Saints 0 Meadowbank 0 (abandoned 78 mins)
Team : Main, Robbo, Murray, McCluskey, Dods, Maxwell,
Hay, Reilly, Hartley, Paddy, Keigan
Subs : Cuthbert, Marco, McCann, Stevenson, Ferry
Somewhere
out there is an entity, God, call it what you want who is just pissing
themselves at Saints these days. Underdogs tonight we'd put up a great
performance in the first half only for the second period to see the 22 on
the park gradually vanish into the gloom as a freezing fog descended and
with 12 minutes left and extra-time looming, referee Tom Brown had no
choice but to bring it to a halt.
Stark had rung the changes with Saints starting at a 4-3-3 line-up. Robbo, Dods, McCluskey and Maxwell made up the back line with Reilly in the middle and JR and Murray on the wings in midfield. Up front Hay played through the middle with Keigan on the right and Paddy on the left. And within a minute we almost took the lead when Reilly sent a neat ball to Hay on the left. He cut into the box but his shot was just over the bar.
That set the tone for the opening stages with Saints showing a lot more fight and attack-mindedness. Robbo had a good run in 5 minutes when he went the length of the park only to be brought down by Andrews - showing all the characteristics and Airdrieesque attention Ferranti seem to have introduced to their play. From the free-kick, Hartley sent a low shot just wide of the goal.
Maxwell became the first name into the book for a nothing offence in 12 minutes - ironic given the number of deliberate handballs from Dadi which dominated the game. Saints still looked good though and Keigan got onto a corner at the back post only for his low drive to go across the goalmouth in the 19th minute.
Three minutes later and Livvy had their first effort when Main pulled off a great block from a Dadi drive from a corner. And then 4 minutes after that Makel in midfield was given all the time he needed to run through the Saints defence and let loose a 25-yard drive which came back off the crossbar. Livvy were back in the game now and with Saints taking too long on the ball and failing to string any passes together we were struggling. Livvy forced a series of corners all of which seemed netbound.
But in the 37th minute we came close again when McCluskey found Hay who cut across the goal and sent a cracking drive which Broto did well to fist away. The away keeper had to repeat his fisting just before the break when he had to look sharp to deal with a Maxwell header.
The half-time break saw the fog start to creep down but visibility was still pretty good - more than can be said for the action on the park. Lardboy livened things up 5 minutes after the restart with a disgraceful challenge on Parker. Then McCluskey picked up a yellow for a first offence. The fog was starting to hide the action on the other side of the pitch by now although Paddy was obviously having a stormer as in the 55th minute he sent a great cross into the box only for Hay to sclaff it skywards. Ferranti meanwhile were limited to some long-range shots which didn't cause any trouble to Main or the defence.
Bollan was in on Parker on the hour mark although still escaped without a caution. From the free-kick Dods got a good header in but the ball went across the goalmouth. McCluskey was next up but his header was well wide, as the game became more and more scrappy with conditions starting to take over.
Still we had our best chance to take the lead 20 minutes from time when Murray, Parker and Robbo combined well on the right before the latter sent a great cross into the box where it met an unmarked Chris Hay who somehow pulled a Paddy and headed the ball wide with the goal gaping. McCluskey went off and Marco came on but by this time the fog was too thick. Saints had the ball in the net from a JR corner a couple of minutes later (either Maxwell or Dods) but the goal was chalked off for a shove. By this time though ref Tom Brown was consulting with the dugouts and it wasn't really a surprise that he called a halt with 12 minutes left.
MoM for me was Hartley although with the exception of Paddy, who looked lost, there wasn't a bad performance tonight. Going by past experience it's unlikely that this will mark a big turnaround but one thing's for sure - we've got sod all to fear next week.
So seven days and we do it all again. Expect blizzards this time.
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