Temple Of Saints - Rock Bottom

Scottish Premier League - 27/10/2001

Pars 2 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team: Miller, Murray, Tommy, Dasovic, McCluskey, Dods, Lynch, JR, Kiegan, Paddy, Pope
Subs Cuthbert, McClune, MacDonald, Russell, Falconer

I'm starting to run out of ways to describe our performances this season. This was probably closer to the United cup-tie with Saints taking the lead and looking good for the first hour before losing one goal, our confidence and then the match. Billy Stark has had plenty of time to get to know the players and their strengths and weaknesses but for all that we're getting the comments about the team improving at the end of it all we still don't have any points and it's hard to see where the miracle turnaround is going to come from.

Only one change from last week with new boy Mark Lynch coming in at right midfield whilst Kiegan was pushed forward to partner Paddy. Falconer dropped to the bench and Fotheringham dropped out altogether. As usual no place for Rachid.

We started brightly enough with Tommy looking lively and intercepting a loose ball. He sent Kiegan on a run up the right but the cross was weak. There wasn't long to wait though and in 4 minutes Lynch (who looks fairly fast if nothing fancy) won a corner on the right. The ball was cleared to Tommy who crossed it back into the box where Skerla failed to clear the ball. JR nicked it from his feet, went wide and rounded the defence before putting a low shot into the net. There was plenty of movement off the ball but a strong wind was spoiling any chance of open play. Lynch and JR were causing problems on the wings but Paddy and Kiegan were struggling to piece any moves together up front and weren't helped by a central midfield which wasn't able to win the ball or provide any support.

Having said that we were the livelier side and looked more dangerous on the attack. Lynch managed a couple of decent runs and showed he's not afraid to tackle. The Pars weren't putting any real attacks together with only a couple of long-range shots to show for their efforts, whilst Dods and McCluskey looked comfortable in the middle and Tommy was having another good game at left-back. We were playing far too deep though with the strikers rarely breaking out of their own half. The Pars kept up the pressure and both Chopper and Dods had to look sharp to block some shots, whilst at the other end Lynch had a good run which forced a corner and Paddy sent a cross in which Kiegan managed to miss. It wasn't enough though.

The home side almost equalised on the stroked of half time when Miller pulled off a good save.

Second-half started slowly but the Pars were pushing forward more. We did make some chances though and in 49 minutes Lynch had a great run through the middle before sending in a 20-yard shot which was well saved. Then a minute later Paddy had a run on the right to beat the offside trap but his cutback was missed by Parker. An even better chance came a couple of minutes later when Kiegan cut into the box from the right. His short lay-off saw Paddy shoot only for the keeper to block and a total lack of yellow shirts following up. We forced a couple of corners but didn't even manage a shot on goal.

The game began to get a bit scrappy. Ferguson picked up the first yellow for a foul on Pope 25-yards out. JR took the free kick but his curling effort was inches wide. On the hour the Pars had a long-range effort go wide as they tried to get back into the game. And 3 minutes later some sleepy defending saw De Gier get into the box and put a low shot past Miller. You could see the heads go down. And for some reason we became even more defensive with Miller pulled into the middle and Lynch dropping back to a more traditional right-back.

Two minutes after that and we had a lucky escape when a Pars shot went across the goalmouth but we were well under the cosh. Dasovic made a good block as the pressure mounted. Starkers put on Falconer for Pope (to say the least it wasn't greeted with great cheering from what was a large away support) whilst the Pars saw a free-kick on the edge of the box deflected for a corner. From that the Pars got a good header on target and it took a great save from Miller to tip the ball over the bar.

Our luck didn't last though and with 13 minutes left an easy through ball from the Pars saw Chopper get it then lose it to de Gier who ran most of the Saints half completely unchallenged before putting the ball into the net to make it 2-1.

I'd love to say that Saints bravely tried to fight their way back into the game and the Pars were hanging on at the death. I'd love to but the truth is that even with Russell and MacDonald replacing the tiring Kiegan and Paddy (who again was caught in possession several times) the only real chance was a MacDonald shot over the bar in injury time.

Forget about a MoM award - after a performance like the last 30 minutes there are some players who will be lucky to play again. Lynch looked OK but faded towards the end. Murray had a rotten 2nd half along with McCluskey and Dods. And despite Tommy having an OK game at left-back he isn't getting forward nearly enough. The midfield was dire with both McBride and Dasovic unable to win enough of the ball or create any moves.

Like I said, Stark's had plenty of time to get to know the players. We need to turn this round soon or else the Dingwall street maps will be getting dragged out for next season.

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