Temple Of Saints - Guts on Show

Bells League Division One 01/02/2003

Weans 1 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, J-Ro, Murray, M-Ro, Dods, Maxwell, Baxter, Reilly, JR, Paddy, Tommy
Subs : Miotto, Marco, Hay, Noble, Parker

Okay first things first, we were under a lot of pressure and still had a lot of problems creating any real chances. But given the changes to the Saints line-up (both personnel and formation) and the guts that we showed, we more than deserved the point in a cracking game which was almost spoilt thanks to the incompetent refereeing of Shuggy "Whistle Happy" Dallas. With Main gone to learn to ram-raid, Cuthbert took over in goal. The back 5 (with wing-backs back in vogue) saw Baxter at right back and J-Ro (as he will need to be known) on the left. Maxwell, Murray and Dods made up the central defence behind a midfield of JR, Reilly (a surprising choice as team captain) and M-Ro with Paddy and Tommy as the strike pairing up front.

The game had a fairly even start with Saints the slower off the mark and struggling a bit on a very heavy and bumpy pitch. The Weans had their first effort in 4 minutes when from a free-kick (the first of God knows how many) Miller headered the ball just over the bar. Saints were restricted to a sole corner, won by Baxter, taken by Tommy and cleared by the home defence. The Bairns kept up the pressure on us and Saints couldn't get any real attacks pieced together. However debutant M-Ro was making his mark felt and putting in some tackles which would have done the Aussie Rugby side proud. He's a gutsy player and not afraid to shirk the odd psychopathic challenge - which is perhaps what we've needed although to be fair today both Reilly and JR chipped in with their share of tackles.

We got our first shot on target in 14 minutes when Tommy set up JR who saw his effort saved by Ole One-Knee Ferguson. A similar break down the right a couple of minutes later saw Baxter hacked down. Dallas decided to ignore this and play a non-existent advantage. Falkirk broke up the park and Cuthbert came out to make a good save from Samuel. The same Bairn was involved in 19 minutes with a cracking dive on the edge of the box after Dods gave the ball away. The free-kick bounced back off the face of Paddy in the wall and was cleared.

Saints broke up the park a minute later and Paddy linked well to set up Tommy on the left. He sent a great low drive in which One-Knee did well to tip wide for the corner. That was cleared and the Weans counterattacked - the ball being played into the middle to an unmarked Owen Coyle (or Oweny as the Weans seem to refer to him these days) but Murray put in another great tackle to clear the ball.

We had our best chance to take the lead in 25 minutes. Tommy was fouled on the right and from the JR free kick, Maxwell rose up unmarked and hit a powerful downward header only to see the ball go just the wrong side of the post. Paddy and JR worked a near one-two next but the end shot was easily held. But in 27 minutes it came good - M-Ro played a neat ball through the middle to JR. He ran forward, beat Scott McKenzie's tackle and got into the box before letting rip a cracking low drive past One-Knee and into the net. The home support were so quiet you could almost hear the woodworm in the crappy stand.

Saints were looking a bit livelier now but the Weans still had their secret weapon in Dallas. Samuel dropped like a U-Boat to win a free kick but Maxwell cleared. The next one saw Miller head wide and then 10 minutes before the break even Dallas wasn't going to give a penalty for Miller's blatant dive in the box - mind you he wasn't going to give a yellow card either. Cuthbert held their next free-kick but to be honest he wasn't really troubled in the half, with Baxter charging down their next set piece.

Second half started slowly in the pouring rain, with both teams struggling in the conditions. A JR free-kick 7 minutes into the half saw some neat passing with Paddy, J-Ro and Baxter all involved before the home side cleared. A minute later and JR sent a neat chip through which Tommy beat the offside trap to run onto but the ball was just a yard too far in front of him. JR had the next effort when he beat a couple of Weans on the left and cut into the middle of the park and let rip a 25 yarder which One-Knee managed to hold. It was end-to-end stuff though. J-Ro cut out an Oweny shot and set up a Tommy break, he was eventually ruled offside and despite willingly passing the ball to One-Knee (who deliberately let it go by him to make it look like the Dane kicked the ball away) picked up a yellow card.

The hour mark saw the game change with Falkirk beginning to put some pressure on. Maxwell cleared one free kick and then in the 62nd minute Cuthbert made a great save from the Weans no 7 and put the ball out for a corner. That was when the luck ran out and from the kick, the ball was flicked to the near post where Henry drove it into the net for the equaliser. Hard to blame anyone for the goal without seeing it on TV.

From the restart though Saints went back up the park and after Paddy was fouled 25 yards out, JR sent a neat free kick over the wall...and the bar as well. The Weans had their next Dallas donated free kick on the edge of the box after Miller managed to go down from a Murray tackle. It was cleared and Saints went back up the park and won a corner. From JR's inswinger the ball fell to Reilly 6 yards out. His effort was blocked and it came to Tommy on the edge of the box. Another low drive was blocked and the ball came to JR who saw his effort saved by One-Knee. JR picked up the first booking of the game for a daft tackle in 70minutes and six minutes later Reilly joined him. Parker came on for the ineffective Tommy but the star in 79 minutes was Murray who managed to put a great tackle from behind in on Samuel to prevent an almost certain goal. He repeated that feat in 82 minutes as Saints continued to press forward.

Cuthbert was called into action a minute later to come out and stop a Samuel break through - the ball came out to Miller but his long-range effort was blocked by a Saints defender. Parker won a couple of free kicks on the right which eventually saw the Weans no 3 booked but we couldn't make anything of them and it was Cuthbert who again kept us in it with a great save from Oweny. Noble finally replaced Paddy for the last 5 minutes and linked well with Baxter a minute later to pick up the ball, hold off two defenders and set up Parker who turned and saw his 20-yard drive go just over the bar. Maxwell picked up a yellow with a minbute to go but in the end it seemed both sides were out of ideas.

MoM was hard to pick - Paddy and Tommy were poor up front but the rest of the team showed plenty of fight and skill (apart from the long balls). Hartley's goal and workrate just gets it for me ahead of Murray and debutant M-Ro (who looks like he could be a valuable addition to the midfield). In defence both Cuthbert and Baxter looked fine, although J-Ro didn't seem all too comfortable out left.

So we live on another week. It's not over yet....

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