TFOE 3 Saints 0 League Table Here
Team: Main, Murray, Flash, Pope, Dods, Kemble, Tommy,
MoMo, Kiegan, JR, Kane
Subs Cuthbert, Marco, Paddy, Rachid, Trialist who looked
like Cartman :-)
Some things never change. We play the favourites for the title in the first game of the season. We lose and we get abused on the way out the ground (apparently we're all Huns now according to the Buckie-quenching single brain-celled shellsuit-wearing moron on the way out). Oh yeah and we're bottom of the league.
But there is hope. For a start the away support were excellent in backing the boys all the way and shutting up the 57000 bigots ("One season wonders" was an excellent chant!!). And on the park the scoreline flatters the Forces of Evil. We were a much improved team on the one that finished last season and once the front guys are fit there's no reason to fear the cries of doom that are coming from the media about our future.
Wacko was missing so the Pope was recalled to the midfield in a shuffled line-up. Saints went for a 3-5-2 formation with Dods, Flash and Benny Kemble at the back whilst Murray, Kane and Pope packed the midfield. Tommy and JR moved to the wings with Kiegan and Le Mo up front. As expected once the flag-waving was out of the way the Evil Ones came at us in force. Plenty of force in fact with Sutton guilty of fouling Dods in the first minute (one of the few decisions that McCurry deigned to give us all day). The first 5 minutes saw Mjallby and Henprick have a couple of chances (with Main making a cracking save from the Tongued One) but we held firm and hit back. Some excellent control from Pope in midfield sent Sylla clear into the box and his curling effort forced Rab the Scab into action to tip it clear.
The game was end-to-end and being played at a fast pace with the Saints defence for once not sitting back and instead pressing the TFOE midfield. Pope, MoMo and Murray were all looking good and Benny looked like he'd been with Saints for years. Sellik were pressing though and Lennon missed a simple tap-in with Main gathering his sclaff. Then he had another good save from a Sutton header after the bigots won another dodgy free-kick.
At the other end all we had to show for some good work was a 40-yard MoMo shot which went wide - worth trying for the chance of humiliating the Scab though. We were under some pressure and Mjallby almost opened the scoring after his header went wide. But we had chances as well and the half-hour saw Kiegan break down the right-wing. He got to the bye-line and cut over only for Le Mo to see his shot saved and then fail to get the rebound as Scab floundered in the 6-yd box. Kept the 57000 TFOE fans quiet as well.
Unfortunately it wasn't for long and 5 minutes later after another couple of corners, Gorilla Thompson's cross went across the goalmouth for Petlip to knock back and Mjallby to head into the net. Frustrating to say the least. The rest of the half saw Saints mount a couple of attacks but only had a weak MoMo shot to show for it whilst at the other end the Gorilla sent a rocket of a shot just wide and Henprick saw a ball go across the goalmouth.
The second-half started fairly evenly with Saints holding their own. Henprick had a chance with 10 minutes gone when he turned Benny but his chip went wide. A couple of minutes later we nearly drew level when MoMo turned on the style on the right wing. Racing up the touchline he sent a neat cross into Kiegan who knocked it back for first Kano and then Pope to have a go only for their shots to be blocked.
You can guess what happened next - yup a break up the park with Nedboy Lambert on the right. He ran forward got the better of Flash and despite Main coming out the ball ended up in the net.
St. Sandy put on Rachid for Kiegan then with the striker having another frustrating afternoon. But with 17 minutes left we went further behind when a chip-cum-volley from Nedboy from the edge of the box found the net with Main stationary. Cue for the "most loyal fans in the world" to start walking out. Pathetic really. Saints were trying though.
Paddy came on for Pope who had a good game before McCurry decided he'd not been involved enough. First up Hartley picked up a yellow for a foul on Vanwhoren and then Rachid got the same treatment for about his first challenge when despite winning the ball (after Nedboy handled on the ground) McCurry booked him anyway. Still the Belly added some strength to the midfield with a couple of good runs and some neat passing play with Le Mo. If he can steer clear of trouble he'll be a good addition to the side. Lennon missed a sitter for TFOE and then in the last minute MoMo had a weak shot just tipped wide by the Scab.
Despite the scoreline there's no reason to feel too depressed. We were missing the final touch on a couple of occasions and there was a tendency to play the ball through the middle instead of using the wings (Tommy especially was clear a couple of times only for the ball to be sprayed to the right side of the park). Defensively Kemble and Dods had good games whilst Murray, Pope and Kane in midfield all played well. MoMo tired towards the end but showed the usual skills and managed to keep himself out of trouble. And my MoM Main made some excellent saves although the kicking still needs to be worked on.
So we're bottom of the league already. But as the manager said, the season starts for real next week....
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| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Dunfermline | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| Celtic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Rangers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Livingston | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Dundee | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Dundee United | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Hibs | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Kilmarnock | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Hearts | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Motherwell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Aberdeen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Saints | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
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