Temple Of Saints - Saints Blow It

Bells League Division One 03/01/2004

Saints 2 Brechin 2 League Table Here

Team : Nelson, J-Ro, Lovering, Sid, Dods, Maxwell, Parker, Reilly, Mixu, Peaso, McLaughlin
Subs : Cuthbert, Hay, Stevenson, Fotheringham, Malone

Happy New Year from Saints - yup it's 2004 and some things don't change. Well perhaps slightly different for this year. Yup instead of just being crap for the whole game the new Saints sees a nice early lead blown in the second-half. There wasn't a big crowd today but the home fans that stuck it out to the end left the board in no doubt of their feelings - its just a case of seeing whether the board are ready to make the necessary changes. With Bernard suspended for the shameful sin of trying to tackle a Caley Thistle player in the box last week, Sid moved to the no4 shirt with Reilly getting a starting slot. Ryan dropped to the bench whilst Parker got his first start in donkeys. In defence Lovering somehow kept the left-back jersey.

Saints started poorly though and despite a lack of clear-cut chances, Brechin had the early pressure with Saints 4-3-1-2 (Peaso sitting in behind the front pairing) formation failing to close down the opposition - Lovering in particular struggling on the left. The game was a fairly scrappy affair and it wasn't until the 8th minute that Saints had an opportunity to show what Sunday training does. Parker was fouled wide left and from the free-kick, we won our first corner which Sid duly wasted. Keigan was having a real battle with Walker, playing as a trialist for Brechin and came off worse in several early challenges. Brechin won a corner in the 11th minute which the defence cleared, then three minutes after that some good work by Keigan on the right ended in him winning a freekick from which Maxwell just missed the target with a header.

A minute later and J-Ro fired in a good cross but as we've seen all too frequently this season, there was a complete lack of blue shirts in the box. Two minutes later, McLaughlin saw a good cross blocked for a corner. From it, Sid and Peaso had shots blocked. And just to show that it wasn't a one-sided game, Brechin went up the park and although Dods beat Hampshire, he conceded the corner. From it the ball came over and Templeman headed it down for Hampshire who somehow managed to blast the ball over the bar from about 2 yards out.

Still in 23 minutes we settled the nerves slightly. Parker had a good run down the flank and won a corner. The ball came floating over to the edge of the box where Dods headed it down into the 6yd area where Peaso managed to turn and tap it over the line through a City defender's legs. Brechin went up the park but Nelson held the eventual cross .

And in the 28th minute we doubled the lead thanks to a great solo selfish build-up from Keigan. He got onto a J-Ro ball and went on a brilliant run up the right to the Brechin byeline before cutting back and crossing into the 6yd box where Mixu had a simple header into the net to make it 2-0. Saints were showing a bit of confidence and enjoyed a good spell of pressure before in the 35th minute, a corner came out to Mavis who played a neat chip over the defence to Sid but his shot was blocked. The ball came back to Keigan who fired it back over for Mixu. He forced a corner which came over to Keigan. His shot was cleared off the line before Maxwell's header was brilliantly saved. We seemed to be making plenty of chances and corners without really creating any real chances.

The 42nd minute saw a good long-ball from Sid find McLaughlin. He turned his man but the right-footed shot went wide of the post. The half ended poorly for Brechin with Templeman going off injured.

For the second forty-five I'm afraid its pretty frightening reading. Within 60 seconds of the restart, and without a Saints player getting a touch or even threatening to tackle, Brechin played a string of passes before Mitchell fired a 20-yarder into the top corner to make it 2-1.

Cue the nerves. It was another five minutes before Saints pieced together an attack. Parker and Sid linked to set up Peaso who won a corner. From it the ball came over and Keigan at the back post played it back to McLaughlin who set up Maxie who shot over. Brechin were still in the game though and with Lovering the weak link (I lost count of the number of times he was skinned). Mind you it wasn't much better on the other side and in the 57th minute a dangerous cross from Brechin's left was left by the defence and keeper and only just went wide. Saints had another excellent chance to cement their lead on the hour mark. Sid set up Keigan who crossed across the goal to Peaso. He hit it back over to an unmarked Keigan at the back post but the striker seemed to take too long deciding what to do and blasted his shot over the bar.

Ten minutes later though after some even play, the East Stand linesman proved that the season of goodwill wasn't over - at least where Brechin's Hampshire was concerned. Yup, down stayed the flag as the Brechin player latched onto a through ball down their right wing despite being absolutely miles, no light-years offside. Still credit to him for running through and calmly slotting the ball between Nelson's legs for the equaliser. J-Ro picked up a booking for protesting whilst the East Stand let rip at the match official, although there was plenty left in reserve for the players and manager.

That seemed to take the fight out of Saints with the midfield losing all shape and Lovering and Reilly coming in for stick for their apparent inability to pass the ball forward.

Hay replaced the poor Peaso with 15 minutes to go to little effect. Three minutes later Parker was almost crippled by a 2-footed challenge from Kevin Fotheringham (the culmination of a grudge match between the pair over the afternoon). The free-kick was wasted though and the grumblings grew. Sid had a cross blocked and Lovering managed to drop the ball at a shy to give it away to Brechin as the game wound down. Foxy came on for Sid with seven minutes left and three minutes later had a good case for a penalty when he was seemingly shoved in the box. A minute later the first of the "Billy, Billy GTF" chants started. However we still had one good chance left. A brilliant long ball from Foxy found Hay and his run and cross reached Parker who put the ball over the bar. Brechin broke up the park and had several chances to snatch the winner with King coming close before in the last minute Hay had a good run end in a shot just over the bar. But by then the boos and chants were all over the stand.

MoM for me was Maxwell - he did well covering at central defence and (too often) at left-back as Lovering was missing. Dods, Parker and wee Brian were good as well but the rest were woeful at times. Maybe they should extend this Sunday training to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc.

As for Vata - he won't fix the root cause of our problems - for that the board need to act.

This Match Report is copyright Temple Of Saints - not to be reused without permission. Contact webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk.

Remember to vote on todays ref Calum Murray send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk or just select a rating and press the button below ::

Saints Index Fixtures Index Grange Index

Any problems / comments mail webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk