Temple Of Saints - No Self-Belief

Scottish Premier League - 29/12/2001

TFOD 1 Saints 0 League Table Here

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

So we didn't win but to be honest we should have taken a point. All that was lacking was a bit of self-belief and confidence in our own abilities. Still, despite going behind to the fastest goal of the season we more than held our own and wasn't it nice to see the 200 or so Saints fans keep the other 48,000 shut up for most of the 90 minutes.

Alan Miller failed a late fitness test so Cuthbert took over between the sticks whilst up front Rachid came on for Paddy, Falconer replaced Peaso up front as he moved to the left and allowed Tommy to drop back in place of the suspended Flash whilst in the middle Kane was rested and Fotheringham took his place.

Unfortunately within a couple of minutes of the kick-off we'd given ourselves the proverbial mountain to climb. Dasovic lost possession on the left touchline, Rangers broke up the park with De Bore going on a run before he squared it for Mols to slot past Cuthbert. They tried for another a minute later but Dods put in a good tackle after Mols' handball had been allowed to go.

It wasn't all one-way traffic though and 2 minutes later Tommy broke up the left wing and sent a good cross over only for Falconer to head over (one of the few headers he won all day as Craporuso kept him well marked). A few minutes later Peaso and Rachid combined well and sent Peaso on a good run down the wing. He sent a lovely cross over only for Rachid to be a second too slow in getting to it and the ball went across the goalmouth and out for a corner. Hartley sent a good ball over but Dods header went wide.

The game was pretty quiet with the Forces of Darkness managing to put on as inept a performance as I've seen as Saints looked more and more solid at the back as the game went on. We nearly equalised in the 18th minute as well when Tommy went on a great run up the park. He sent the ball to Peaso who crossed into the box to find Free Wullie. He managed to turn and send a good half-volley goalwards only for Klos to easily hold it. TFOD managed to force some corners but Murray eventually cleared to allow Tommy to make another good break. He squared the ball to Martyn Fotheringham in midfield and it was good to see the youngster show the confidence to go forward and have a go even if in the end the resulting shot was a fairly soft one.

Rangers broke back up the park but Cuthbert made a great save from Numan.

Cannigia showed his ole Scumdee tricks a few minutes later with one of the most blatant dives this side of Petta but the ref was having none of it. There was little else happened before the break with the closest we came to even beginning to get worried being a Shitto shot that went just over the bar. To be honest the most disappointing thing was that Saints weren't pushing forward any more and seemed in awe of their opponents with only Rachid, Fotheringham and Peaso apparently willing to take players on.

Second-half started nervously with a TFOD break ending up with Dods putting in a good tackle and then Cuthbert making another good save from Shitto. We had a good chance a few minutes later when Fotheringham and Murray combined well on the right wing to send Rachid clear. He was fouled by Konterman but did well to keep on his feet and get to the byeline only for the cutback across goal to end with Peaso's shot going high and wide.

A couple of minutes later Cuthbert made his first mistake of the day when he missed a corner and it was only a Fotheringham block on the line that prevented the 2nd goal. Cue a lot more moaning and whinging from the home fans and they whinged a lot more 3 minutes later when Cannigia went down after Hartley came within 10 feet of him. Ref steps up and blows his whistle, gives us the free kick and poor wee Claudio goes into the book for diving. He was replaced by fellow diver McCann on the hour mark as the game quietened down.

Tommy had a good free kick onto the edge of the box for Rachid but any hope we had of getting even a shot on goal went when the Algerian was penalised for backing into Konterman.

At the other end there was just as little action. Craporuso saw a free-kick go well over the bar and another break by Rangers ended with Cuthbert making a great save from Mols.

Russell replaced Fotheringham with 25 minutes left and Saints started to look a bit livelier. Peaso had a good run but shot over whilst we just survived at the other end when Mols got the better of Cuthbert but ended shooting across goal. The same waste of money blasted another shot over the bar from a corner a minute later from all of 3 yards.

Saints almost got the equaliser with 20 minutes left when Hartley sent a great ball forward for Rachid to run onto. Despite being held by Ricksen and Konterman he managed to get a chip attempt on target which Klos only just managed to tip clear. That was it for Saints chances despite TFOD leaving more and more gaps at the back as they tried to seal the game.

De Bore missed a total sitter and Flo missed several chances showing he's just as big a waste of money as Mols. Dods and McCluskey were excellent in defence and Pope (on for Rachid) did well to try and build some attacks but to be honest we didn't look like having the confidence to press forward to get the equaliser.

MoM for me was Cuthbert who put in as good a performance as any keeper this season despite losing the early goal. Dods, McCluskey and Murray were also good in defence whilst Tommy had a reasonable game but struggled against Shitto in the 2nd half. Dasovic and Fotheringham were excellent in midfield. Hartley and Falconer both had poor games by their standards but Peaso and Rachid did well with their contributions. Overall we might not have got the points today but at least the performance keeps up the hope that we'll still get off the bottom.

And wasn't it nice to outsing the home support for all 90 minutes?

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