Temple Of Saints - JR spares the blushes

Bells League Division One 09/11/2002

Saints 2 Arbroath 0 League Table Here

Team : Main, Robbo, Murray, McCann, Dods, Maxwell, Hay, Reilly, Hartley, Paddy, Ferry
Subs : Cuthbert, Marco, McClune, Parker, Tommy

Well we dominated the game but after an early goal from Hay it took until the final minutes for Hartley to seal the points and thankfully for Billy Stark, prevent the boos that had been increasing over a dire second-half for Saints from continuing after the final whistle. We made plenty of chances but against 10 part-timers and despite what Stark says, we should be burying these sides a lot sooner than the 92nd minute. Teamwise there were a couple of changes to the squad from Tuesday night. Keigan was dropped to the bench and Mark Ferry given his chance in midfield, whilst Ryan the Rocket was inexplicably dropped altogether with Tommy finally returning to the first team, albeit in a splinters-in-the- arse sort of way. Elsewhere both Paddy and Robbo recovered from their injuries to take up their usual positions as Saints went 4-4-2.

And with the massed hordes of the away fans still trying to squeeze into their North Stand seats (spot the sarcasm here), a JR cross from the left was met by Ryan McCann. He combined well with Reilly before releasing Hay into the box. Unfortunately Chris' sclaffy bounce shot was poor. Fortunately so was the Arbroath keeper and a couple of bounces, nutmegs and rebounds off the post later the ball squirmed into the net. Total fluke but we were 1-0 up inside 2 minutes.

Any hope of the floodgates opening after that were short-lived though as the Lichties went on the attack and despite not causing any problems showed that the Saints defence wasn't to have one of their more rock-like afternoons. We should have had a penalty in the 6th minute when JR was tripped cutting into the box but referee Toner (who had a reasonable game otherwise) let it go. A minute later JR had a good low drive well saved after Paddy knocked the ball back to him. Then he had a good run through the middle end in a shot going well wide.

It wasn't all one-way and the chances were coming thick and fast. Arbroath took advantage of some slack defending by Saints as Murray and Dods failed to clear but in the end shot over the bar. Then at the other end, Chris Hay sent a great through ball into the middle of the box for McCann to run onto only for the midfielder to be bundled over in a 50-50 ball - no penalty then either. Hay headed a decent cross from Paddy over and then Ferry (who was one of the few Saints players trying not to rush a long ball game) got onto the end of a cross ball only for his angled drive to be well saved.

Darren Dods then decided to give the home fans some nasty excitement by falling asleep in the middle of the park and losing the ball to an Arbroath counter attack which ended up in the shot going across the goal and just wide of the near post with Main left helpless. Even Stark was getting animated by this time. Saints were pressing and winning plenty of corners but still lacking the final ball and any real support from midfield - at times it was hard to tell who the part-timers were. Reilly set up JR on a good run but his cross to Hay was cut out for a corner from which McCann headed over a Ferry cross.

We did come close in 25 minutes when Hay was tripped and won a free kick on the left. JR took it and his curling shot beat the wall and keeper but was just too high and clipped the bar. Saints won another free kick 5 minutes later when referee Toner finally punished one of the Arbroath handballs and from it JR managed a decent turn and shot just wide of the post. But by now it was plain to see that Arbroath were more than happy to just pack their defence and hit us on the break. Hay had a decent break to the byeline and his cutback to Ferry saw the youngster shot saved. Then Paddy and Maxwell combined to set up Ferry for a run up the left. He cut inside and a neat chip was met by McCann only for his header to be well saved.

Saints seemed to be running out of ideas up front though and all the corners etc were ending up in the same style of kick from JR which the opposition defence easily dealt with. Paddy had our next chance when he got the knockdown from a Robbo cross. He took a touch before eventually shooting only for the shot to be saved. We still had time to panic before the break and a poor Maxwell passback ended up in Arbroath getting a corner which was flicked goalwards only for Reilly to header it off the line. Oh yeah and we were playing with one man forward at these corners - so much for hitting them on the break.

Second half saw Saints start very poorly and looked half asleep. Dods and Maxwell let Arbroath in for an early shot and Main made a great save to keep his empty sheet. We broke up the park but after a lot of huffing and puffing (and no penetration), including Paddy nutmegging himself, we ended up watching JR send a good header well wide of target.

Saints were seemingly happy to bypass the midfield and play a dire long- ball game with little or not build-up or passing. Sure Arbroath were trying to close us down and mark us tightly but the lack of skill from Saints was more than a bit frustrating. Too often we looked dodgy anytime the ball came near the defence and resorted to passbacks to Main or panicky clearances (the former usually resulting in the latter anyway). All of which led to the fans starting to lose patience and the murmurings could be heard in the East Stand.

Stark switched things round on the hour with McClune replacing the poor Robertson (a man who now seemingly needs 5 mins to take a throw-in). Tommy also came on for the knackered McCann and moved to the left- wing whilst Ferry went to the right. There was still no real sense of urgency from our play though.

Tommy came in for some attention with the Arbroath no 8 going in both late and heavily on the Dane but escaping without a booking. From the free kick on the halfway line the ball was knocked over Paddy and back to Ferry whose shot was deflected out for a corner. From JR's kick the ball was knocked clear but Ferry reached it and sent a low shot in which the Arbroath keeper did well to save. As the ball was cleared though McDowell of Arbroath clashed with JR. JR had gone in heavy but the retaliation saw the Lichtie go into the book and a minute later a very late kick on Darren Dods saw him pick up a 2nd yellow and subsequent red card. Saints finally looked a bit livelier and showed some aggression. Arbroath's centre-half finally got a yellow after a clash at a corner flag as we started to piece some more attacks together.

Paddy went off with 15 minutes left and Keigan came on. Almost immediately he won us a corner kick. Another JR cross saw Grant Murray get a decent header in which was headed off the line. Tommy sent a nice short pass to Hay next who ran 20 yards before shooting just over. And a minute later a Main throw to Hay saw him give the ball to Tommy who sent JR through with only one defender back and Parker free on the right - unfortunately the pass was a poor one and easily cut out for a corner. From that the ball came to the back post - Keigan cut inside and passed to Tommy whose shot was saved.

We should have gone 2 up with 8 minutes left when another JR corner was met by a diving Hay header and beat the keeper only to come back off the post. Tommy got to the rebound but his shot was over the bar. Keigan had a good effort saved with a couple of minutes left. But then in injury time as the moans were doing the rounds of the stand, a Tommy long cross from the left was knocked back and from 25-30yds out JR's low drive hit the keepers left-hand post and went into the net. 2-0 and arguably the manager was spared another bout of boos when the final whistle went a minute later.

MoM wasn't an easy choice. JR got the sponsors award but for long periods, especially in the second-half he seemed more than happy to sit deep in midfield whilst the strikers needed the support. Apart from Robbo and McCann (who weren't disasters) we didn't have a bad player on the park but several (Hay, Dods, Murray) looked tired and off form. MoM for me though goes to Mark Ferry who had a decent game and was one of the few willing to take some time on the ball. Mentions too for McClune and Tommy who both livened things up a bit when they came on.

So we survive another potential disaster. But these floodgates need to open soon to get the belief back....

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