Saints 0 Scumdee 1 League Table Here
Team: Cuthbert, Dods, Tommy, Murray, Weir, Panther,
Lynch, Pope, Jones, Paddy, JR
Subs Devlin, Maher, Parker, Peaso, Forsyth
Before today's match the manager in his infinite wisdom said that the team that would take the park against the Scum would be pretty much the first team for next season's First Division campaign. Even in the programme notes we had his bit about how much he realises the importance of this game to the fans and the need to give us something to cheer about. All I can say is that it's just a pity nobody seemed to tell the players that - this was easily one of the worst Saints performances of the season. A side lacking ideas, interest or worst of all any sense of pride.
The signs were there from the start of course. A dodgy kick-off time and Sky in attendance along with Scumdee being the visitors probably were enough in the way of bad omens. But then we have a Saints side unbeaten for the last 2 games being tinkered with yet again by the manager. Murray dropped back to defence and JR (one of our more natural right-sided players) was through the middle but playing far, far too deep to make any real contribution. And as for Pope and his attempts to win a new deal - back to square one there I'm afraid.
With a crowd which was doing their best to get behind Saints and a really sparse away fans (obviously the trade in satellite TV systems off the back of a lorry in Dens Rd has been brisk this week) the match started fairly evenly. It took until the 6th minute for us to make any real impression when Panther slipped a neat ball through to JR only for his low drive to be saved by Spaghetti in goal - and despite the Scumdee keeper letting the ball drop there was no blue shirt to follow up. A sign of the times these days.
Three minutes later Jones clashed with a Scum defender and the ball was chipped over the bar in what would have been a classic own goal. Then Lynch had a shot blocked, before the same player made a good tackle in the box at the other end to prevent a shot. It's annoying to say though that he contributed as little as last week and with Stark confirming that he'll be heading back south in the summer you have to ask why we're persisting with playing him.
Defensively we looked solid enough with Cuthbert on form and dealing comfortably with all the crosses and half-shots including a good effort from Sara. But overall the game was as bad as we expected and for the pro-OF media luvvies it was more ammo to the "OF are the only reason for live TV" argument. JR had a decent shot well held but we were struggling to piece any attacks together with the midfield sitting too deep and the strike pairing lacking any pace to cause much damage especially with Scumdee playing the offside trap.
Our best chance came 10 minutes before the break when Pope sent a good ball wide right to Jones. He ran into the box and cut inside his marker before sending a neat chip towards the top left corner only for Spaghetti to pull off a cracking save and tip the ball wide. From the corner Jones and Dods missed close changes, the ball broke wide back to JR and his cross in saw Jones miss an easy header and send the ball wide. Cuthbert was busier after that with a good save from a long-range shot and then right on the break the home fans were finally given some entertainment when a Scumdee shot went well wide of the goal yet the entire 50 or so tinks in the North stand leapt out of their seats and cheered as though they'd heard the EU hygiene rules had been relaxed.
For the 2nd half Pope was replaced by Kiegan with Paddy dropping back to the midfield. The game was still dire though with neither side looking that bothered or hungry. Artero had a good shot 8 minutes after the start with Cuthbert doing well to tip the ball over. We were limited to a couple of corners at the other end with our best effort being a Panther shot that was blocked and a Jones header which was well saved from a Tommy cross.
The Great Dane put in another cross just before the hour mark to Kiegan who forced a defender to header over. From the corner Weir had a header and Paddy saw a miss cleared. The ball broke left to Tommy and he broke into the box and hit a narrow-angled drive just wide of the post. The game was still dire and it took a Jones clearance in our 6yd box to start the next break with Kiegan running up the left. He squared the ball to the unmarked JR but he held on too late and instead of shooting was forced to go wide and cross the ball into the box for Kiegan to volley into the keepers hands.
But if you want to sum up the Saints afternoon a 30-yard free kick with 20 minutes to go after Jones was fouled covers it nicely. With Ketsbaia (cunningly disguised as Rowbotham in a refs strip) failing to force the Scumdee wall back the necessary 10 yards, JR when he took the kick was blinded by the nits and fleas from the wall and then closed down - absolutely farcical. We had a half-hearted claim for a penalty turned down when Lee Wilkie pulled Jones down for the umpteenth time and then Scumdee almost scored when Cuthbert let his concentration slip and a tink nicked in to kick the ball from his hands at a goal kick only to miss the target.
But with 10 minutes to go a Scumdee corner into the box saw the Saints defence sleeping and Milne tap the ball in from 3 yards out - 1-0 them, the fleas get woken up as their owners cheer in the North Stand and the clouds of gloom get worse. Cuthbert made a cracking save a minute later when Milne broke through and another from Artero from the resulting corner. Stark put Maher on for Panther but we were just out of ideas. Kiegan was through in the last minute but too wide and when he sent the ball over Maher forced a corner from which Murray came close with a powerful header but really we were well out of it.
MoM for me was Cuthbert again with only Tommy, Panther and Weir deserving of any credit - the others were playing too much out of position to make any impact or just far too poor. And it's these sort of performances where the players can't even show any pride in the club or their own abilities that more than anything make you wonder if they are good enough even for the 1st Division.
Still only 270 more minutes of agony to endure.
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| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Celtic | 35 | 31 | 3 | 1 | 88 | 16 | 96 |
| Rangers | 35 | 24 | 8 | 3 | 78 | 26 | 79 |
| Livingston | 35 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 43 | 41 | 52 |
| Aberdeen | 35 | 15 | 7 | 13 | 47 | 46 | 52 |
| Hearts | 35 | 13 | 6 | 16 | 47 | 50 | 45 |
| Dunfermline | 35 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 39 | 56 | 44 |
| Kilmarnock | 35 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 38 | 48 | 45 |
| Dundee | 35 | 12 | 7 | 16 | 38 | 50 | 43 |
| Dundee United | 35 | 11 | 8 | 16 | 35 | 56 | 41 |
| Hibs | 35 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 44 | 54 | 34 |
| Motherwell | 35 | 9 | 7 | 19 | 42 | 62 | 34 |
| Saints | 35 | 5 | 5 | 25 | 24 | 58 | 20 |
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