Temple Of Saints - Bloody Lucky

Bells League Division One 14/12/2002

Saints 2 QoS 2 League Table Here

Team : Main, Robbo, Forsyth, Dods, Murray, Maxwell, Hay, Reilly, JR, Panther, Tommy
Subs : Cuthbert, McCann, Paddy, Parker, Marco

Saints are nothing if not unpredictable. After the fun and games of last week's win at Broadwood I actually had a small amount of optimism going into the game today. That didn't last but in the end a couple of very late goals might just have saved Stark's job after another dire home performance and some woeful tactical and team selections.

With Mark Baxter missing out with a calf knock Robbo was recalled early to the starting line-up although given the total lack of fitness he displayed in the first half you have to question why McClune wasn't given a run out instead. As it was Robbo wasn't even put at right-back and instead moved to the centre of defence whilst Murray (the usual central defender) played as full-back.

The game started evenly enough with Saints mounting a couple of attacks without really threatening. Queen of the South mounted their first real attack in the fifth minute and gave a hint of what was to come when a slack Maxwell back pass was fluffed by Main and fell to a Queens player who sent a chip in towards the goal only for Dods to manage to get back and punt the ball clear off the line. Three minutes later the Queens no 7 saw a good 25-yard effort go just over the bar after being given far, far too much room in midfield.

They finally broke the deadlock in the 13th minute. Murray lost the ball on the far side and McLaughlin broke down the right and sent a low cross into the box where a totally unmarked Queens attacker had all the time in the world to turn and hit a low drive past Main into the net to make it 1-0.

Okay, so it was a bad goal to lose but given the so-called wonderful spirit that exists in the Saints dressing room you'd expect the boys to just roll up their sleeves and show some fight to get back into the game. And for a while it looked like we might. Within 3 minutes Panther had won a corner on the right. Reilly sent a decent cross into the box, the ball was headered into the 6 yard area where Hay saw his attempt at a shot cleared off the line for Hartley to miss the follow-up. Straight from that though Queen of the South broke up the park, with Robbo left for dead as his lack of pace and fitness showed through. Luckily though Main's save broke up the attack.

Flash was next to try his luck running into the box onto the end of Reilly free-kick which had been flicked on by Tommy. He was just too slow though and settled for a corner - as expected we got sod all from that as well. Two minutes later and Tommy was fouled on the left. JR sent the free kick into the box and Panther saw a good header easily saved. But the best chance came in 23 minutes when Tommy latched onto a slack backpass from a Queens defender and broke through 1 on 1 on goal. Unfortunately the Flying Pig came out to narrow the angle and instead of rounding him (admittedly that might have taken Tommy the rest of the day), the Dane sent a low drive which went inches wide of the post.

After that Saints seemed to lose their way and became more like the headless chickens that we've been used to in recent home performances. Reilly was one of the worst culprits being caught in possession in midfield as the game became more and more scrappy. Main had one more save to make in the first half but up front the passing, crossing, finishing and positioning was just woeful and the boos were starting to come from the East Stand long before the break.

The interval saw Stark make some tactical switches and when the second half started, Robbo moved to right back and Murray switched to the middle of the defence. Within a minute we nearly drew level when Tommy latched onto a loose ball when a Queens defender slipped. He sent a good cross in from the right and Hay's header had the Flying Pig beaten but came back off the bottom of the post. Even then JR was in on the rebound but his effort went across the goalmouth.

Chances after that were pretty sparse. Tommy and Reilly did some good work in the middle and Reilly passed to Hay who turned and had a decent effort saved by the Pig. By now though the sparse away support were chanting "Theres only one Billy Stark" whilst the home support alternated between calls for the manager's head and quiet depression. We were making the odd chance though as Queen of the South seemed happy to try and hit us on the break. In 58 minutes Panther won a corner on the right. From it the ball was knocked out but only to Murray who sent a good cross over to the other side of the park where Tommy came in and had a good low drive well saved by the Flying Pig.

Parker replaced Panther (and you can guess how well the decision to remove our most effective midfielder was greeted). But despite the change, we weren't getting anything from the attacks. McCann came on for Dods 5 minutes later with Flash moving to left-back and Maxwell moving into the middle, but the best we could manage was a 25 yard effort from a JR free kick which went well over the bar. Even when we did get into the box though as McCann did a couple of minutes later, we couldn't finish (in this instance Kiegan just couldn't get the room to get a shot in).

But with 18 minutes left it became a nightmare. Hay hit a decent ball into the box and JR saw a shot blocked with claims for handball. From it Queen of the South broke up the park and within 5 or 6 passes a slick move, run down their left wing and cross from McLaughlin saw the ball come into the 6 yard box for an unmarked Bowey to tap home, make it 2-0 and life very uncomfortable for the Saints dugout.

After that it was all huff and puff to little effect. Queen of the South almost got a 3rd when Parker lost the ball and they broke up the park but sclaffed the shot. But the whole game so far for Saints was summed up with 5 minutes left when a free kick into the Queens box bounced twice, was knocked back to Reilly and he blasted it over the bar. Hardly a challenge or a move to try and get the ball.

Hay had a shot blocked and Tommy sclaffed one well wide before with 2 minutes left a Tommy corner was cleared to Hartley who chipped it back into the box where it took a bounce before Ryan McCann shot and blasted it into the roof of the net. Even then the "Stark must go" chants continued.

Thanks to the Spanish influence in the away side Saints finally got some luck. In the 93rd minute, Parker and McCann linked well on the right and the latter sprinted up the park, passed the ball to Hay on the edge of the box. He turned and sent a cross into the six yard box where (just to prove the Saints Theory of Unpredictability) Reilly scored with a brilliant diving header. He was injured in the process and Paddy came on as sub but within seconds of the restart the ref blew for full time.

On the park MoM for me was Tommy although Panther and Maxwell both had decent games. But there was a real lack of fight for a game which we really had to win. Add to that the strange tactics and reliance on player like Robbo who were plainly not fit and you can see why the manager, even allowing for the late fightback, is going to be under a lot more pressure over the next week.

Still it's only St Midden next Saturday.......

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