Temple Of Saints - "Astonishingly Brilliant"

Bells League Division One 07/12/2002

Clyde 1 Saints 2 League Table Here

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

Well we came expecting a wake and the end of an era but for once on a Saturday night the might be some light at the end of the tunnel with one of the best performances of the season (as usual not reflected in the scoreline) which can only be summed up in the words of TFOE's leprechaun as "Astonishingly Brilliant". With Weir out for being daft, Stark went for a 3-5-2 formation with Dods, Maxwell and Murray making up the back three and Flash and Baxter taking on the wide midfield roles. JR, Reilly and Panther played in central midfield whilst Hay and Tommy made up the surprising front pairing (especially in the first half when Tommy seemed to prefer being on the right side).

In front of a packed main stand (thanks to the Saints fans getting to mingle with the locals) it was the Bully Wee who threatened first when from a fifth minute corner, the ball broke out the box to Hagen who forced Main into an excellent save from a low drive. But the game was pretty scrappy, although even enough with the Saints midfield and defence more than holding their own if unable to get forward enough to threaten.

Clyde had a free-kick easily cleared in the 12th minute and within a couple of minutes Panther linked well with JR in midfield and the Reformed One sent a great cross over to the back post where Hay got his head to it and sent it looping over Halliwell's head and into the net. You'd think by the reaction of the healthy travelling support that we hadn't scored in ages....erm well yes. A minute later it could have been 2-0 but the flag was raised for a very close offside although Tommy got some practice in by putting the ball in the net anyway

. Panther was fouled on the edge of the Clyde box next but JR's free kick was well blocked. The home side weren't out of it though and we were lucky in the 25th minute when they broke down the right and got a cross in. The ball came to Nish inside the box but he managed to totally screw his shot wide - real Paddy stuff. At the other end some great patient build-up play ended with Baxter slipping the ball to Hay but he was ruled offside. Then on the half-hour mark the impressive Panther slipped the ball to Baxter who skipped one tackle before eventually winning a corner. From that the ball eventually came to Tommy but his shot was well blocked.

Five minutes later and we were on the defensive when a series of Clyde crosses causes some problems with Dods making a couple of blocks and Maxwell (looking good in the middle of the defence) heading the ball from the six yard box. Keogh came close a minute later for Clyde with a header which went just over the bar and then Kernaghan saw his effort go well over. Saints managed a decent attack when Tommy won the ball in midfield and broke forward. He cut into the box but saw his shot go over. The half was rounded off with Hinds dropping in the box - no penalty this time.

Second-half saw a similarly even start but it wasn't long before Saints began to dominate. JR broke to the edge of the box before being fouled and then Tommy (who's switched over to the left side this half) saw his cross end in a free kick against the Panther. Nish went off (not looking very happy about it either) and was replaced by some zimmer-frame fat bloke (Free Wullie if anyones interested). In 55 minutes another Clyde attack was easily dealt with and from it Ian Maxwell broke up the middle of the park and sent a great ball to Tommy who cut in from the right and let rip with a brilliant 22 yarder that cannoned back from the crossbar with Maxwell just too late to get the rebound.

Saints were starting to put some good moves together to pressure the home defence. Panther was next up a couple of minutes later. He latched onto JR's pass, cut inside a defender and tried his luck from fully 30-yards out only to see the ball go just over the bar. Reilly slipped the ball to Tommy on the hour mark on the right and he cut inside the box and sent a good left-footed drive towards the top corner only for Halliwell to make a great save and tip it out for a corner. Another Clyde attack was broken down by the solid Saints defence five minutes later and the ball was cleared to Hay on the halfway line. His headed flick on reached Tommy who ran to beat the offside trap and broke through on goal 1 on 1 with Halliwell only to sent his shot over the bar. As if that wasn't bad enough (and started some of the boo boys)

Clyde then broke up the park down the right. Baxter was still forward and Dods and Maxwell failed to stop the ball reaching Hinds who sent a low drive past the suspiciously slow-looking Main into the net to make it 1-1.

After that we had a few minutes of total panic with the heads down and the away support expecting the worst. But steadily we got back into the game. Hay had a decent claim for a penalty in 70 minutes when he was bundled over in the box (admittedly it would have been a soft one and with Stuart Dougal in charge we weren't expecting it). Then a minute later Panther broke to the byeline and sent a neat chip into the box which Baxter headed only to be ruled offside. Panther had another good long-range effort go over the bar a couple of minutes later.

With 15 minutes to go though the piece de resistance arrived. Tommy beat the offside trap on the left and got to the byeline. No support from midfield (surprise, surprise) so he cut past one defender before bringing the ball back in and hitting an unstoppable rocket of a narrow-angled drive with his RIGHT foot past Halliwell and into the top corner. He might not score often but when he does they're bloody spectacular goals.

Clyde pressed back and got a couple of corners but Main dealt with these easily. Saints seemed to play more defensively (JR in particular seemed as though he couldn't be bothered attacking). Paddy replaced Hay with 8 minutes left and entertained us by skinning Millen. With 3 minutes to go the inevitable cloud on the day appeared. JR sent Panther through only for Kernaghan to bring him down. Nothing too nasty in the foul but Panther needed treatment and eventually left the park with what looked to be a bad ankle knock, to be replaced by McCann. The comments from the Saints fans at that tackle were the only time we bothered to mention Kernaghans name today - no doubt much to the relief of Stark.

MoM for me had to be Panther. He played a much more attack-minded role in midfield and was simply outstanding (Christ I sound like the leprechaun again). Baxter, Tommy, Maxwell and Forsyth were all good. Reilly came into the game more but Hay faded after his goal and Hartley just seemed out of sorts for most of the 2nd half - rarely venturing forward in support.

Still we got the result - only time will tell if it's another false dawn. But by God does it feel good to win again.

This Match Report is copyright Temple Of Saints - not to be reused without permission. Contact webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk.

Remember to vote on todays ref Stuart Dougal send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk or just select a rating and press the button below ::

Saints Index Fixtures Index Grange Index

Any problems / comments mail webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk