bit tired and the tactic of lobbing balls forward from the centre of defence just meant Craporuso looked semi-decent as he cleared them.

The last 10 minutes saw more pressure though. Paddy came on for Tommy and had a good spell on the right wing including a goal chalked off for offside. Bollan was fouled on the edge of the box in 86 minutes and Pope took the resultant free-kick which saw Russell and Jones come close with shots only for the ref to decide that it was getting dangerous for TFOD so he blew for a foul on Klos.

Overall it was as good a performance as Saints have put in at Ibrox that I can remember. We deserved at least a draw. Defensively we look sound enough and the midfield trio of Kane, Dasovic and Pope played some nice passing with the latter looking good for the whole 90 minutes. Tommy was a bit quiet on the wings and he wasn't used as much as I'd have liked but Jones and Parker both looked good if a little slow.

We may not have won today but playing like this for the coming season and we'll easily repeat the feats of the last few years. Sexy fitba's back !!

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