Temple Of Saints - Panda Punishers

Bells League Division One 03/08/2002

St Midden 0 Saints 2 League Table Here

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

Rod Almighty what's this? A win? On the first game of the season? Yup we're not dreaming - an excellent start to the season and even if we did occasionally look a bit slack at the back and had to rely on the Cat for a few saves, a Keigan goal in the first half and a good contender for goal of the season from JR in the 2nd were more than enough to seal the points and shut up a certain endangered species (the Panda not the St Midden fan although these days they're as numerous).

Paddy survived his ankle knock to play whilst "Tonto" McCann came into midfield ahead of Ryan Stevenson who settled for a place on the bench alongside Russell and Dods. As expected though it was pretty much a 3-5-2 formation that took the park with Marco and Robbo on the flanks, whilst Paddy and Parker were on striking duty. Of course there was the traditional Love St pre-match "entertainment" with a Panda on the park apparently indulging in it's love for rubber sheep whilst attempting a Masonic impersonation (as one suit leg rolled up). Always said these St Midden fans were closet Huns. Anyway with some strange slaggings of both Main and Hartley out of the way the only feeling you could be left with is that there are some sad folk at Love St and some very tolerant away fans.

Anyway to the match and we started brightly enough with a St Midden defender forced into a bad passback in the 2nd minute to give us the first of several corners. JR took the kick but the ball was headed wide. Still we were looking fairly slick with some nice passing and movement off the ball especially from Parker and Marco. The play wasn't all one way but when threatened the Saints defence looked more than capable.

Parker and JR combined in the 10th minute to win another corner but this time McCluskey's shot was well held, then JR saw a free kick cleared. We seemed to drop back into our shell a bit for the next period and the home side forced a couple of corners although there was no real danger with the only action being a booking for their no 2 for a bad foul on Tonto. But in 18 minutes Saints took the lead after Keigan got onto the end of a chipped ball and sent a neat chip himself past ex-Saints keeper Ludovic Roy and just inside the post to make it 1-0. Two minutes later the Saints-supporting experience was summed up beautifully with the first cry of the season of Championees - can't beat it eh?

Saints started to dominate now and Kiegan nearly got through again 5 minutes later after a good JR pass. Then Paddy and Tonto combined to allow Tonto to chip the ball into the box which was well cleared. Paddy himself chipped in with a 25-yard drive into the box which Roy held. We had more than enough to cheer on though as Main warmed up in front of the Saints fans - although the abuse he got from the main stand home supporters as he returned to the dugout was well out of order.

On the park and the half-hour mark saw JR run the length of the pitch with the ball only to settle for a corner. It came over and for a change we had someone at the back post (you'd almost think Stark had been paying attention last season), but Kiegan's drive was wide of the mark. Paddy had a header go over from a Marco cross and Keigan another couple of runs but the best thing about it all was that we looked like a team for the first time in ages. Of course the half had to finish on a low note and the Panda-Perverts forced a series of corners which Saints (and Cuthbert) struggled to deal with although ref Wullie Young's ability to continually add on injury time was all the more amazing.

We nearly got off to the perfect start after the break when a great Hartley pass saw Keigan just miss out on in the box with only Roy to beat. Then 5 minutes into the half JR got into the box and sent a low cross over from the right only for Kiegan's overhead attempt to go wide. A corner a minute later saw Paddy have a shot saved by Roy at his right-hand post but not held and the Paddy follow-up shot cleared off the line. But the pressure eventually told with what has to be a contender for goal of the season.

After a St Midden attack broke down, Marco cleared the ball to JR who started a run from inside his own half. With Paddy breaking to his left, Hartley kept on going through the middle before turning 4 Panda Perverts inside out and getting into the box, where he had time to stop, comb his hair, read the paper, have his highlights touched up, register for the anti-Panda league and check himself in the mirror before calmly slotting the ball past Roy to make it 2-0 - absolute class.

After that though we seemed to settle back and let the home side back into it. A break from a Saints corner saw Cuthbert the Cat forced to come out to make a good save and with the ball rolling free St Midden managed to miss the rebound. Then despite being a mile offside they got through on goal again only for Cuthbert to make another great save. Our only response to that was a McCluskey header from a JR corner which despite Roy failing to hold onto the ball, we didn't manage to capitalise on. The game was pretty scrappy with some nasty challenges going in. We also looked tired with Paddy in particular being caught in possession a few times. St Mirren missed a couple of sitters including a free header whilst we couldn't gain anything from our corners other than a 30-yard low JR drive which just went past the post.

Russell came on for Paddy as we tried to liven it up again but despite that Cuthbert was called into action a few more times in the last 10 minutes including one nasty moment where he dropped the ball although the defence cleared their lines. Stevenson came on for Tonto who whilst not doing anything wrong didn't stand out and Dods replaced JR, but our only other attempts on goal were a couple of Russell shots over the bar.

MoM for me was close. JR had a good game in midfield but Parker stood out up front and put in a million times more work and running than he ever did in the SPL. Defensively we were solid enough although got caught on the flanks a couple of times. Maxwell and Murray were fine whilst Reilly had a good game in the middle. The only real mystery after this is who the Panda is going to blame next time?

Ach it's just good to get a bloody win again!!!!!

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