Temple Of Saints - Useless

Scottish Premier League - 06/03/2002

Saints 0 TFOD 2 League Table Here

Team: Roy, Lynch, Tommy, Murray, Weir, Dods, Maher, Dasovic, Jones, JR, Kane
Subs Cuthbert, Pope, Peaso, Falconer, McCluskey

God this was dire. Just over 6300 mugs braved the cold and rain at McD to watch us play what will surely be the last league match against the OF for a long time. We all hoped that with the pressure of attempting to put on a show of staying up gone, Saints would let rip with some attacking flowing football. Instead the off-the-park rumours of part-time football next season seem to have found their way to the dressing room - talk about a part-time performance. Sure the effort was there (as always) but headless chickens can run around the pitch and have as much effect against what was a TFOD reserve side.

After the Easter Rd defeat we saw the changes rung big time..not. Tommy came in for Flash and Jones started in place of the injured Sammy the Lush, whilst Peaso and Pope went on the bench. Of course being at home with nothing to lose we went for a tried and trusted 4-5-1 with Goalden up front on his own and despite running his backside off all night he stayed on his own - the lack of support was pathetic.

As for the game itself - dire doesn't even begin to describe it. If this is what the SPL TV will have to offer next season expect a large market in unwanted satellite dishes to spring up all over Scotland. Every one of the home fans deserves their money back tonight - we pay to watch Saints, at least they could put some effort and interest into the game. And certain assistant managers in the home dugout could also do with taking the criticism from the stands on board instead of trying for the evil eye stare back at the folk that pay his wages. Good PR this was not.

Still we had the odd smile. Ludo made a cracking save after 2 minutes from a Flo shot after Lynch went missing and then we saw the consistency that is an SPL ref in action as a blatant dive by the lanky Norwegian saw not even a hint of a card being waved by Somers. We didn't look too bad at times despite the entire game being played as though it was in slow motion. Kane and JR were fairly committed whilst Jones was holding the ball up well for the non-existent support from midfield (I mean Dasovic in the 'hole'?).

TFOD had their usual barrage of shots and their knuckle dragging supporters gave us a wonderful rendition of their new song. "There's no Tartan Army in Japan". Wonderfully relevant guys - why don't you just save it for the time you finally fuck off to Ingerlund permanently. Anyway the bigots hit the bar again after 22 minutes McCann was a mile offside but the ref waved play on to allow him to get his cross over. Dods missed it but the header was eventually saved by Ludo off his own bar.

Just after that we managed to string 15 passes together in some neat build up play. Of course we progressed all of 10 yards up the park before Tommy tried a long ball to Jones. Summed it all up really as one of the dullest games ever unfolded. The 28th minute saw the crossbar save us again followed by Jones getting his body in the way of a rocketing shot. Then a Flo cross saw Andrei the Bread Queuer manage a soft header towards an open goal which Ludo easily held. At the other end we almost attacked. Some good build up play by Tommy and Murray ended with Dasovic holding the ball with his back to goal before laying it off for Kane only for his shot to go well over.

Billy Dodds managed to get the ball into the net 10 minutes before the break before throwing a tantrum as it was correctly ruled offside. Then we had our only shot on target as Dasovic was fouled 30-yards out. JR took the kick and bent it over the wall but a lack of power meant Klos held it easily. Weir headed our next chance over the bar from a Hartley corner which ended up in the winger being involved off the ball with some of the bigots and going into the book - another needless booking.

Just as we thought the half was going to end goalless (and with the mysterious minute added on stretching into the 3rd) Tommy was beaten by the Bread Queuer who sent an easy cross over for Flo to miraculously stay on his feet long enough to head into the net.

Second-half was just a nightmare. TFOD were cruising without putting us under pressure and the only real talking points were the 2nd goal in 62 minutes when Flo broke into the box and tried to chip Roy. His shot came back off the bar only for Pricksen to tap home with Lynch too slow to cover.

Dasovic picked up a yellow for a foul on McCann whilst Pricksen got one for fouling Weir. Craporuso and Spuman both escaped for kicks at Weir and Maher respectively. Stark was plainly out of ideas and had Peaso and Falconer on for Kane and Jones (tired and suffering from a calf strain respectively) although Lynch and Dasovic both took heavy knocks. And that was it. Flo missed an open goal and McCann only got a warning for kicking the ball away when an offside decision went against him. But in terms of scintillating goalmouth action or even any sign of fight or spirit from Saints there was nothing. Any hope we had of seeing a cavalier attitude to entertain the dwindling Saints support between now and when this hellish time ends looks to be non-existent.

MoM is also non-existent. Closest was possibly Ludo for at least pulling off some decent saves but to be frank it was nothing more than a half-hearted Saints performance (if even that). And the way it's going part-time effort like this will hasten the reintroduction of part-time football at the club - the players can have no complaints there.

Oh yeah and Billy Stark shouted a bit at the players. I was sitting 5 rows behind the dugout and even in the ghostly silence that was McD I couldn't hear what he said. Neither could the players or if they did they just ignored him. Like I said - summed up our season.

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