Temple Of Saints - A bit better

Bells League Division One 23/11/2002

Ross County 0 Saints 0 League Table Here

Team : Main, McClune, Murray, Dods, Weir, Maxwell, Hay, Reilly, Parker, Ferry, Tommy
Subs : Cuthbert, Forsyth, Paddy, McCann, Panther

Well we didn't lose but then again we failed to finish off the umpteen chances that we somehow created and suffered from a midfield that seemed more than happy to spend the entire afternoon punting balls forward for the Ross County defence to mop up. On the plus side though the defence looked a lot more solid and the return of Weir was a major improvement. Weir and Parker came into the starting line-ups ahead of McCann and Arse Hartley. Mark Ferry held onto his place in midfield and Paddy had to settle for a spot on the bench alongside Ryan McCann. Saints lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Hay and Parker up front and Ferry moving to the right wing and Tommy on the left with Murray and Reilly in central midfield.

Anyone who doubted that Saints were a bit fired up for this one was proved wrong within the first 5 seconds as Reilly laid in a stupid tackle on the County player in the centre circle. Saints started brightly enough but there was little sign of any flowing play as both sides seemed happy to play a close marking game. Main was called into action to make a save in the 4th minute from the County winger. From his clearance though he sent Keigan through the middle only for Parker to take too long over his shot and allow the home defence to get back and cover.

The game was pretty much bogged down in midfield with little in the way of cutting passes or wing play. Hay had our next decent chance in the 10th minute but he managed to cut his shot well wide. Then a minute later, Mark Ferry broke through but saw his effort blocked. McClune was there for the follow-up but his shot went over the bar. We forced a series of corners and Ferry's cross in the 18th minute was missed by the County keeper and came to the back post only for Reilly's header to be blocked. Two minutes later Tommy won a free kick on the left. Reilly took it and his effort was blocked. Murray got to the loose ball but his shot went over the bar. Ross County came close as well though in the 25th minute when Maxwell was short with a passback. The ball went just wide.

Two minutes later and a short passback at the other end saw Hay get the loose ball but in the end the defence recovered and he ended up shooting under pressure and the ball went just wide. We had another corner on the half hour which came to Keigan at the back post. He took his time and hit a great shot which just dipped over the bar. Then County got onto a loose McClune passback. Main made a panicky clearance and was still trying to get back into his goal when the County midfielder had a dip from just inside the Saints half - luckily the ball went wide.

Keigan managed a couple of runs forward - one ended in a shot over the bar and one in a good save. But these were the exception as Saints seemed to be happy playing long balls over the County defence - too often these looked like panicky clearances with no attempt to find a Saints player. We had one more good chance before half-time when from a free kick the County keeper dropped the ball. Murray's shot was blocked and the ball broke to Ferry whose chip was met by Hay's header just wide of goal.

We started the 2nd half on the back foot. Murray picked up an undeserved booking for persistent fouling (more like being close to a County diver). And 3 minutes after the restart a County break saw the ball played across the park to their right and an unmarked Irvine was in the box and only the legs of Main blocked the shot and prevented a goal. Saints seemed to spark into life a bit and for a change we were putting some pressure on the County players in their own half.

In 55 minutes we won a free kick on the edge of the box. Reilly hit a neat chip just over the defending wall for Keigan to run onto but unfortunately the home keeper was able to get in and clear the ball. Hay had a couple of decent efforts blocked just after that. Paddy came on for Mark Ferry (another good game for him) in 63 minutes and won a corner almost immediately. Reilly took the kick and the ball was headed in for Hay who tried a backward header but sent the ball over the bar. The next corner saw the ball come to Parker at the back post. His shot was saved well and then he got the rebound and crossed it in only to see it headed off the line. Maxwell sent a header wide on the next corner and then from Parker's free kick in 78 minutes Maxwell saw a great header blocked before Tommy put the rebound over.

But 10 minutes from time it was down to Main to keep us in the game. A failure to clear their lines saw the ball fall to Roberston and from 20 yards out he hit a cracking shot which Main specatularly save tipping the ball wide with one hand. The resulting corner was easily held by Main and from it he threw the ball to Hay who started another Saints break - his low cross ended with nobody in the box though. Parker sent a decent shot just wide a couple of minutes later and then a minute after that Paddy broke into the box and slipped the ball to Tommy. The Dane was tackled well but got the ball into the box for a nice stramash to develop but when the ball broke Maxwell missed it completely. Tommy, Maxwell and Paddy combined well to set up Tommy who passed to Hay in the 6-yd box only for his shot to be saved brilliantly.

Parker was next up and his effort was also saved. Next we had Paddy with a decent penalty claim being turned down and then two minutes from time Paddy went on a great run beating 3 or 4 County players in the box before his shot was blocked and Hay's follow-up was saved. In injury time though County had a couple of decent efforts and corners ending up in a good shot from their sub which went across the goal and just wide.

There's no doubt it was an improvement over last week's shambles. The central midfield struggled to piece together any real attacks but for me that was more due to playing Murray and Reilly in the middle than anything else. On the plus side the defence looked good with Weir being my MoM. Maxwell and McClune had decent games and Ferry in midfield is looking more and more settled. Up front Hay had another off day but Keigan is getting closer to putting the ball into the net.

As for Stark - well it looks like he'll last another week at least.

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