Temple Of Saints - Lucky
Friendly 17/07/2002
Forfar 0 Saints 1
Team : Cuthbert, Robertson, McCulloch, McCluskey, Dods,
Maxwell, Murray, Reilly, Hartley, Paddy, Kiegan
Subs : Trialist, Peaso, McClune, Stevenson, Fotheringham,
Ferry, Maher, Panther
So
much for the optimism - don't be misled by the clean sheet (we can thank
MoM Cuthbert for that), the lack of goals continues to be a problem and
the whole Saints performance tonight looked jaded and off-key. Too often
it was far too difficult to tell who had just been in the SPL and who was
in the 2nd Division. Individually for the most part the Saints side were
better than their opponents but they had the hunger and teamwork on their
side. In fact it was only towards the end as they tired and the enthusiasm
and passion of the Saints youngsters from the bench took over that we
began to dominate the game.
For probably the last time in ages it was an unchanged Saints side that
took the field with the only change being the addition of Panther onto the
subs bench and a young trialist keeper. The game started lively enough but
the warning signs came as early as the 3rd minute when Dods sliced a
clearance. To be frank we looked ragged in defence with Forfar closing us
down well. It was a similar story in midfield with a lack of creativity -
both JR and Reilly were either well-marked or else seemed unable or
unwilling to try and take the ball forward. Marco and Robbo on the wings
kept on getting caught out of position and the usual tactic of a high ball
for Paddy and Kiegan was easily dealt with by the Loony defence.
Cuthbert made some decent early saves without really being tested while
Paddy just missed a chance at the other end after Robbo headed Kiegans
cross back across the goal. But we should have been behind on the quarter
hour mark. Dods and McCluskey made a total balls-up of trying to clear a
cross into the box leaving an unmarked Paul Tosh with an easy chance -
only the post prevented it going in. Saints finally won a corner 5 minutes
later after Marco saw his shot deflected over. Needless to say our set
pieces still need worked on with a McCluskey header nowhere near the
target.
Paddy was next up but again he shot wide. In defence though we were
having real fun - Maxwell gave the ball away for the first time after 25
minutes (there were at least 2 other occasions when a similar poor pass /
clearance saw us in trouble and each time "Maxi" was the
culprit) - luckily Forfar shot over. Marco finally got our first shot on
target after half an hour - it was that bad, with a decent long-range
effort which the keeper held. Then Paddy went on a great run, beat 3
defenders only to end up almost passing the ball to the keeper.
Kiegan was fouled on the edge of the box next but JR's free-kick went
over the wall, keeper, bar and terracing. He had another attempt before
the break which missed the target and Kiegan saw a neat chip from the
bye-line go just wide. However it wasn't all one-way traffic with Cuthbert
making 2 or 3 good saves before the interval including a brilliant block
to prevent Balvage from scoring.
The second-half was much the same with Saints lacking any real punch or
spark. Kiegan through one on one saw his weak chip easily cleared and a JR
cross went across an empty goalmouth. Meanwhile Maxi was up to his usual
tricks and we were lucky that Tosh missed his shot to keep the score
goalless.
Thankfully
that didn't last and a seemingly innocuous break through the middle by JR
saw the midfielder let rip with a low 25-yard drive which went through the
defence and past the keeper into the bottom corner of the net. That was
the cue for the subs to start getting on the park and Peaso and
Fotheringham replaced Paddy and Reilly both of whom looked knackered
(Reilly especially totally vanished in the second-half) Robbo had a good
long-range effort go just wide showing he's got some power in his shot and
then Cuthbert had a brilliant save from Balvage after Marco was skinned on
the left side. In fact most of our problems seemed to be there with Marco
and Maxi not looking the most effective or confident of partnerships.
Ferry came on for McCluskey with 25 minutes to go. A minute after that
we should have gone further ahead when Peaso and Kiegan combined well in
the Forfar box only for Peaso to take too long with his final shot and see
it blocked. At the other end Dods pulled off a similar goal-saving block
after Cuthbert and the defence had been left for dead by Tosh and Balvage.
Panther
was next off the bench for JR, while McClune replace Robbo for the last 15
minutes. And despite the Forfar no 12 missing a sitter of a header and
Maxwell causing his keeper more problems by losing the ball we began to
look a lot sharper and more effective going forward, with the midfield
finally stringing some decent passes together. Peaso saw a shot go wide
and Stevenson (on for Kiegan) managed a couple of good runs and crosses
from the right. Ferry got on the end of a Peaso cross only for his shot to
come back off the post and keeper. Then Maher (on for Marco who took a
knock late on) had a couple of good efforts whilst Ferry saw a header
saved.
All in all a decently optimistic end to a pretty dire game. Stark has to
look at his experienced players - too many are just not gelling or else
look unfit. We were skinned on the wings tonight and you only had to see
the arguing between Robbo and Parker in the first half to see that there
is still a lot of work to be done. On the plus side my MoM Cuthbert had a
cracking game and Robbo looked more settled (Reilly looked unfit and the
jury is still out on Maxwell although he came into a decent game later
on). Also every one of the subs that came on seemed to put more spark and
life into the side than we'd seen all night.
Still plenty of time to sort it out. Isn't there?
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