Temple Of Saints - Easy 3 points

Bells League Division One 19/10/2002

Saints 2 Fake Saints 0 League Table Here

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

Perhaps, just perhaps there are some signs of hope. It's by no means a convincing win and in places Saints were still looking a bit dodgy but there were times today when the players on the park showed the sort of fight and passion that have been missing. A couple of great goals and a clean sheet helped matters. Stark finally rang the changes with Paddy and McCann dropping to the bench and Stevenson and Keigan getting the call-up. Reports suggested we were heading for a 4-4-2 formation but it was more like a 3-5-2 line-up. Elsewhere Ian Maxwell recovered from a calf strain to play and youngster Mark Ferry kept his place on the bench.

The game started evenly but Saints still looked nervous and unsettled in defence with Mendes and Cameron getting too much of the ball and room to move. Maxwell and Murray both looked shaky, whilst in midfield Reilly was caught napping a couple of times. We looked reasonably effective up front and the first chance came from our first corner in the 3rd minute. A nice goalmouth scramble resulted and McCluskey's header was knocked down and Hay's shot was cleared off the line. Two minutes later Hartley and Hay broke up the park, with the latter crossing from the left and JR's shot being saved by Roy in the away goal. The next attack came from the right side with Robbo beating his man to get a good cross over. Keigan met it in the box but his volley was saved.

St Midden broke up the park and Main made a good save. In 10 minutes Main saved our skins again when Murray and McCluskey mucked up a clearance and allowed the ball to break to Mendes. In the end we managed to keep the Fake Saints to a corner. Murray made another mistake a couple of minutes later and Mendes broke through again forcing Main to make another couple of good saves. Saints were restricted to a Hay shot which went over the bar. Marco had a good run up the left and his cross nearly ended in an own goal. But St Midden had more of the pressure with the Saints defence caught sleeping. We seemed unable to hold the ball and the nerves began to show in the stands.

Keigan had a couple of good runs to the byeline and managed to cut the ball back but either there was no blue shirt waiting or else St Midden closed us down. Main dropped a St Midden corner with 25 minutes gone but Saints forced their way back up the park and got a couple of corners with the best one ending in a McCluskey header being saved. Defensively though we still looked too static and the St Midden forwards were causing us plenty of problems. The worst moment came in the 36th minute when Main punched a corner clear - it fell to Ricky Gillies whose shot came back off the bar.

But then it all changed. A quick break forward 3 minutes later saw Reilly feed the ball through the middle to JR. He ran onto it into the box despite being held back by the Paisley defender and made no mistake in slotting the ball past Roy to make it 1-0. And two minutes later we doubled the lead when the ball was fed to Hay on the edge of the box. He cut inside, beat 3 or 4 defenders, was upended, got up, tripped up, kept control of the ball and from the narrowest of angles drove the ball into the net. Definite candidate for goal of the month.

Second-half saw Mark Ferry come on to replace Hay who'd been suffering from a dead leg for most of the first half. Stevenson moved up front to partner Parker. We started well and made some good runs without really being able to penetrate the Paisley defence. We had one good chance with a free kick on the left after Parker was upended for the umpteenth time. JR's effort was cleared and Reilly's effort was blocked. The same thing happened a couple of minutes later one the right side. The game was fairly even without any side forcing any real chances.

But on the hour we should have made it 3 but the woodwork denied us. A string of over 20 passes in midfield ended with the ball being sent out to Marco on the left. He cut into the box and cut the ball back to Ryan the Rocket 12 yards out. Despite having Ferry unmarked on his right, the Rocket sent a good drive past Roy only for the ball to come back off the bar. Main made a good save at the other end from a Cameron header and then Maxwell came close with a header from a JR free kick. Then with 17 minutes left, Ferry on the right side of midfield sent a great pass through the defence for Robbo to run onto but his shot was just over the bar.

Paddy came on for Stevenson (who'd picked up a couple of kicks from the Fake Saints thugs) for the last quarter of an hour and within a couple of minutes he showed just how little confidence he has these days. JR and Reilly did some good work in the middle and sent the ball to the right. Robbo got it, beat a couple of tackles and got to the byeline in the box. Keigan was on the edge of the 6yd box but the square pass beat the defence and keeper to reach Paddy at the back post. Yup Paddy, one yard out with no one between him and the goal and the ball at his feet. Somehow the maestro managed to try and CHIP the keeper. Roy easily held the ball and despite Paddy following up with a barge, the ball still failed to cross the line. Absolute farce.

Maxwell, Ferry and Parker all had decent shots before the end of the game but in the end it stayed 2-0 with the only controversy being a blatant piece of cheating by the St Midden no 15 sub who did a Rivaldo and faked an injury. Pathetic and just makes the win all the sweeter.

MoM for me was Keigan who ran his arse off for 90 minutes and set up plenty of chances. Mentions too for Hay, Hartley, Marco and Stevenson whilst Main and McCluskey played well at the back. Stark's not out of the woods yet - the reaction in the stands before the first goal sums that up but there is hope.

Nice to smile on a Sat night for a change.

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