Saints 1 Ross County 1 League Table Here
Team : Cuthbert, Robbo, Marco, McCluskey, Murray,
Maxwell, McCann, Reilly, Hartley, Paddy, Russell
Subs : Main, Keigan, Stevenson, Dods, Hay
So that's it - just when we thought we were starting to dominate the games and looking like we might have a chance, not only did we concede the first goal of the season but some poor defending, even worse finishing and the return of the Curse of the Penalty Kicks saw us drop a couple of points and slip 4 behind Falkirk. To say the least there's a lot of pressure on the players to turn out a good preferably winning performance in a week's time. Peaso again missed out due to a groin injury and Tommy's broken finger saw him miss out with Marco taking over on the left flank. Chris Hay got a place on the bench.
Within a minute we had our first decent chance when Russell forced a corner. Hartley sent the ball over for Russell to knock it back from the far post to McCann who blasted it over the bar. But that was it with Saints looking more and more nervous and content to play short passes without showing any over eagerness to try and attack. The game itself was pretty scrappy with a lot of nasty fouls (Robbo suffering mainly) and more than a few dodgy offsides. Paddy had our next chance in 15 minutes after a Russell corner left him with a free header. But his weak effort was easily held by Bullock.
A couple of minutes later, Russell had a great run on the left into the box and sent a low drive across goal but as usual there was a lack of blue shirts in the box. Then in 20 minutes we had by far the best effort. Hartley had a great run through the middle of the park and sent a neat pass to Paddy. He got past the middle of the Ross County defence and into the box but for some reason took a couple of extra touches and tried to round the keeper ending up with a narrow angled shot which was cleared off the line. Easily his worst miss this season.
At the other end Stephen McGarry, looking suspiciously offside, got onto the end of a long ball and sent a shot wide. Then Reilly set up Robbo who had a good shot blocked before JR sent the rebound over the bar. From the corner Ross County broke up the park and Saints gave a hint of things to come with a Murray pass being left by McCann (having a poor game) and Reilly allowing County to break through and send a shot across goal just wide.
But with the home fans getting nervous on the half-hour mark we got the break. Marco made a great run down the left wing and sent a cracking cross over for McCann to head home totally unmarked to make it 1-0.
Unfortunately we were still spending to much time with short passing and didn't look like capitalising on the lead. Five minutes from the break Marco sent another cross over and Robbo missed a good chance from 4 yards out and then a similar cross a couple of minutes later saw Robbo miss and then Murray's follow-up easily held.
There was a slower start to the second-half. A JR corner in 47 minutes saw Paddy miss a chance and then McCann's shot was deflected over the bar. It was Marco's chance 4 minutes later when Paddy sent a good ball to McCann running through the middle. He passed the ball to the left for Marco coming into the box only for him to miss the shot. Robbo saw a header blocked in 55 minutes and then the same player saw his rebound shot saved.
A minute later Irvine brought down JR 30 yards out. He took the free kick and slipped it to Russell who went on a run and saw a good shot held. But with the Saints midfield and strikers firing blanks, it was Cuthbert who was called into action next tipping a County shot over the bar after they broke up the park. And then on the hour mark the Saints defence was finally beaten after some pressure saw McCluskey, Maxwell and Murray fail to clear their lines. Cuthbert managed to save the initial effort but neither he nor Robbo could stop Bayne putting the rebound into the net to make it 1-1.
After that the heads went down and we looked well dodgy. Within 5 minutes Parker was on for McCann and Saints moved to a 4-4-2 formation with Russell wide left. But in the middle both Hartley and Reilly were having poor games with the basic skills seemingly deserting them. Russell was fouled on the edge of the box only for Hartley to send a curling free-kick over the bar and then Cuthbert had to make a good save after County managed to break through despite being possibly offside.
Parker on the right had a cracking run up the right and cut into the box and sent a good ball over for Murray to head only for Bullock to save. A couple of minutes later, Stark showed how bad things were by actually substituting Paddy and bringing on Chris Hay who to say the least was at least willing to mix it a bit. But 15 minutes from time we knew it wasn't to be our day. Marco played a 1-2 with Russell on the left side only to be bundled over in the box. Kenny Clark pointed to the spot straight away and JR stepped up to take the kick. And saw Bullock save it easily and managed to hold onto the ball at the 2nd attempt as Saints failed to follow-up.
Saints seemed to give up after that. Sure we kept on trying to put some pressure on but with the midfield failing to follow up and support any attacks. Stevenson replaced Russell but apart from a disallowed goal for each side in the closing 10 minutes (Saints for pushing in the box and the County effort for offside) there wasn't really any goalmouth action. Murray picked up a booking in the last minute as well for a nothing foul.
Not much to say. MoM was an easy choice with Marco having a decent game on the left. Cuthbert, Maxwell, Murray and Russell get pass marks as well but the rest (especially the midfield) need to get their fingers out if we've going to stand a chance of getting to top spot.
Still we didn't want to go to Brockville full of confidence anyway....
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| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Falkirk | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 5 | 19 |
| Saints | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 15 |
| Caley Thistle | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 4 | 13 |
| Ayr United | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| St Mirren | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 14 | 10 |
| Ross County | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 9 |
| Clyde | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6 |
| Arbroath | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 5 |
| Queen of the South | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 4 |
| Alloa | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 2 |
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