Temple Of Saints - Goodbyeee

Scottish Premier League - 12/05/2002

Saints 0 Hibs 1 League Table Here

Team: Cuthbert, McClune, Tommy, Murray, Dods, McCluskey, Marco, Peaso, Paddy, Hartley, Panther
Subs Devlin, Maher, Fotheringham, Kiegan, Ferry

Well if this is the basis for next season it's safe to say that there's a lot of work to be done over the next 10 weeks or so if we're to have a hope in hell of getting out of the First Division in one year. And a wee message for Mr Stark - either get the strikers spending the summer in goalscoring camp or else buy someone who has managed to grasp the concept of winning games by putting the ball (wee round white thing for the benefit of some Saints players) in the net (bit between the posts). The management can go on all they want about good performances and positive things to take from the game but the fact is yet again we lost purely due to our inability to put the ball into the net.

Last game of the season meant the usual runout for the kids. Graeme Jones missed out due to breaking his arm in training on Friday and Flash was undergoing knee surgery. It meant Peaso coming into the side and Fotheringham and Ferry getting places on the bench. Apart from that it was the usual 4-4-2 line-up with Marco playing in front of Tommy and Panther on the right wing whilst the right winger JR was in the middle.

With only just over 3000 in the ground and the majority of those being away fans it was never going to be the most atmospheric of games. To be fair though, we did start well enough and in 3 minutes Peaso saw a header go wide as he was ruled offside for the first of many occasions. Two minutes later Tommy sent Peaso through and he slipped the ball to Paddy who was just too slow in reaching a 50-50 ball with the Hibs keeper. At the other end Danquin of the Hibs missed a total sitter when the Saints defence was posted missing.

Saints were having a good chunk of the possession but were unable to find the final ball. Panther sent Peaso through only for him to shoot wide and then another ball from the latest "Rangers-daft" Saints youngster (copyright the News of the Screws interview this morning with Manny) saw Peaso head the ball down for JR only for him to shoot over. Hibs had some chances as well with Cuthbert saving an Orman shot and then following up with a good save from O'Connor The Hyped.

The half hour saw another good double save from Brewster and then O'Connor The Hyped missed a total sitter. Saints meanwhile pressed on and Paddy was sent through by JR but elected to shoot rather than pass to the unmarked Hartley - of course the weak shot was easily held.

The deadlock was broken 3 minutes before the interval when a Hibs break down the left saw Murray, McCluskey and Dods fail to cover the unmarked Townsley who ran onto a through ball and shot home to make it 1-0. We nearly drew level though when a great Tommy run down the left saw him cross and the Hibs defender nearly score a cracker of an o.g.

Second-half started well for us. Tommy won a good free kick 30 yards out in 49 minutes but JR's shot was cleared and then Murray missed the rebound. Two minutes later another quick free kick on the left allowed Paddy to run into the box where he was pulled down by a defender - it looked a certain penalty but referee Craig Thomson (who had a decent enough game otherwise) ruled against Saints. Saints were struggling to get many moves together as Hibs continued to play the offside trap.

Kiegan replaced Peaso in 57 minutes - Peaso had had a good game but picked up a knock). JR saw a couple of free kicks go wide of target and even worse was a corner on the hour mark missed by all in the box - I remember when we used to make sure someone was covering the far wing at corners. Ferry replaced Murray with 20 minutes to go and with 15 minutes to go a JR corner was headed towards goal by McCluskey only for the ball to be cleared off the line.

Tommy was replaced by Fotheringham for the last 12 minutes but we didn't look like scoring other than a chance where a Fotheringham free kick on the right was knocked back into the box by Panther to Kiegan. He was far too casual with his shot which was blocked and then tried to be clever with the rebound only to see it cleared. You couldn't help thinking that there are a lot of strikers out there that would have buried one or both these chances.

Apart from that the entertainment for the home fans was reserved until injury time when O'Connor the Hyped beat the Saints offside trap then got past the backtracking McClune, rounded Cuthbert and from inside the 18yd box managed such a sclaff of a shot wide of target that you couldn't help think of this player as a real Scotland striker.

MoM for me was a close thing. There were several decent performances on the park today and if we'd managed a goal in the first half we would probably have won. Cuthbert had a good game and wasn't to blame for the goal whilst Panther was able to get forward a lot more and actively looked for the ball. Peaso had a good game as well but best Saints player for me was Marco who wasn't scared to get stuck in and get forward a bit more.

So farewell to the SPL - can't say I'll miss it. As for Saints and Stark, there's a lot of rebuilding to be done this summer. Team confidence looks a good place to start.

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