Temple Of Saints - St Bernard Saves the Day

Bells League Division One 06/03/2004

Clyde 2 Saints 3 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, J-Ro, McQuilken, Vata, Weir, Maxwell, Sid, Reilly, Mixu, Bernard, McLaughlin
Subs : Nelson, Dods, Parker, Hay, Forsyth

Well for all the prophets of doom and gloom who expected our season to end today...you were oh so nearly right. But just as the proverbial skirt-wearing chanteuse was about to utter her first note up popped Paul Bernard to head the ball into her gob and keep her quiet for another wee while. It summed up a dramatic end-to-end match Saints had a decent support through at Broadwood despite being stuck in the main stand.

Plenty of changes on the park though with the return of Kevin Cuthbert to the Saints goal with Nelson dropping to the bench. J-Ro and Weir were back in defence and up front Mixu partnered Sid. For Dougie Donnelly's favourite side, ex-Saintee Stuart McCluskey lined up in defence whilst that most sacred of donkeys, Andy 'U-Boat' Smith was up front. The game got off to a poor start for Saints with the wind behind the mythical fourth stand seeming to cause problems. Clyde weren't great but seemed to be more confident knocking the ball about whereas we were happy to settle for clearing our lines. Mind you, for anyone in the Saints support who doubted the commitment of the players in blue, both Mavis and McQuilken knocked that on the head with some hefty challenges early on. All that did was practically guarantee that the 50-50 refereeing decisions were not going to go our way.

There wasn't much goalmouth action with only a Cuthbert punch to cause us any concern - especially has he wasn't helped by the ball coming off Mixu in the box. At the other end, Vata played a great crossfield ball to J-Ro. He sent the ball back over to McQuilken and his cross was headed just over by Sid. Unfortunately after that, the play was dominated by some strange refereeing decisions with McQuilken and Maxwell punished for apparently innocuous challenges - but it's perhaps symptomatic of the way Cartman has his team playing that the Clyde strikers seemed incapable of remaining upright if they lost the ball.

The 14th minute saw Harty get a shot in but the Cat easily held it. A minute later Reilly picked up a booking for a late challenge. Mensing was penalised 60 seconds after that for a foul on Sid although the ref chose to ignore the player kicking the ball away at the same time - a bookable offence. But that summed up the referee today.

Just after that we forced a series of corners and from the last one, McQuilken and McLaughlin played a neat one-two before the former crossed into the box. There was a flick on at the near post and the ball fell to Sid who blasted it into the roof of the net to make it 1-0. Saints settled a bit and it was Clyde that lost their cool with McCluskey the next name to go into the book after a foul on McLaughlin - mind you, the ref managed to infuriate the away fans by not playing the advantage.

Clyde drew level with a soft goal just before the half-hour mark. Harty broke down their right unchallenged by McQuilken. He had plenty of room to hit a low cross into the box where Smith was there to slide the ball home and surprisingly stay upright. 1-1 then and the home fans almost made a noise.

Saints kept pressing but were losing out on the ball too often. A McQuilken freekick in 34 minutes was met by Bernard but his header went just the wrong side of the post. Then Sid set up McLaughlin but his 20-yard shot went over. A minute later and another McQuilken cross to the back post was headed over by Mixu. Five minutes from the interval, Mensing finally picked up a yellow card for a blatant foul on Bernard as he was lining up a shot which left the Saints play grounded needing treatment. As for the resultant freekick, Vata saw his effort blocked. And the Albanian was in action at the Saints end just before the whistle when he blocked a Harty shot.

For the second-half, the game started even more scrappily with a Harty kick at Vata off the ball the first real controversy - and ignored by referee Mitchell. Saints were trying to press but there was no joy in front of goal and it was Clyde that threatened first with a low McCluskey shot well held by Cuthbert. Sid had a couple of shots blocked but there was a real lack of inspiration in front of goal.

But in the 63rd minute Saints regained the lead with a carbon-copy of the first goal . A McLaughlin cross was headed behind by Mensing and from the corner McQuilken and McLaughlin played the one-two, crossed the ball over where it was flicked onto the back post where Sid was there to head home. Clyde tried to get back into it but Smith totally missed the ball in the box a couple of minutes later and it was Saints who looked the more confident going forward with the passes finally being strung together. But Clyde weren't out of it and Keogh replaced McCluskey as they went for the equaliser. Saints however were showing some real spirit typified in the 70th minute by Bernard who after giving the ball away chased it down with a cracking tackle on U-Boat Smith. Harty had a dive for a freekick but the Cat easily held the eventual long-range shot.

Gilhaney replaced the U-Boat and after Sid had just failed to get on the end of a Mixu flick-on Clyde drew level 12 minutes from time. The ball was played wide to Gilhaney who was totally unmarked. Even so his cross into the box should have been dealt with but Keogh managed to put a looping header past Cuthbert to make it 2-2. Cue for the flak to start on the Saints dugout especially given the lack of substitutes - and it wasn't helped when Sid set up McLaughlin on the left a minute later but the winger elected to shoot instead of cross and stuck the ball over. We were pressing for the winner though with Robbo having a great run and series of one-twos in the 83rd minute only ending when he was fouled on the edge of the box - not that we got the freekick of course.

A minute later McLaughlin and Mixu were replaced by Hay and Parker. And Chris was involved in the move in the 89th minute that put the smiles back on all our faces. He laid the ball back to McQuilken as Saints pressed forward and Jazza slipped it down the line to Maxwell who hit a cracking cross over to be met by the head of St Bernard. Even then I'd have thought the keeper would have reached it but the ball hit the back of the net to make it 3-2.

Even then it wasn't over as Saints tried to wind the clock down with Sid and Bernard keeping the ball in the corner flag much to the annoyance of Clyde sub Kevin "Thug" Fotheringham who picked up a booking for a nasty challenge on Reilly. And the Thug showed just how pissed off he was at the final whistle when he was apparently involved in a fracas in the tunnel - as the Saints fans celebrated and Cap'n Jim showed it's not over yet.

MoM is hard to pick - nobody had a good 90 minutes today but for pissing off Fotheringham and getting a couple of goals my vote goes to Sid. But Reilly and Bernard showed some good spirit and there was enough fight amongst the rest that all the players can hold their heads up high tonight. As for Clyde - if that's how Kernaghan wants to play the beautiful game then I hope he's never in charge of any team I love.

Probably another false dawn but let's enjoy it.

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