Temple Of Saints - Better

Bells League Division One 24/08/2002

Arbroath 0 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, Robbo, Tommy, McCluskey, Murray, Maxwell, McCann, Reilly, Hartley, Paddy, Keigan
Subs : Main, Peaso, Stevenson, Dods, Russell

Doesn't look to comforting and indeed there were some shaky moments towards the end but overall Saints were worthy winners of the first game with Arbroath for 14 years. In fact after an afternoon in the sun watching a decent match the only downside tonight is the stretchering off of sub Ryan Stevenson in the final minutes with what looked to be a nasty leg injury. With Saints fielding an unchanged side and a fairly large travelling support, the early stages were fairly even and the play was helped by a Gayfield pitch which was in great condition (pity about the rest of the ground though - still nice to see the Saints board standing on the terracing).

Saints made most of the early work with a 4th minute corner ending in a Hartley shot being deflected over and then when the same player was brought down on the edge of the box a couple of minutes later he forced Arbroath keeper Hinchcliffe into a great save from the free-kick. McCann saw a decent turn and shot blocked after Robertson crossed from the right and then with the right-back running amok on the far side of the park all that was going to be required was a bit of luck in front of goal as Saints piled on the pressure. McCann was brought down on the edge of the box and this time Tommy had a go with the free-kick but his low drive was poor and easily blocked. But just so we didn't get too carried away Arbroath forced a corner after 15 minutes and the collective sigh of relief went round the Saintees as a free header from the kick went wide.

The game was scrappy in places as Saints pace told. The Arbroath no 8, Andy Cargill was first in the book and then just after it McCann gave away a daft free kick which ended up in a ball being played into the box which Cuthbert failed to hold and a panicky Saints defence hurriedly cleared their lines. Hartley was next in the book for a daft late challenge.

With 25 minutes gone we turned up the heat. First up Kiegan worked a neat 1-2 with Paddy only for his shot to go over the bar. Then a Paddy break down the right saw his shot blocked and when the rebound came out to JR his spectacular overhead kick went wide. JR made up for it a couple of minutes later though. McCann won the ball in the middle of the park and threaded it to JR who ran through on goal and put the ball past Hinchcliffe - Cue a massed cheer from the Saints fans which died instantly as the ball hit the post then with Paddyesque inevitability resurrected itself when instead of coming clear it went into the net. 1-0 us and you'd have thought we were on easy street.

And so it seemed as first of all a free-kick saw a Maxwell header saved and then Maxwell saw another header go just over from another free-kick after Reilly (who was outstanding) was clobbered in the middle of the park - which saw Arbroath's no 6 go into the book. Five minutes from the break Paddy had a go after a McCluskey free-kick was headed on by Maxwell. Then Kiegan, Paddy and JR all combined to allow the latter to chip the ball past the defence for Paddy, but Lazarus was too slow to beat the keeper.

Saints should have seen us increase our lead almost immediately after the restart when JR set up Tommy and his run from the left saw him cut inside his marker and get through on goal, only for a weak shot to be easily saved. For all the possession we were enjoying there was little real penetration down the wings today - Tommy had a fairly poor game and although Robbo got forward he usually needed support from midfield before being able to do anything. Ryan McCann (who played well) was next up and should have got our second after breaking through from midfield but Hinchcliffe made a cracking save. Maxwell was next up but his 25-yarder was rising all the way and went over the bar.

The next chance came on the hour mark as Arbroath were threatening to get back into the game. Paddy out on the right cut inside and sent a cross into the box which Maxwell flicked on to find Tommy at the back post but his shot went just wide.

Reilly picked up a booking a couple of minutes later and seemed to ride his luck a bit for the rest of the game. Peaso replaced Kiegan (surprising since Parker had had a decent game) and in 65 minutes he was set up by Paddy only for Hinchcliffe to make another good save. The bad luck continued from the resulting corner with McCluskey's header being spilled by the keeper but the lack of a following up Saints player saw us fail to take advantage. Paddy was set up a couple of minutes later on a great run but again it broke down due to hesitation in the box - something which seems to affect a lot of the side. McCluskey got the 3rd Saints yellow with 20 minutes left thanks to a deliberate foul on the edge of the box. Saints were looking fine defensively and still managing to put some pressure on with both Tommy and JR seeing shots deflected / saved. And with 15 minutes left Peaso was brought down by Ritchie who could have easily been red carded for being last man. As it was another Maxwell header was all we got from the resulting free kick.

Stevenson came on for McCann a minute later and he had a great volley go just over the bar with 9 minutes left after Tommy's cross was flicked down by Paddy. At the other end Arbroath were trying everything and a Maxwell tackle in the box a minute later saw an almost certain goal avoided. The home side kept up some pressure but Cuthbert looked more than comfortable handling the crosses into the box. Peaso missed a decent opportunity with 3 minutes to go and then in the final minute he set up Stevenson through on goal only for the Saints player to be tackled inside the box - even worse was his failure to get up from the challenge and being stretchered off.

Overall a good solid performance if lacking in the finishing which we really need to kill teams off. But on the plus side the defence looked good and my MoM Ian Maxwell had an excellent performance.

And it's another clean sheet.....

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