Temple Of Saints - Praise the Paddy

Bells League Division One 10/08/2002

Saints 1 Inverness Caley Thistle 0 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, Robbo, Marco, McCluskey, Murray, Maxwell, McCann, Reilly, Hartley, Paddy, Keigan
Subs : Main, Peaso, Stevenson, Dods, Russell

All I can say is Phew!! At least now we'll hopefully have had the wake up call and realise that this league isn't going to be that easy to win. Although having said that and after the performance of Mr Connolly today at least we have proof that miracles do happen. Yup after one of his duddest shifts in a Saints jersey in a long time Paddy struck gold 10 mins from time to give us the points.

With Reilly, Marco and Paddy returning from their strains it was back to the line-up of 7 days ago for Saints in front of a decent crowd (and the STV camcorders). Unfortunately apart from a Maxwell header in the first minute and a McCann miss from a JR through ball Saints struggled to get their game together in the early stages and indeed it was Thistle that forced a series of corners although Maxwell did well to eventually clear any danger. We finally forced ex-Well keeper Mark Brown into action in the 10th minute when Paddy and Kiegan combined from a throw-in to force him into a good save. B

ut there was no sign of the Saints domination of the other games and with both sides fairly even it looked like being a tough encounter with plenty of physical challenges which saw Kiegan and JR suffer most for Saints. Things weren't helped by a 5-man midfield which sat back for most of the game well off the front men allowing Thistle to retain a lot of possession. Keigan had a couple of decent chances and then when fouled outside the box JR saw the resultant free-kick just missed by Maxwell, JR managed to cross the ball back into the box only for Paddy to header wide. A similar effort 5 minutes later saw Maxwell's header go wide, then Marco saw a decent run up the left (about the only thing he did all day as he struggled with his fitness) end in a poor cross.

At the Saints end Cuthbert had to make a good save from one shot after the Saints defence were posted missing and allowed Thistle to run forward. And then in 28 minutes we were glad to see a 35-yard free kick by ex-Saintee Bobby Man go just over the bar. JR meanwhile caused some trouble on the half-hour mark with one of his mazy runs into the box only to end up flat on his face although the ref waived away the penalty claim.

Kiegan had a good run a couple of minutes later but his angled shot curved wide when he should have at least hit the target. And a minute after that he turned provider returning a good cross in from the right after JR sent the ball over. Unfortunately McCluskey from all of 2-yds out managed to shoot wide as Saints missed another chance. By this time though we were pressing forward and the last 5 minutes saw a JR free-kick go over the bar and then after Paddy got onto a loose passback, the Thistle defence did well to clear the ball.

Second-half though turned badly for Saints as the frustrations of the crowd and the failure to string together any moves began to tell. Thistle had a couple of decent shots (and to be honest we were lucky not to go behind) in the opening stages including a free kick which ended in a free header going wide as the Saints defence argued amongst themselves.

Our best effort prior to the hour mark was a Reilly shot over the bar but the game was getting scrappier and just after Russell replaced Marco, the Thistle no11 was booked for persistent fouling closely followed by JR who was lucky not to see red for a very late challenge on Tokely (mind you the miracle cure administered to the Thistle defender probably meant justice was done). Saints were not doing too well though and Paddy was getting the brunt of the attention and moans as time after time he was either caught in possession or else way too slow to react to the ball. It didn't help matters that we were making the chances for the strikers including a good run to the byeline in the 65th minute by Parker that saw the ball cut back across goal only to find a total lack of blue shirts - even worse Thistle broke from this and only a great save from the Cat kept the scores even.

Stevenson replaced McCann with 20 minutes to go although we were relying on scrappy punches from the Cat to keep the lines clear. Still his introduction saw Saints begin to get a bit more room in midfield with both JR and Reilly seeming to get more of the ball. Thistle seemed to be happy with the draw and were defending in numbers. The last 15 minutes saw us pile on the pressure. JR saw a good low drive blocked but with 9 minutes o go Paddy got on the end of a cross from the left and after seemingly losing the ball managed to turn the Thistle defender and send a narrow-angled drive into the net. He might not still have the votes of a lot of the Saints fans but he bloody well deserved the celebration that followed.

Stevenson saw a decent shot go over after that and then Peaso (on for Paddy) had an effort go just wide. Of course Saints not being on top of their game still had to rely on Cuthbert to pull off a wonder save tipping a Thistle corner over the bar in injury time to allow us to hold onto the lead and the 3 points.

MoM was difficult with no real standout but in the end JR was the best of a pretty average bunch although he has to watch his temper as it's plain to see that he'll be one of the main targets of the bully boys over the season. Mentions to for McCann and Parker who put in a good shift but the defence and Reilly looked really slow today.

But in the end, if we can get 3 points playing like this maybe luck is on our side.

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