Temple Of Saints - No goals, No win, No point

Scottish Premier League - 12/01/2002

Saints 0 Pars 1 League Table Here

Team: Miller, Murray, Falconer, Dasovic, Dods, McCluskey, Lynch, JR, Peaso, Russell, McBride
Subs Cuthbert, Paddy, Kane, Rachid, Marco

OK confession time first - before today's match I found out that the Utd game had been moved to the 22nd from the 23rd. Unfortunately I'll be in Paris that night so will miss my first game in 6 years. As you might guess I was more than a tad pissed off going into the game. Come 4.45 though it's all changed and to be honest I'm not that bothered about missing out any more - it's not as though I'm likely to miss a glorious win or anything.

We'll get the usual media comments about the spirit and fight shown by the team and how we deserved a draw. To a certain extent that's true but going into this game we all knew what was required - 3 points and we don't care how they're obtained. So at the end of it all we don't score, so don't win, so get nothing so are still at the bottom of the league with the team being booed off the park. Geoff Brown made comments about clearing out the dead wood - it'll take a bushfire of Antipodean proportions to do that at McDiarmid.

As expected there were some changes. Free Wullie returned to partner Dods and Chopper in defence whilst in midfield Pope and Lynch returned to the fray and Peaso and Russell made up this week's striking partnership. One other small point which may offer a wee crumb of comfort to those of us who read Geoff's comments - the players actually applauded the home fans when they came on the park. Nice to be appreciated.

Saints started brightly enough though and in the first minute managed to make out a good chance when a clearance from Falconer was flicked on by Hartley to Russell only for the striker to find himself unable to turn and in the end only managed a weak shot. Still it was hopeful and we looked fairly fired up for a change. Murray managed a shot on target in 5 minutes as well when he got on the end of a good Lynch cross.

Unfortunately the clues that some things hadn't change were still there. The Pars managed to earn their first corner in 10 minutes and as usual Saints put 10 men into the box despite the Pars having 3 or 4 still outside the area. Of course when the corner came in and was cleared we stayed in the box and allowed the Pars to continue their attack only to earn a 2nd corner. They kept the pressure up and a McPherson header and a good Crawford shot over the bar caused us some worry which only increased as Saints seemed to slow down after a lively start.

There was real controversy in the 20th minute as well when we won our first corner. Hartley sent the ball over into the 6 yard box where it was clearly handled. Freeland blows his whistle and we all wait for the finger to point to the spot only for the ref to give the free kick against Saints. The Pars were getting more of the ball and Saints began to slip back into a more defensive role with the embarrassing sight of Craig Russell having to go back and do some defending on his own as Lynch and Dods failed to cover the right flank (indeed the former seemed unwilling to put in any tackles). The rest of the midfield wasn't much better though - Dasovic looked tired, Murray was defending and Pope had faded. Only Hartley looked even close to being fired up but seemed to be covering the entire midfield on his own.

We nearly took the lead in the 36th minute though when JR won the ball in midfield along with Dasovic who sent a great through ball to Russell. He went a bit wide on the left and fired off a great shot only to see the Pars keeper pull off a great save. Typically there was nobody there to follow up on the rebound with Peaso out of position and no midfielder far enough forward. And on the stroke of half-time we had a good attack broken up as Saints tried to walk the ball into the net. McBride had gone on a good run and Lynch, Russell and Peaso all combined to try and score.

Second-half saw the Pope move to the right wing but almost straight away he and Lynch lost possession and it was only a good McCluskey challenge that prevented the opener. Five minutes later we were unlucky not to take the lead when Falconer put a good clearance forward where Russell knocked it on for Pope who for once went on a good run through the middle into the box only to see his shot just go over the bar. It seemed to fire us up a bit and we had a couple of good attempts at piecing an attack together although usually the final ball was found wanting (with Peaso and Pope having a good argument after one) but it was Hartley who had the next real chance in 58 minutes when he ran fully half the park, shook off some challenges and managed to send a low shot in which was just wide of the post.

At the other end the Pars managed a good break which forced Miller into an excellent save as he changed direction in mid-air!! Meanwhile the Pars picked up the first yellow for a foul on Russell - of course we managed to make such a balls-up of the free-kick that it's hard to believe it would have come from the training ground. Next up we had a good Lynch long-range effort go wide.

With 20 minutes to go one of the Pars chopped down McBride as he went on a run on the right touchline. He got a booking (although it should have been red) whilst Pope left the ground on a stretcher and was replace by Paddy - mind you it took so long for the change to be made by Saints that the Pars had time for a couple of attacks. Four minutes later we had our best chances to take the lead. First up a good Hartley ball to Russell in the box saw Craig turn and chip the keeper only for Paddy to miss the follow-up and the defender clear the ball over the bar. Then from the resulting corner, Free Wullie saw a good header cleared off the line by the keeper.

That was about it from us and 5 minutes later after surviving a couple of scares at corners another corner saw us fail to clear our lined in about 6 attempts (and this with a packed Saints defence in the box). In the end the ball landed at Masons feet and he sent a 12-yard shot into the net.

Rachid came on for Peaso and Marco for Dasovic for the last 10 and 5 minutes respectively but apart from a Rachid flick going just wide the only other real event was a booking for Miller for (I think) gesturing to the away fans after they took far, far too long to give the ball back at a goal kick. Even I could see the culprit but wasn't it good to see Tayside's finest polis and stewards take prompt action in kicking the Fifer out - aye dream on.

MoM for me (yup we managed one this week) was Hartley. But only JR, Russell and McCluskey came out with any real credit. Our midfield looked slow and passing was very poor. Lynch didn't look half as good as he did before his injury (and while I'm on the subject why does he get a game while lacking match practice but Jones, in a similar situation doesn't get near the bench?).

I've not lost total faith yet but I'm one of the few going by the booing at the end of the game. Stark has to go for broke now and start preaching some attacking football. We might go down but at least we can go down fighting.

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