Temple Of Saints - The 10-men win through
Bell's Cup 1st Round 02/08/2003
Accies 2 Saints 3 (aet)
Team : Cuthbert, Robertson, Flash, Stevenson, Dods,
Maxwell, Parker,Reilly, Mixu, Fotheringham, McLaughlin
Subs : Nelson, McCluskey, Baxter, Donnelly, Malone
Welcome
back to Scottish fitba and Saints traditional shaky cup performance. But 7
years ago we went to extra time against another Lanarkshire side in this
competition and ended up winning the league so perhaps the omens aren't
that bad. Mind you the odds were a bit more in our favour then - today's
trip to New Douglas Park saw us play with only 10 men from the fourth
minute onwards. Still it's performances like this that can make a season.
Billy Stark went with the same 11 that won through at East Fife last
weekend. There were changes on the bench though with new signing Simon
Donnelly getting the nod over the less than fit Chris Hay whilst Paul
Bernard's ankle injury kept him sidelined.
Saints went on the attack early in front of a decent crowd in both
stands (and the usual cheapskates on the hill / car park). In the 3rd
minute Fotheringham, whose passing is improving each game, set up Keigan
and his cross was flicked on from the near post by Ryan the Rocket to
Brian McLaughlin only for his shot to go over the bar. But within a minute
the odds had swung the other way. Hamilton broke up the park and with one
of their men through on goal, Forsyth who was backtracking pulled him to
the ground outside the box. Needless foul and up stepped Stuart Dougal (no
doubt laughing inside) with the straight red card to send him up the
tunnel. At least the free kick went well wide. Saints reshuffled the
defence with Maxwell going to the left side and Robbo to the middle.
Stevenson dropped back to cover the right flank which left us short in
midfield.
And
only 4 minutes later it was Mark Reilly's turn to watch himself after a
late challenge on an Accies defender ended with him picking up a booking.
Accies had their first corner after 12 minutes but it was easily cleared.
Saints were trying to get some flow back into their game but it didn't
help when Keigan was being constantly fouled without getting the decision
(Accies left back Forbes being the main culprit). Still we kept plugging
away. In 18 minutes Dods and McLaughlin forced the Accies keeper into a
couple of good saves and then a minute later a McLaughlin cross from the
right to the back post found Mixu who headed the ball just wide of the
post. Accies were limited to a cheeky chip shot which the Cat easily held.
Baxter came on for Stevenson after 23 minutes to shore up the right
flank after the Rocket had been skinned one too many times for Stark's
liking, so that meant the next Accies shot 3 minutes later came from the
left and went just over the bar. Parker had a good shot saved at the other
end and then after Fotheringham released Maxwell on the left, the defender
crossed to the back post for Keigan but his shot went over the bar (cue
another row from Mixu).
But it was the home side that took the lead in 40 minutes when a
seemingly harmless cross from the left was only half-cleared to the path
of Chris Aitken and he hit the flukiest dipping shot past the Cat from 18
yards out into the net to make it 1-0. Simon Donnelly came on after that
to replace McLaughlin on the left (seemed strange given the new boy only
has one good foot!!). That got some applause from the fans but a couple of
minutes later an even bigger reaction came when Dougal got into the act.
After
Keigan had a good run down the right and rounded Forbes the Accies player
blatantly pulled Parker to the ground. Off goes the whistle and up steps
Dougal. With Forbes looking sheepish, the ref decides to book Keigan for
diving. Needless to say that got a big reaction from the Saints fans
behind the goal. And as if that wasn't bad enough on the next attack
Parker proceeded to take the total piss out of the Accies defence on that
flank showing how good his close control can be. Great entertainment even
if it ended up in a throw-in - but not enough for Dougal who felt the need
to lecture Parker again despite no offence being committed.
Half-time came and went with the stadium announcer gleefully reading out
all the scores (strange how he didn't do it later in the game). Stark and
Weir obviously kicked some arses at the interval because from the start of
the 2nd half we were a lot more focussed.
Within a couple of minutes of the restart Foxy set up Keigan and his
shot went just wide. Then in 51 minutes Donnelly played a 1-2 with Maxwell
on the left and sent a good right-food angled shot just wide. Parker had a
good cross held by the keeper as Saints kept up the pressure (and Weir
started folding his arms in the dugout - surreal). Anyway on the hour mark
we got our reward. A throw in on the right saw the ball sent to Parker and
he proceeded to run to the byeline taking the piss out of the opposition
on the way before sending a great cross over to the back post for the
inevitable Mixu header to make it 1-1.
And
we nearly increased the lead a minute later when Parker's run to the
byeline cut back to Foxy whose shot was blocked before Reilly's attempt at
the rebound went out for a corner. Mixu (as in "Mixu Paatelainen,
what a fucking signing") headed that wide. Foxy had a decent looping
header saved before we took the lead in 69 minutes. Donnelly played a
lovely through ball in the middle and Keigan beat the offside trap to run
through 1 on 1 with the keeper. One low drive later we're 2-1 up and the
Saints fans start giving a lovely rendition of "We only need 10 men".
Well when the stadium announcer is that quiet what else were we to do?
Anyway 2-1 up and cruising it was time for the casual mistakes to creep
in. An Accies corner 15 minutes from time was only half cleared and a
volley back in was tipped onto the bar by the Cat. Then after another Foxy
header was saved a simply Accies attack down the left saw the ball crossed
into the middle for Brian McPhee to outjump Maxwell and send a 16-yd
looping header over the Cat and just into the net. Bollocks we thought.
The closing stages of normal time were fairly even. Parker had a good shot
go across the goal. Dods picked up a daft booking and Accies had a couple
of decent chances saved. Cue the final whistle and the huddles on the
pitch - and anyone that thinks Stark likes his arms folded didn't see his
body language as he got the players fired up for extra time. And it
worked. Despite both sets of players being tired Saints fitness began to
tell.
The
91st minute saw a Parker shot hit the side netting then Foxy and Parker
combined well for a shot to be blocked by the keeper's legs. Accies picked
up a booking for a foul on Reilly. The free-kick went into the box, Mixu
headed it down and Maxwell saw a good shot go just over the bar. Then
Reilly set up Parker for another run and his excellent cross just missed
Mixu's bonce. J-Ro had a cross which Mixu headed just wide before in the
104th minute we got the winner. A free kick into the box was knocked down
by Mixu and with Dods and Donnelly in the stramash it was the latter that
got there first to slot the ball home from 6 yards. Not the best goal
he'll ever get but a nice was to round off his Saints debut.
Of course we went to sleep a bit as Accies threw everything at us with
the Cat making a couple of good saves before we changed ends. (What Mr
Stadium Announcer - no update on the score?). Within a minute of the
restart Donnelly almost got another when a ball into the box saw the usual
Mixu knock down and Simon saw his angled shot from 2 yards out cannon back
off the post. Foxy had a good effort go wide from 25 yards out a few
minutes later - which also gave us the entertainment of seeing Derek
Ferguson's thug genes shine through as he started a barney with his own
teammates - he is the new Chic Charnley. After that we had a couple of
chances with the best a Parker chip which went just over the bar.
Despite
the lapses at times, given that Accies are a decent enough side and that
we were down to 10 men there wasn't really a bad performance on the day
from anyone in the team. Robbo and Dods were good in defence though Maxie
struggled a bit covering the left on his own. Reilly picked up a daft
booking but was solid. Foxy looked excellent and Donnelly had a good game
despite tiring towards the end. Up front Mixu showed his cult status once
more. But Man of the match for me was Keigan - best game in ages from the
striker and he ran his arse off for the full 120 minutes.
This is going to be a good year.
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