Saints 1 Brechin 2
Team : Cuthbert, Robertson, Forsyth, El Sid, Dods,
Maxwell, Parker, Foxy, Mixu, Bernard, Malone
Subs : Nelson, Baxter,Stevenson, Ferry, Hay
I've been writing these reports for several years now and I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times a game can be summed up in one word. Well tonight there's another one - the word of course being Pish. Actually no, correct that - let's make it 2 words. TOTAL PISH!. Or if you want the verbose description - TOTAL PISH PERFORMANCE BY A BUNCH OF USELESS GITS WHO ARE NOT ONLY NOT FIT TO WEAR THE SACRED SAINTLY BLUE BUT WOULDN'T KNOW THE WORD TEAMWORK UNLESS IT CAME UP AND BIT THEM ON THEIR SLOW FAT ARSES. There that's better. Actually no it's not - it doesn't even begin to describe how tonight's shambles shattered the delicate leftovers of the pre-season optimism that had already looked shaky from Saturday. It's as if no lessons were learnt with goals lost the same way and a total inability to piece together the flowing football we've been looking forward to.
Saints just can't play a through ball along the ground any more - it's either chucked out to the wingers or punted forward always with the same aim of using Mixu to lay it off for a runner. Unfortunately Mixu can't head the ball any more and apart from Parker there is never any support. As for the defence - well just read the last report to see where our weaknesses lie. For some unknown reason Dods and Maxwell aren't working together this season. Perhaps it's to do with Mavis being out but whilst they can win the ball (although Templeman slaughtered them in the air tonight) distribution is nothing sort of pathetic.
But what about the game? Well ok here's the summary. Foxy replaced Ferry in midfield and Flash took over from Lethargic Lovering at left-back after the latter failed a fitness test. With a decent crowd in the ground we started well enough and in the first minute Robbo found Parker who skinned his man and put a cross into the box which Mixu headed well wide. Then it all went terribly wrong. Brechin went up the park a minute later and forced a corner. The ball came over, wasn't cleared properly out of our box and when it broke to Jablonski at the edge of the area his low drive went through the ruck of bodies in the area (possibly taking a deflection en route) and past the unsighted Cat and into the net. Cue stunned silence.
But all was not lost and within a minute a Foxy free kick into the box saw Dods and Mixu have chances blocked and saved respectively. See we could play well when we tried. Unfortunately Dods at the other end a couple of minutes later played a suicidal passback to the Cat who had to look sharp to tackle the Brechin striker in his own area. That was it in terms of chances early doors - the Cat held a City free kick and a good Robbo cross into the box found Mixu fouling the defender. Stand-in skipper Maxie had a header go wide in the 21st minute from a Foxy free kick and then two minutes later a Saints cross from the left was headed clear as far as Eddie. His low cross into the box was missed by Mixu but when it broke Foxy had a neat lob which went just over the bar. Next up was a good move which saw Bernard and Kiegan link well to set up Parker on a run down the left. He got into the box but his low angled drive went across the goal and just wide of the near post.
Mixu had another header miss the target and a Foxy long-range effort went well over the bar before the world caved in 32 minutes. A simple City break found Maxwell struggling - he was left behind and the City player got into the box where he went down under a challenge by the Cat - it looked a soft penalty but if the sides had been reversed no doubt we'd be claiming it as well. As it was Clark awarded the spot kick and Fotheringham sent the Cat the wrong way to make it 2-0 and the Saints players' heads sink even further. That was the sign for us to become really pish - passes went astray, nobody seemed willing to move into position or take responsibility and the home fans were becoming more than a tad pissed off.
Bernard picked up a booking in 41 minutes but within a minute the ref was involved in even more controversy. From a City corner we broke up the park. The ball was flicked onto Keigan and he ran through on goal only to be felled by the City keeper. There had been a suspicion of offside but Clark had waived play on and awarded the spot kick. But the linesman still waived his wee banner and once the penalty furore died down and the ref spoke to him he changed his mind to award a free kick to City for an alleged push by a Saints player. Whilst there wasn't much point in arguing the decision (puzzlement was the main emotion) it was hard to see how the linesman saw the infringement but the referee who was closer to the play managed to miss it.
Ach well you just knew it was going to be one of those nights and not even a booking for ex-Saintee Marco for kicking the ball away just before the looooong interval brought much cheer. Yup the half-time interval stretched for a full half-hour complete with pleas for replacement officials (don't know why yet). Unfortunately they found one and the chances of the game being abandoned were lost.
So to the 2nd half and absolutely no hint of an improvement from the wasters in blue. A Foxy free kick in 48 minutes saw Malone and Mixu miss the header and then 3 minutes later a long ball from Maxwell to Parker saw a cross into the box which Malone just headered wide. Bernard was next to put a cross into the box which Mixu headed down for El Sid and Parker to go for with the latter turning and shooting wide. But overall the midfield were sitting far too deep against a part-time side who had all but shut up shop in the 2nd half to defend a 2-goal lead and hit us on the break (guess they know where our weaknesses are eh?)
On the hour Hay came on for Foxy and moved to the left wing with Malone dropping to the middle of the park - I'm sure Hay had one or two kicks at the ball in the last half-hour but if he can't make an impression on the crappy Saints side that was on the park there's not much hope for him. And he's worth 20 goals a season apparently? We had chances - well rather we had half-hearted efforts at goal which usually went wide of target with Mixu, Bernard and Sid all guilty. Even Maxwell who the boo-boys were well and truly targeting had a good run end in a shot being blocked. Baxter replaced Dods (who looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up) in 75 minutes and strangely after that Maxwell, with Robbo alongside in defence played a touch better - not much but he seemed to have a bit of confidence back. Of course we were still playing like 11 blokes who hardly know one another - crosses into the box galore but the City defence picked them all up easily enough and even when we tried a shot it was usually blocked or went wide.
Still to their credit Saints pressed on as City tired noticeably. Baxter, Forsyth and Malone were supplying plenty of balls but the guys in the middle, Mixu, Hay (who makes Paddy look like an exhibitionist), Bernard and Sid were all out of ideas. Four minutes from time Flash had a long-range effort go over then two minutes later Parker wide right was brought down in the box - no penalty and for a change no booking either. In the 89th minute though after another Saints attack was cleared, the ball came to Flash on the edge of the box and his cracking chip went over the keeper and into the net to make it 2-1. After that we pressed for an equaliser but it wasn't to be our night and to be honest we didn't deserve it. We came close though in injury time when a Baxter cross from the right was headed down by Mixu to Malone at the back post. He took a couple of touches but was off balance and the shot went over the bar.
MoM tonight? Forget it. Christ knows where we go from here. Walking out of the ground tonight you couldn't help but hark back to another cup-tie a long time ago at Ochilview, it was that depressing. There were some pass marks tonight - Malone, Baxter, Parker and Flash were all OK but it's the experienced players that are letting us down. Maybe Stark should drop them and play the kids. Or maybe a change is required behind the scenes to look at the defence coaching. One thing is for sure - something has to change or else we could be well adrift of the top of the table - never mind doing anything in a cup competition.
Brechin come back in four days time - things had better improve.
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