Temple Of Saints -

Scottish Premier League - 22/12/2001

Saints 0 Hibs 0 League Table Here

Team: Miller, Murray, Flash, Fotheringham, Dods, McCluskey, Tommy, JR, Russell, Rachid, Kane
Subs Cuthbert, Dasovic, Peaso, Paddy, Falconer

Yet another good gutsy performance by the team with several changes both enforced and tactical. And we managed a clean sheet for the first time in ages. Hopefully Santa will bring the strikers some scoring boots for Xmas and we can finally turn the corner. As it stands just now there is some hope but there is still a long way to go.

With Weir and Lynch ruled out through injury, McCluskey returned to the Saints side and was joined by Martyn Fotheringham who gained a deserved start. His surprise companion in midfield was Kano with Nick dropping to the bench alongside Paddy who lost out in favour of Craig Russell.

As for the game itself it was pretty dire with only the odd flash of creativity, entertainment or goalmouth action. A really slow start saw stray passes everywhere. We had some initial pressure but were unable to turn it into any clear chances. Hibs forced some corners but couldn't gain an advantage and the first real chance came to Saints in the 7th minute when Rachid let a counterattack. He managed to get his shot across the goalmouth. Russell went wide and sent a cross back in which Tommy missed then Russell had his follow-up shot blocked.

There wasn't much else in terms of action with the Saints defence, whilst looking solid (apart form Miller's inability to deal with crosses) seemed happy to settle for punting the ball up the park to Rachid and Russell who lost out on height to the Hibs defenders. The midfield was slow getting going as well. Fotheringham and Hartley pressed forward when they could but with JR in the middle we relied on Murray playing as a wing-back on the right and Tommy on the left with the latter having a poor game as he seemed happy to sit back rather than get forward. As for the veteran in midfield Kane seemed OK initially but struggled with the pace of Brebner and O'Neil and by the half-hour looked done.

We had a couple of long-range efforts from Russell and Fotheringham around the 30 minute mark as we began to put some pressure on the away goal. Rachid broke through as well only for his shot to be deflected wide and then JR had a snap volley from the edge of the box go over the bar.

And then 4 minutes before the break, JR put together a great run through the middle. He sent the ball out to Russell on the right but his cutback across the box was just missed by Rachid. Then the roles were reversed with the Belly setting up Russell only for him to miss the ball completely.

Second-half was a different story though with Hibs starting faster and looking hungrier. Five minutes into the half it took a great Miller save at a corner from a near post header, and along with the crossbar we managed to survive. Then a minute later Miller made a good save from Brebner as Hibs piled on the pressure. For a change though we had luck as well as a decent defence (with Dods and Forsyth both outstanding) and it intervened when Arpignon blazed a good chance over the bar from 10 yards in 55 minutes. A minute later Russell, who was pretty poor after the break was replaced by Paddy.

Saints had their first chance of the half a few minutes later when JR (who's looking great in the centre of midfield now) broke to the edge of the box. Unfortunately he sent a weak shot towards Colgan (who made the timewasting antics of Gordon Marshall look amateur today) when the better option was perhaps the unmarked Rachid on the right. At the other end Arpignon managed to look just as bad by sending a header over the bar although how he managed to get into such a position without a Saints defender noticing his presence amazed me. We had a couple of good breaks including one where it was 4 against 3 only for Saints to take too long in getting the ball into the box.

Tommy was replaced by Peaso and the left wing started to look a lot more dangerous with the Rangers-daft sub putting some good balls into the box. For the most part we were under pressure with Hibs winning a seemingly unending series of corners. The confidence of the home fans wasn't helped by Miller's failure to catch a cross all day although the rest of the defence was solid enough.

McCluskey picked up the only booking of the game with 15 minutes left. With 5 minutes to go Kane was finally taken off (after totally fading from the game in the 2nd half) and Nick took over and our best chance came a minute later when we won a free kick 25 yards out. A tap from Peaso to JR and he let rip with a cracking shot which brought out an equally good save from Colgan.

MoM for me was Hartley - along with Fotheringham and Rachid he was the source of most of our creativity and attacks. But the defence too deserves a lot of credit with all 4 at the back looking in good form. If we can get the rest of the midfield and attack in a similar spirit by Wednesday then there might just be some hope.

At least the Xmas turkey won't be too depressing...

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