Temple Of Saints - A Revelation!!

Bells League Division One 16/11/2003

Brechin 0 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, J-Ro, Flash, Fotheringham, Dods, Maxwell, Peaso, M-Ro, Mixu, Sid, McLaughlin
Subs : Nelson, Hay, Baxter, Malone, Stevenson

Sunday's aren't meant for the sort of religious experiences such as you get from following Saints but today was as close to a miraculous revelation as is likely this season. I mean, let's face it, if we can still take all three points after playing so poorly, the title is as good as ours. With Mavis and Bernard out Maxie took over the skipper's armband for the day. Fotheringham was the surprise choice to take over the number 4 jersey but it allowed El Sid to stick with his wide right role. Even on the bench there was no place for Keigan but Beaky returned to the squad.

To say that the first half was a nervous affair from Saints is a bit of an understatement as we struggled to come to terms with an uneven pitch and a home side who refused to give us any time on the ball - the end result being that 99% of Saints passes went up in the air. It's not as though we were dominating the aerial game. A Peaso cross in the first minute was easily cleared and 2 minutes later only the woodwork kept out a City header from Templeman after he outjumped Mixu to get on the end of a freekick. It wasn't until the 6th minute that we managed a shot on target. J-Ro made about his only effective run of the 90 minutes down the right channel and cut the ball back across the goalmouth to Peaso who turned and tried to chip Hay in the Brechin goal. The keeper held his effort easily though.

The game was pretty even end-to-end stuff with the best of the goalscoring chances falling to Brechin. Cuthbert kept us in it in the 9th minute when he somehow managed to get across his goal to tip a shot wide after the Saints defence went missing at a Brechin corner. We were seemingly unable to master the basics at this time and even when we got some room to move about in midfield, the first or second touch seemed to be deserting the Saints players. It wasn't until the 23rd minute that we threatened the home side's goal again when McLaughlin broke down the left and set up Forsyth, who played a great cross into the box which Peaso just lost out to the keeper on. Three minutes later and Peaso forced another good save after getting onto the end of another McLaughlin cross. And 2 minutes after that he turned provider with a good cross in which ended with a Mixu header being held. The match was still scrappy but the team was starting to settle and control the play.

Our best chance of the game so far came in the 33rd minute when McLaughlin and Flash combined on the left wing to put a great cross over to the back post and the head of Mixu, but for the 2nd game in a row, the striker contrived to stick what looked like a simple header well over the bar. It wasn't all one-way traffic though and a minute after that Brechin broke up the park and put a dangerous cross into Cuthbert's box. He saved the shot but failed to hold onto the ball and it was eventually cleared off the line. The Cat had another couple of saves before we broke up the park and forced a corner which Maxwell headed wide.

But two minutes from the interval, Saints broke the deadlock. A good break from the middle of the park found Mixu who played a neat ball out left to McLaughlin. He sent over a brilliant cross to the back post where Peaso rose up to head the ball down into the bottom corner to make it 1-0. City tried to fight back before the break but despite a couple of attempts, Cuthbert was in outstanding form.

The second-half got underway in some of the poorest floodlighting I've seen in years. Even worse was the fact that Stark had obviously failed to deliver the proverbial kick up the arse that his players plainly required. Within a couple of minutes of the restart a poor Cat clearance had left Forsyth caught in possession and Brechin on the attack and forcing a corner. It was cleared but showed how nervy both the players and large travelling support were. Peaso had a chance to ease those nerves in the 52nd minute after he was fouled on the edge of the Brechin box but despite his freekick rounding the defensive wall, the ball also rounded the goal, enclosure and probably several crypts at the Cemetery End.

In 57 minutes we had another good chance to increase our lead when some good build-up play on the right saw the ball squared across the pitch to an unmarked McLaughlin who cut into the box and hit a good shot just over the crossbar. Peaso had a header go wide of the target next before Brechin had a chance to draw level on the hour mark after J-Ro handled on the edge of the area (well it made a change from another sodding first-time punted clearance up the park which you could bet an Old Firm debt on would go to an opposition player). Anyway the resulting freekick came back off the Saints wall and from it we were able to counter-attack through Sid in a flowing move which ended in a half-decent shot from Mixu which was held.

The referee managed to infuriate the Saints support in 64 minutes when he waived play on following a foul on Foxy which left the Saints midfielder down. It worsened when he subsequently failed to spot City's pass go over the touchline. When the cross eventually came over it was a relief to see Templeman header the ball wide and allow Foxy to get treatment.

Baxter replaced Foxy a minute later on the right wing with Sid moving into the middle of the park. Saints were starting to create some chances now. Maxwell had a header go close and then after McLaughlin was hauled down as he broke from the middle (an offence so blatant that even the ref had to book the Brechin defender) Peaso got onto the end of the freekick but had no room to turn. Brechin had some pressure but only threatened through the mistakes made by the Saints defence including a nervous few minutes when we seemed unable to clear our lines properly. The frustration in our play led to Mixu picking up a yellow card for persistent (read niggly) fouling. Ex- Saints player

Charlie King (easily Brechin's best player today) had City's last real chance when he broke through but the Cat made a good save at his feet. M-Ro was replaced by Stevenson and Peaso by Hay towards the closing stages of the match. The game was still scrappy - Peaso was hacked down on the edge of the box (about 6 inches away from a penalty) and Sid had a shot ricochet around the area from the set-piece. Hay almost scored with his first touch after latching onto a slack pass in the home defence but his angled shot went across the goal and wide. Maxwell had another header over the bar (guess what he's going to be practicing this week) whilst Ryan the Rocket had a first-time shot go well wide as were cruised to the three points.

Not the best performance we'll see this season but we got the three points. It's hard to see where the side was going wrong today - it just seemed as though too many players were off their game. Brechin's tactics of closing us down certainly worked to an extent as did the relatively poor playing surface. But if we're to continue this run players like Mixu, M-Ro and Sid have to start turning in the good performances week after week. Having said that McLaughlin was outstanding today (and my MoM) whilst Maxwell and Cuthbert both had good games and Peaso had another fine shift.

As for next week, we'll definitely need to improve on this...

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