Arabs 3 Saints 2 (aet)
Team: Cuthbert, McCluskey, Forsyth, Dasovic, Weir,
Dods, Murray, JR, Kiegan, MacDonald, Paddy
Subs Devlin, Kemble, Pope, Wacko, Free Wullie
Not the best of starts for the new manager. That is of course if he is the manager - going by the selection tonight it looked like Billy Kirkwood was still in charge. Still at least we managed to lead for the 90 minutes tonight - pity we didn't manage 3 more to allow the massive travelling support to leave happy instead of having to traipse out after losing to those tinks again.
We started with a 4-4-2 formation with McCluskey playing right-back, Murray in right midfield and JR on the left wing (nothing if not original eh?) whilst Pistol Pete and Kiegan made up the front pairing. It was a quiet enough start to the game with the greasy surface not exactly encouraging the sexy football we all hoped for. Saints seemed happy enough to play the long ball game with the punts from defence being chased down by the midfield and strikers although it was to little effect. Defensively we looked a bit more solid and for the first time in ages we were actually winning balls in the air.
And with 9 minutes only gone we took the lead with a classy goal. Some neat work by Murray and Kiegan on the right wing saw us win a throw. A quick 1-2 and Murray sent a low cross into the box where JR popped up to send a 15-yard volley into the net. We piled on the pressure with Pistol Pete (I refuse to go for this Peaso shit) sending a low cross in a minute later only to find a lack of blue shirts in the box. Then JR hit one of Saints' rare free kicks (as opposed to the Arabs who had the expertise of Tubby Millers antics to rely on) which was deflected out for a corner.
It wasn't all one way traffic though - Weir put in a last-ditch tackle to prevent a shot and then Chopper headed one off the line from an Arab corner. We were slack with the marking though and the 18th minute saw a corner break loose to Tubby on the edge of the box. He sent a low shot in which Cuthbert did well to save. The pressure told 5 minutes later though. We gave Partridge far too much room on the ball and his cross was headed in by Thompson who beat Dods to the ball to make it 1-1.
The game livened up though and the fouls started to go in a bit heavier with Partridge picking up the first yellow in 33 minutes for a high challenge that almost decapitated Murray. Two minutes later and the same player fouled Murray again on the right. JR took the free kick and sent a low cross in which was cleared to the left where Flash duly sent it back into the box where Dods (helped by an Arab) got the ball into the net. 2-1 us !!
The scores were almost levelled a couple of minutes later though when the Arabs broke up the park. Despite being miles offside, Thompson got into the box and sent a low shot in which Cuthbert palmed out into the path of Lilley only for him to send his header wide of the empty goal. Cap'n Jim was the next name into the book for a shirt-pull on Thompson (met with a cry of "Ref are you on the last of the Taleban heroin") but Saints couldn't stretch their lead despite a couple of good efforts from the Pistol and Kiegan and a JR shot that went just wide.
Second-half started with Saints on the attack and within a minute we could have made it 3-1 when a Pistol cross just failed to meet Paddy coming in at the back post. The game was still scrappy though and Tubby went into the book next for a foul on JR (not as though there's a history between the pair is it?). JR took the free kick and sent it into the box where Pistol controlled it and sent an overhead chip just over the bar. Worth a try anyway.
At the other end Cuthbert was flattened in the next Arabs attack but recovered after some treatment (which cost us later). He made a couple of good saves to keep us in the lead. With 25 minutes to go Free Wullie replaced the Pistol and to be honest this is where Saints started to falter as the lack of pace up front meant that we were defending deeper and failing to clear our lines or counterattack properly. Kiegan picked up the next booking for kicking the ball away as the game became more niggly with the ref failing to spot several handballs by the Arabs and the linesmen chipping in with some very dubious offside decisions.
Pope replaced Paddy for the last 15 minutes as we soaked up the pressure (including a bad knock to Flash which only added to the injury time). Thompson picked up a yellow for the umpteenth foul on Murray and whilst Cuthbert made a great block in the 89th minute and Saints tried to kill the game by putting Wacko on for Kiegan the killer blow came in the 3rd (and final) minute of injury time when a cross to the right saw Hamilton unmarked in the box and despite Cuthbert getting down well to save the ball had already crossed the line.
The reactions of the players as they waited for extra time to begin said it all with Weir and Flash looking more than a bit pissed off with things.
Unfortunately the momentum had gone and Saints looked a lot more tired at the start of extra time than the home side. It only took a few minutes of bad defending to let the Arabs send a long throw into the box which we didn't clear and Paterson headed into the net. We weren't out of it though and before changing ends a JR corner was just missed by Weir who was playing like a man possessed.
The problem though for the last 15 minutes was that for all the pressure we had we kept on trying to walk the ball into the net. Falconer was a waste of space and both JR and Murray looked done. The closest we came was a couple of chips into the box only for Free Wullie to be caught offside and then with 2 minutes to go another ball into the box saw JR blatantly held only for the ref to wave away the penalty claims. It was just that sort of night although we had Kevin Cuthbert to thank right at the death for keeping the score to 3-2 with a good block.
Definitely a better performance but the midfield isn't creative enough - although my MoM went to JR with Murray a close second. We possibly needed Wacko or Pope on from the start. Kiegan and Pistol are developing an understanding and should have been left on the park longer with Falconer totally useless. Perhaps it's time to bring in Russell and Rachid and let's see what they can do. As for the defence it looked a lot more solid. We won more of the ball even if we didn't do much with it afterwards. Weir played his best game in a while and Forsyth looked back to his old self. Cuthbert was excellent as well - even if we do get another keeper in before the weekend he possibly deserves to keep the jersey.
Ach well....Mickey Mouse tournament anyway.
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