Temple Of Saints - Winning in the Rain

Bells League Division One 01/01/2003

Arbroath 2 Saints 3 League Table Here

Team : Main, Robbo, Forsyth, Marco, Murray, Maxwell, Hay, Reilly, JR, Parker, Tommy
Subs : Cuthbert, McCann, Paddy, Baxter, Dods

First game of the new year and despite a rocky first half Saints finally managed for the first time under Stark to come from behind and win the game and in the end deserved the 3 points despite the cold, windy and very wet conditions which killed any hope of seeing Saints continue the sexy football from the weekend. And for a change it was an unchanged line-up that slid onto the park with Parker and Robbo recovering from their ankle and thigh knocks. Same formation really although Hay seemed to be put out wide left with Tommy given a free role in the middle of the park.

We started well enough with the wind behind us and had the first chance in the 2nd minute when we won a free kick on the edge of the box which JR saw blocked. A minute later we forced a string of corners with Marco taking them on the left. His inswingers twice troubled Hinchcliffe in goal who did well to prevent a goal. Maxwell had a shot blocked from one and the fifth one saw Marco's inswinger cleared off the line. A minute later and Hay managed to get to the byeline on the left and sent a low cross in which Parker got to at the near post but put just wide. With Arbroath struggling to clear their lines (most goal kicks only going 20yds against the wind) JR was next up with a long-range attempt which went over the bar.

The game died down a bit after that as the home team began to realise that to play against the wind you had to keep the ball on the ground. For the first time the Saints defence began to be put under pressure and was found wanting with the Lichties able to time and time again either beat their man or play a ball behind our back four. Even so we were still making chances. In the 17th minute Marco saw another curling corner saved and a minute later another corner (guess what needs to be practiced this week lads) came to Flash who headed a powerful effort down and just wide of the keeper's right hand post.

Arbroath weren't out of it though and had a couple of decent shots go just wide. And then with 24 minutes gone another attack broke down the right into the box. Maxwell tried to block but was obviously scared of tackling in the conditions. Anyway the cross went over to the back post and met Brownlie rushing in to put the ball into the net with Robbo nowhere in sight.

We went to pieces a bit after that with the lack of confidence again showing through. Hay was through one on one with Hinchcliffe but when he tried to round the oncoming keeper managed instead to run the ball out for a goal kick - summed up his day really. Tommy had a chance as well when he got on the end of one of Main's wind-assisted goal kicks but his first time chip was just over the bar. Reilly picked up a yellow card for a series of rather rash challenges as well. Before the break Arbroath had a header go just wide of the target and Murray saw one effort go over the bar and then another from a corner be well saved by the keeper and rounded off the half with his header being blocked. Enough to get some of the away support chanting "What a load of rubbish" but unlike at McD this was pretty quickly shouted down by more supportive songs.

After one of the shortest half-time intervals on record Saints started the 2nd half playing against the wind which if anything had picked up along with the rain turning to sleet. There was little real action for either set of fans to get worked up about in the opening stages though. JR had another free kick go well over and in the 49th minute from a Parker cross on the left Hay shot just over the bar. Saints struggled to hold onto the ball though and too often we were being caught in possession or unable to find a blue shirt in the rain.

As with the Alloa game, the hour mark saw Paddy replace the ineffective Hay and within a minute (and pretty unexpected really) we drew level. A Flash run down the left wing saw him fouled. From the resulting free kick, JR sent the ball into the box to Robbo who saw a decent shot at the keepers left hand post blocked. The ball rebounded to Maxwell who stuck it into the net. Cue confidence boost time.

Three minutes later and we should have taken the lead after some of the best (i.e. patient) build-up play of the day. Robbo ended up sending over a cross to Marco whose shot was blocked in the box but came to Paddy. He took his time lining up the shot only to see it go just over the bar. Maxwell was next to see a great header well saved from a JR corner.

But in 71 minutes we took the lead thanks to a good break after an Arbroath corner. Flash crossed from the left to JR in the box. His shot came back off the keeper's chest but fell to Tommy who made no mistake and put us 2-1 in front. And with 10 minutes left, a ball in from the left saw JRs shot blocked by a defender but he failed to clear his lines and in came Paddy at the back post with a majestic header into the net to make it 3-1. Of course this being Saints meant that the last 10 minutes or so were the usual panic stuff. We tried to play the game out but some sloppy defending 2 minutes from time allowed McGlashan to break through on Main who was unable to stop the Arbroath player slipping the ball into the net to make it 3-2. A couple of close corners at the end saw Saints finally defend well with Paddy doing plenty of marshalling of his teammates.

In the end we deserved the points and given the first half and the overall conditions, 3-2 is a result most of the large away support will be happy with. MoM for me was close with no real standout but Hartley's work in the centre of midfield just shades it. But a lot of players were off form today - Marco, Hay, Murray, Robbo were all poor at times so being able to grind out the result under these circumstances (and the bloody rain) is fairly good.

And just think, we're still unbeaten in 2003!

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