Temple Of Saints - Bugger

Bells League Division One 12/04/2003

Saints 0 Bairns 1 League Table Here

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

Oh bloody well. Bugger etc etc etc. So much for all the pre-match hope that the Spirit of 90 could be resurrected for the final push for the title. In the end Saints were unlucky to lose a game after making plenty of good chances but at the same time there was never any real threat up front. A draw might have been a fair result but let's face it - it'll be Paisley again next season. Stark made one change to the starting line-up with his favourite John Robertson coming in at left-back in place of Noble. Saints went for a 3-5-2 formation with Paddy and Peaso up front and Baxter and J-Ro running the flanks. Just one possible weakness in the lack of height of the front men but that wouldn't be a problem would it?

So with 6,500 fans in McD and the pitch bathed in sunshine Wullie Young got the game under way. And in fact within the first 30 seconds Paddy had latched onto a through ball and tried his luck from outside the box only for the shot to be blocked. Two minutes later and Saints nearly took the lead when a Robertson long ball found Paddy. Despite being held in the box he played a short ball to Peaso and the shot from the youngster was tipped over the bar by Allan "Arse" Ferguson. Saints forced a few corners but the Weans defence dealt with them easily. A minute later and a JR ball found Peaso wide left but his cross was easily held. Saints kept the pressure up and forced a few corners but the best effort from them was an M-Ro shot which was deflected over and a Maxwell header which was cleared.

It wasn't until the 12th minute that the Bairns had a chance when a loose Dods header failed to clear the defence and when Maxwell went in with Miller it meant that the Bairn dropped and they got the free kick. The ball came into the box and was headed goalwards. It looked to be going wide anyway but the Cat rose up to tip it clear to make sure. Falkirk had their turn to force a series of corners (although some were a bit dubious to say the least) but they failed to threaten the goal.

The game was evening up but Saints still seemed happy to keep punting the ball up in the air. Falkirk were looking dangerous (as well as ugly) and in the 20th minute a free kick from the left found Coyle behind the Saints defence. He missed the goal but the linesman had already signalled he was offside. Three minutes later Dods and Miller clashed and with Miller on the deck (he's obviously such a sensitive wee soul) the free kick saw Hughes head the ball wide. A few minutes later and it was out turn when a Murray clearance found Peaso only for him to be held on the edge of the box. JR took the free kick (see that random unpredictability of Saints) and from 25 yards out curled the ball round the wall and just wide of the goal.

Luck wasn't going our way and it didn't help with Wullie Young seeing any 50-50 in the Bairns favour. Peaso managed to head a Paddy cross on target in 34 minutes only for a red shirt to clear it and then a minute later a long ball found Paddy and a defender chasing it down in the box only for the defender to clear it first. A couple of minutes after that, some excellent build-up play from Saints saw JR end up on the right corner in loads of room. He practically strolled into the box before playing a weak cross. The ball was cleared as far as J-Ro and his shot was deflected into Arsehole's arms.

Four minutes from the break and a loose Arsehole clearance was played into the box for Paddy and with three defenders closing down on him (and no bloody support from his teammates) he took one touch before letting loose a half-volley. Unfortunately he didn't make clean contact with it and the Arsehole had an easy save. The Weans had the better of the last few minutes. Hughes headed a corner over the bar (the ref failing to notice Oweny holding the Cat) and then Kerr (remember the wonderkid) blasted a good chance a mile over the bar.

The second-half was slow to get going but as with the Ayr game last week Baxter looked more lively - especially with one cracking tackle on Miller early on in the half. Our first chance came three minutes into the half when Baxter, Dods and Peaso linked up well to set up JR on the right. His excellent cross into the box was missed by Paddy and as usual there wasn't another blue shirt there. We were having plenty of the ball and putting some pressure on the away goal but to little effect with the final ball lacking.

And what happens when we do that? Yup 55 minutes gone and a Falkirk ball into the Saints box was half- cleared by Maxwell's head (about his only mistake of the day). The ball fell to Stuart Taylor and his half-volley seemed to bounce and take an age to go past the stationary Cat and into the net. 1-0 and the away support started. Almost immediately Oweny was replaced by Samuel, the Arsehole started timewasting and within another two minutes we'd had the first dying swan impression from the sub - so bad it didn't even impress Wullie Young. Saints replaced J-Ro (who had been crap on the left) with Noble and moved to a 3-4-3 formation. But the frustration in Saints was starting to show and a late challenge from M-Ro earned him the first booking 5 minutes later.

The game was bogged down a bit with Saints looking, if not defeated, at least stunned. Peaso was fouled on the edge of the box in the 72nd minute but JR's kick was easily blocked as Saints seemed to have run out of ideas (the Spirit of 90 never looked further away). A similar free kick a couple of minutes after that on the wing saw JR play the ball too deep and out for a goal kick. We forced a series of corners taken by Peaso and JR after that but to little effect. Even when Arsehole was stranded in no mans land there wasn't a blue shirt on hand to capitalise and the best we had was a Dods shot deflected wide and an M-Ro long- range effort that went well over. Another JR free kick after Noble was fouled on the edge of the box failed to find the target.

Hay replaced Reilly with 11 minutes to go but I can't honestly remember him touching the ball. In the 80th minute we had a good chance to draw level when Dods was fouled. From the free-kick, the ball was played wide to Paddy at the back post and his neat chip in was headed down by Noble, but despite taking a bounce the Arsehole got his greedy mitts on it. Marco replaced M-Ro for the last 5 minutes or so but despite Saints piling everything forward and having a corner cleared off the line it was the Weans who missed the final chances with a counterattack ending in Miller blasting the ball over when through 1 on 1 with the Cat.

Despite the result it was as good a performance as we've had recently. Baxter and my MoM Maxwell were outstanding. Murray was solid and Dods inconsistent. Cuthbert had very little to do really and up front Peaso and Paddy tried. But the midfield is where we lost it - JR looked poor and the two Robertson's failed to dominate their area of the park - the lack of support for the front men, especially when we went behind was very poor.

It's safe to say that it's over for the season. The only joy left is to finish 2nd, get the players lined up for next season and have a wee gloat when Geoff gets his own back and ensures the Weans stay down.

1983, 1990, 1997.....2004?

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