Temple Of Saints - Robbed

Scottish Premier League - 03/11/2001

Saints 1 Cheating TFOE 2 League Table Here

Team: Miller, Murray, Tommy, Dasovic, Kemble, Dods, Lynch, JR, Kiegan, Paddy, Falconer
Subs Cuthbert, Pope, MacDonald, Russell, Rachid

Christ Almighty how angry is it possible to feel after what is laughingly called a "sport". Well suffice to say that after what was shown by our opposition today, it's now open season for every team in the SPL to feel free to dive, cheat, foul, handball, bribe the ref and do whatever the fuck they feel like to get a result against these bigots. And if that wee leprechaun shite tries to have a wee whinge at the media all I can say is that he who lives by the dive deserves every fucking thing he gets. Of course no doubt we can expect the usual plethora of plaudits towards "plucky" etc Saints (choose your own tabloid comment) but at the end of the day a combination of very poor refereeing and a fourth official's wife who could only afford to buy him a cheap Mickey Mouse crappy watch from the Barras for Xmas (designed for TFOE fans everywhere to ensure that sufficient injury time is added on to ensure they score) meant that again we've got fuck all to show for what was 95+ minutes of all out effort from the boys - and that's what sticks in the throat most of all.

The changes were rung with Free Wullie and Kemble returning from exile to replace Chopper and Pope with the latter dropping to the bench. McClune also slipped out of the frame with Rachid (yup he does exist) making an appearance. Formation-wise we went for the weird with Falconer lining up alongside Kemble and Dods in a 3-man defence whilst Paddy and Kiegan played up front in a 5-3-2 side.

From the start the game was played at a hectic pace and in the 2nd minute we should have taken the lead when Bet Lynch went on a great run through the middle. He squared the ball in the box to Tommy running in from the left only for the Great Dane to put the ball just wide. Tommy and Paddy combined well a minute later to put a neat cross into the box which was missed. TFOE's first real attack didn't happen till the 10th minute when Agathe managed to get plenty of room on the right. He sent a good cross into the middle but Henprick missed his shot.

Saints were keeping the pressure on and the difference with the amount of tackling being done by all the side meant that we didn't give the bigots a chance to sing a pro-terrorist chant. Kiegan took a nasty knock to his foot and after some treatment, he eventually left the park to be surprisingly replaced by Rachid with the Algerian moving up front. Unfortunately not long after Saints looked to have shot themselves in the foot. Petrov broke down the right, running as if the ghost of Willie Ormond was at his back, sent a harmless cross into the 6-yard box where Darren Dods put a great diving header into the net.

Expecting the worst, Saints managed to get back into the game and in 26 minutes, a JR corner was headed into the net by Dods, with the player now totally forgiven by the Saints support and the bigoted morons in the away stands shut up. We came under some pressure and TFOE resorted to their charming sporting ways with Petlip diving on the edge of the box for a free kick (see what Juve taught them?). Saints were holding their own though and managed to piece together some neat passing moves with Paddy, Rachid, Tommy and JR at the heart of most of them whilst Lynch and Murray on the right were pressing from that side. JR saw a free kick into the box knocked clear for Nick to send a 25-yard shot which Scabby Rabby managed to hold.

Obviously this was going against the SPL / Wegie Grand Plan and Dougie MacDonald decided to ensure that TFOE had it a bit easier with JR and Paddy allowed to be kicked, bundled, shoved off the ball at every opportunity whilst the merest hint of Petrov dropping saw a foul given...obviously that invisible ghostly curse playing up again. There were plenty of chances at both ends before the break - Kemble had a header cleared off TFOE's goal line whilst Nick and Miller combined to clear a scramble at the other end. Of course no game against either of the Wegie bigots would be complete without a big-money signing to laugh at and let's hear it for Hartson. Not content with being Welsh he gave us plenty more hilarity with his wonderful attempts to kick the ball before the break. Training lesson for next week will be to ensure foot makes contact with ball.

Second-half started just as lively with the ref and linesman (especially on the West Stand side) being just as shite. Paddy was first to be held by Sutton but no foul was given then a Lynch run ended up in Mjallby hauling him down only for a similar negative response from the ref. The game was going from end-to-end and a good build-up on the left from Paddy and Bet saw the latter send a good cross into the box only for JR to just miss out with a header.

The ref banged his head about this time (how else can you explain the sudden outbreak of common sense that prevailed) and Petta (diving...surprise, surprise eh LeprechaunMan?) and Petrov were booked although the latter should have had the red card shown given that raising your hands to an opponent is deemed a sending-off offence. Still MacDonald was consistent with Taffy Hartson getting a similar yellow for shoving Dods later on.

Saints were creating some of their best chances now and in 64 minutes we should have taken the lead when Tommy and JR combined on the left to set up Paddy in the box only for Lazarus to take too long on the ball and let Vanwhoren clear. At the other end Henprik and Taffy both missed chances as TFOE tried to break us down. We were guilty of defending too deep but there was a lot of tired legs by now.

With 12 minutes to go JR and Rachid combined well and forced a couple of corners. Then our best chance came a couple of minutes later when Tommy and Paddy combined well on the left, Tommy sent a low shot across goal which Rachid just failed to make contact with. Peaso replaced Paddy at this time. The last few minutes saw TFOE pile on the pressure with Saints hitting on the break. With the home fans whistles on the go with a minute to go we cleared the ball off the line.

Then it was time for Mickey Mouse to come into play with the 4th official somehow finding 3 minutes injury time. Given there had only been 3 subs in the 2nd half and no injuries you've just got to question the SPL rules. Of course with Saints battling on MacDonald managed to play 5 minutes injury time, the last of which saw Dasovic unfairly penalised for a 50-50 challenge on the edge of the box..and well you can guess the rest. Suffice to say that for the only time that day Kemble wasn't marking Henprik so he sent a curving kick round the wall and into the net to waken up the TFOE bigots that were still in the ground. Anger doesn't even begin to describe the feelings at the time and it was plain that the same emotions were shared by the Saints players and managers with protests continuing up to the final whistle (which amazingly came quick enough after the goal). A total disgrace.

As for Saints we played out of our skins and deserved the three points never mind one. All the players put in a good performance with Kemble and Falconer more than playing their part in defence, JR and Dasovic good in midfield and Paddy and Rachid excellent up front (Rachid has earned his starting jersey now IMHO). MoM for me though goes to Tommy - despite one miss late on he ran his arse off for 90 minutes and made plenty of good runs up the wing. Sort of thing we've been looking for, for the last year really.

All I can hope though is that next week the players remember how cheated they were today and make bloody sure that Killie don't get the chance to put us in that position again.

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