Brechin 3 Saints 2
Team : Cuthbert, Murray, Tommy, McCluskey, Dods,
Maxwell, Maher, Fotheringham, Stevenson, Russell, Peaso
Subs : Main, McClune, Parker, Ferry, Panther
Before
I go any further congratulations to Brechin who on the night were
well-deserved winners and put up a good performance against us - even if 2
of their goals were a bit flukey. Still they had more of the ball, played
better football and seem to have a manager and coach who have explained
this skill of defending. Just a pity such silly little things appear to
have vanished from Stark and Kirkwood's vocabulary.
We can whinge all we want about the injuries (and Christ did we need JR and Robbo) or the lack of experience of the youngsters in the side (Maher and Fotheringham were both very poor) but at the end of the day if you're creativity depends on humping long balls up the park in the vague hope that Peaso the Pixie will get on the end of it whilst your midfield stands about like (as one Saints fan so succinctly put it in the 2nd half) "yer still on yer fucking holidays" then against a team which shows any sort of hunger you are going to get punished. Of course the damage might not have been so bad had our so-called experienced threesome of Maxwell, McCluskey and Dods managed to act as defenders. But no, they had their worst performances in a Saints shirt tonight - Dods in particular should be back in the reserves until he learns to kick the ball, pass the ball and tackle. Even Cuthbert can't escape criticism (although he didn't deserve some of the abuse from the so-called Saints fans towards the end) - his saves were OK but his distribution was simply shite.
And to think it all looked so good at the start - Roddy looked knackered after 1 minute and despite a slow beginning, the 8th minute saw Murray latch onto a loose ball in the City half, turn and send a cracking 25-yard shot into the net to make it 1-0. Oh and before I go on a minor plea to the Roddy fans - for all the wondrous miracles he did at Saints he wasn't playing for us tonight and there were a helluva lot of young players in the Saints side who might have been helped more by some backing from their fans rather than hear the chants for an opponent.
Anyway 1-0 up and cruising. Well to an extent. Brechin had a fair bit of possession and play but our defence seemed to be soaking up the pressure and we were making some good chances on the break with Stevenson and Russell doing well (despite the latter having to cover for Maher who had a nightmare). But at the same time Cuthbert was called into action several times. A good save from a header and a testing shot by Roddy saw him kept busy and when he lost the ball Murray was there to clear on the line as well.
Our
next best chance came just before the half-hour when Peaso won a foul 25
yards out and Fotheringham send a lovely curving shot round the wall only
for the City keeper to make a great save - see it was almost like being
optimistic. Unfortunately within the next 5 minutes we had another Murray
block in the 6-yd box to prevent a goal, Brechin's Gibson almost beat
Cuthbert to a loose ball and then 10 minutes before the break City
pressure in the box saw Maxwell, McCluskey and Roddy clash and the ball
loop clear and over Cuthberts head and into the net. Nothing the keeper
could do about it but the defence should have been shot there and then.
After that we seemed to waken up. A minute later and Russell was through on the right and 1-on-1 with the keeper only for his shot to go just wide. But then a minute before the break, Russell and Murray combined in the middle to set Peaso up on a similar run and he made no mistake to make it 2-1.
Second-half started well for us with Stevenson coming close a couple of times. A good shot was cleared off the line and then another good run round the defender saw his shot go just wide. Maybe it was the lack of white boots or the dodgy hair colouring but after that he faded a bit.
50 minutes gone though and the first real inkling of the disaster that the game would become was shown. A simple loose ball in defence for Dods to get onto. But no he somehow slipped / tangled with Gibson with the end result being a lob cum shot which went past Cuthbert and into the right hand top corner of the net. 2-2 and you half expected Jeremy Fucking Beadle to pop out.
Straight after that Cuthbert made another good save as City began to get some belief in themselves (Saints belief in themselves was pretty much non-existent by now). Tommy managed a couple of decent runs on the left - Stevenson saw a header go wide and Russell a shot go wide from them. The Dane is still short of match fitness but was one of the few good points from the game. Russell had another good run end in a corner when he perhaps should have done better whilst we survived at the other end from a Roddy goal from a Cuthbert save by virtue of the linesman flagging for a prior foul. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't good to watch - like seeing all your hopes and dreams for the season decay before your eyes.
McClune and Keigan replaced Russell and Maher for the last half-hour as Saints went for the winner but despite Stevenson and Kiegan having a couple of efforts and a Tommy free-kick just missing the post it was City that came closest. First ex-Saint Chucky King forced a great save from Cuthbert and then a free kick 25 yards out after McCluskey needlessly conceded a foul saw the ball bounce off the bar.
Ferry came on for Murray who picked up a thigh knock in the only nasty tackle of the night and when he came on without apparently having a clue what position to play in you realised the lack of tactics wasn't just down to the players. Unfortunately the events 8 minutes from time were with a simple corner for City ending in a free header being blocked before Roddy Bloody Sodding Legend My Arse Grant shot home the rebound to make it 3-2.
Just to ensure the closing minutes torture was totally humiliating for the large Saints support (which now quite rightly began booing the sight on the park) we spent the entire time lobbing high balls into the box in the vague hope that the ageing (as in zimmer-frame eligibility) City defence would kindly leave some scraps for Peaso and Parker. Guess what - like every other bloody predictable tactic it didnae work.
MoM for me was easy in the end - Grant Murray's goal was a cracker and his defending and workrate were excellent. Otherwise only Tommy and Stevenson realistically get pass marks although Cuthbert did well despite his kicking. Peaso was OK given the shite service but the defence was just crap. And it's worrying to think that despite all the talk of being a team during pre-season tonight we looking like nothing more than the Paul Hartley show - he was badly missed.
Whilst not as bad as the Stenhousemuir or Falkirk Scottish Cup ties in days gone by tonight's debacle (if that's not too kind a word) is bloody close. What's probably more worrying IMHO is that the next few games will see us play similar so-called lower teams - how much heart will they take from this result and how much will we learn. That could decide the season.
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