Temple Of Saints - Slaughter

Scottish Premier League - 16/02/2002

Saints 3 (That's THREE !!!!!!!!) Meadowbank 0 League Table Here

Team: Cuthbert, Lynch, Tommy, Murray, Weir, Dods, Maher, JR, Sammy, Kiegan, Kane
Subs Devlin, Jones, Dasovic, Falconer, McCluskey

If there's a quick way to sum this one up it's that before the game the PA system had the enhanced Saints crowd (thanks to all the freebies) listening to "Living On A Prayer". Leaving at the end it was "A Kind of Magic" - it was that sort of day. That big chubby bird might be waiting in the wings yet but we've managed to stop her karaoke performance for a few more weeks.

An unchanged outfield line-up on the park and bench was disconcerting with no starting place for Goalden Graeme or Nick Dasovic. But Maher kept his place and with no keeper signed to replace Windy Miller it was a return to the first team for Kevin Cuthbert with youth goalie Craig Devlin taking his place on the bench.

Saints played with the strong wind against them in the first half and a Cuthbert clearance almost caused problems in the first minute. And as if Mother Nature wasn't enough to contend with rookie ref Charlie Richmond earned the wrath of the Saints fans (and the token applause from the 3 guys in shellsuits in the West Stand who apparently constituted the away support) when he penalised Murray for tackling Wilson on the edge of the box - never mind the fact that Grant actually tackled fairly and won the ball. Still the wall did it's job and blocked the shot. It was more worrying a minute later when Meadowbank's first corner went across the goalmouth without being cleared.

But we looked a bit sharper in midfield and on the wings. A Hartley run in the 5th minute saw him just a bit too selfish when he failed to slip the ball through to Sammy who had made a good run. Then a few minutes later the Dane was brought to ground by Brinquin (who's so sad he tries to look like Lardboy Bollan). JR took the free kick which floated nicely into the box only for Murray to head the ball over the bar. The game was fairly end-to-end and when Lynch cleared a Livvy corner off the line he combined well with Martin Maher who shot just over the bar after some good work on the right wing.

And on the quarter hour mark we should have taken the lead when a Saints attack on the right saw Maher take his time to cut in and chip the ball across the goal. It fell to an unmarked JR at the back post but he took a touch too many and his shot was blocked and cleared. Meadowbank saw one of their foreign "stars" have a long-range shot which Cuthbert easily held. But with our only weak link in the side looking like the very tired and off-form Kane

Saints were soon back in the attack and when Lardboy fouled Maher, Lynch took a quick free-kick to sent Maher sprinting up the right wing from where he send a great cross over which Sammy was just a second too slow to get his head onto. We had a couple of clearances from defence (which didn't look too clever at this point) with Dods on form. Then Murray clashed with Wilson again and gave away a similar free kick to the one at the start of the game. Lardboy managed to put his pies down long enough to send a curling free kick round the wall which Cuthbert did well to get down and pull off a cracking save to punch the ball round the post.

Our luck seemed to be running out though - Kiegan had a run on the right wing and a cross which Sammy just missed and then in almost a summary of our season so far, slack Meadowbank defending saw Andrews give the ball to Sammy in his own box. He set up JR only for his "shot" to resemble more of a panicky clearance as it sclaffed over to the other side of the park. But then we woke up again - Tommy and JR were combining well on the left wing with Tommy pushing forward more and more.

By now we were in that nasty period before half-time where Saints usually give away a goal. With most of us looking only to keep the score at 0-0 until the break Saints had another idea. Sammy laid the ball off to Maher on the right wing and he combined with Lynch before sending a cross into the box. It was headed clear but straight to JR who from 25 yards out let fly with an absolute rocket of a shot to make it 1-0 and finally make us smile.

Of course by the time the second-half started it was more of a case of how our nerves would handle the next 45 minutes possibly as a result of having had our hopes built up too often this season already.

And within 4 minutes of the restart it looked like Meadowbank were going to draw level when Fernandez left Dods standing and broke through - luckily for us as well as being a diver he's also pretty selfish and as he dithered in the box Tommy came over to get the tackle in. Sammy almost won us a penalty in the 52nd minute when he went down heavily in the box after Maher sent him through. Dods managed to keep the attack going though with some mazy skills as Saints began to show more and more confidence and spirit. Weir went off a minute later though with a calf strain and was replaced by McCluskey. We kept on attacking though but Kiegan and Sammy were both coming in for a lot of stick.

The hour mark saw the Saints fans given another chance to welcome one of their old heroes back as Xausa went off in the huff to be replaced by Lowndes. By now Sammy seemed to be struggling with the pace and we had begun to drop back into more of a defensive shell - and we all know what usually happens then. With 20 minutes to go and the game still not over, Jones finally came on to replace the knackered (and injured Sammy who had taken a fair few knocks). Five minutes later we should have gone two up when Hartley sent a great chip to put Kiegan clear. He ran to the byeline and cut the ball back to JR who's shot went just wide. Saints were back on top and pressing by now and the home fans joy only increased as Lardboy was totally humiliated and nutmegged by Maher.

With 12 minutes to go Kiegan's ball to send Jones through was ruled offside but a couple of minutes later Murray sent the ball to Maher who's chip saw Kiegan outrun Santini and Andrews to get through into the box and take his time to calmly sent the ball past Culkin and in off the post. 2-0 Saints and Kiegan celebrated by taking his top off - didn't look like the sort of celebration that had been in the planning for 12 months. And the cheers of the home support easily drowned out the static rustling of 50-odd shellsuits leaving the West Stand and the whinging of the Ginger Tosser.

It got better as Saints shone with confidence. A minute later Lardboy went in heavily on Lynch and escaped unpunished. Lynch took the free-kick up the park and in went Maher and a shall we say "fired-up" Jones to sandwich Lardboy. Sure it cost us a free kick but it'll teach the wee shite to attack a Saintee. In the 85th minute Tommy sent Kiegan straight through on goal but this time he was well tackled and ended up leaving the park with cramp to be replaced by Falconer. Meadowbank tried the odd attack but by now we were showboating with Maher and Lynch putting on a great display of keepie-uppy to take the piss out of the shell suit mob.

And then came the icing on the cake in the last minute when Maher on the right wing, took the ball into the box and took his time beating two defenders before sending a low cross across the goal which Jones volleyed into the roof of the net to make it 3-0. Sheer bloody brilliance. And even then Cuthbert still pulled off another save to round off an excellent performance from him.

MoM is a difficult choice for a change with plenty of candidates. Lynch, Dods and Tommy were all excellent in defence with the two full-backs playing their best game in ages. Hartley scored a great goal and put in a good performance and up front Kiegan and Jones both played well as did Sammy. But for me it had to be Maher who if anything put in an even better performance than last week and looks like a real star of the future. Let's just hope that's in the SPL.

There is still hope.

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