Temple Of Saints - Same old Story

Scottish Premier League - 19/01/2002

TFOE 2 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team: Miller, Murray, Falconer, Kane, Dods, McCluskey, Lynch, JR, Rachid, Russell, Marco
Subs Cuthbert, Paddy, McClune, Peaso, Jones

It's hard to describe this one - it had to be one of the most depressing and boring games against either half of Wegielands favourite sons with both sides seemingly content with the scoreline which was unchanged from the 11th minute on. Sure we huffed and puffed but for all the effort and skill shown by the individual Saints players on the day there is still a real feeling that we just can't play as a team with the number of stray passes and flicks on looking worse as the weeks go by.

With Nick on international duty Paul Kane returned to the side whilst in defence, Marco McCulloch was given a start as the left wing-back and Rachid played up front alongside Russell. The subs bench saw a welcome return for Goalden Graeme.

From the start Saints looked nervous on what was a pretty dreadful and soggy playing surface. As early as the 2nd minute Miller made a good save from Moravprick who when he wasn't diving was the most dangerous Celtic player. But it all changed in the 6th minute. Rachid won a good free kick on the right hand side. The ball was sent across the park and knocked in by Hartley for Darren Dods to leap majestically up at the far post and send a looping header past Rab Douglas and into the net to make it 1-0 Saints and send all 100 of the travelling support crazy.

Unfortunately 3 minutes later and some very poor defending as Saints sat back and let Lambert advance unchallenged saw him slip the ball to Larsson in the box and he put a good shot past Miller to make it 1-1. And to make things worse two minutes later we went behind when Kano and Moravcik clashed with the Celtic player going down far, far too easily. Up dragged the knuckles of Thompson 20 yards out to send a good shot round the wall only for it to take a nasty bounce a couple of yards out and seem to go through Miller's hands and into the net. Time for the "best fans in the world" (aye right) so start singing.

From then on Saints struggled to get some moves together. Murray tried a run on the quarter hour mark but lost possession as too often Saints players lacked any support for the attacks - surely it's not too much to ask for the other blue shirts to try and move into clear space? A minute later Kane picked up the first yellow for dissent after another clash (and dive) from Moravcik - and despite the ref signalling the dive there was no card for the TFOE player.

The defence was solid enough although Miller made a good save from Larsson. Goalmouth action was at a premium though. We forced a couple of corners without creating any real chances but at the other end Kane lost the ball at left back and let Celtic in to get a cross over which Larsson blasted over the bar.

Saints had a decent chance in the 25th minute when free kick on the right was sent to Craig Russell at the bye line and his cutback was just missed by Rachid only for Douglas to grab the ball at his feet. The Algerian missed another chance 5 minutes later when a good break by Hartley, Marco and Rachid ended in his shot going wide.

That was about it for the first half in terms of action. We did have the entertainment of Petrov diving, Miller managing one of the worst sclaff clearances in years but making amends with a good save from Larsson despite both the Swede and the Welsh Teletubby being offside.

Second half started as badly for us with TFOE getting the ball in the net within a couple of minutes only to be ruled offside. But to be honest the game was pretty dull and poor with the first real piece of controversy coming 5 minutes into the half when Rachid and Tebily clashed and as expected Rachid went into the book.

Three minutes later and another of our defensive "strategies" was easily dealt with. A Celtic corner and as usual we had 11 men in the box so it was played to a TFOE player on the edge of the box and with all the time in the world, his shot went just over the bar. We nearly drew level just after that though when a Celtic goal kick wasn't cleared properly by Tebily and his pals and Rachid was able to nick in and send a first time low drive which Douglas did well to hold.

The hour mark saw Troy McClune come on for Marco (despite Marco having a fairly solid game on the left). McClune went into the middle and Grant Murray dropped back to defence. It didn't really improve things and the game was still dire with Saints unable to string more than a couple of passes together.

In fact it took until the 72nd minute before Rachid won us our first corner of the half - the ball went straight to the keeper though. We did manage a few minutes pressure though and might have pulled one back if Murray on the left wing had taken a shot when he picked up a cross in the box. Instead he elected to cut the ball back across goal only for it to go behind the Saints strikers. Even Hartley was off form with a long-range shot going well over the bar.

Of course by this time the "best fans in the world" had all begun to head for the exits (I mean it's not as though there was THAT long to go) with a certain nameless Saints fan observing "Aye that's them away to get the tatties on" (you probably had to be there).

With 15 minutes left TFOE broke up the park but Miller pulled off a great save from Larsson. Paddy came on for Russell and Jones for Kane for the last 10 minutes, with the latter making more of an impact and allowing us to win some balls in the air. We didn't have much in the way of chances though with the best one being a McClune cross into the box which Rachid headed down to Hartley only for him to shoot over the bar. At the other end the defence looked OK although one TFOE break saw a long range rocket come back off the crossbar.

In the end it's hard to say that we deserved anything from the game despite taking the lead. Saints aren't playing like a team just now although it's obvious that there is plenty of skilled individuals in the side. MoM for me was close between Hartley and Dods but the latter just shades it for putting in a good shift in defence and getting a great goal to give us some hope.

So we still have some hope...just not a lot.

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