Temple Of Saints - Deflated

Bells League Division One 20/03/2004

Saints 1 Clyde 3 League Table Here

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

This was the big one then - the game to decide the fate of our season. And unfortunately for Saints we blew it against a hungrier and fitter Clyde. What the longer-term consequences are for Saints remains to be seen as despite the efforts of recent weeks sections of the East Stand booing the players on the park and at full-time. Some things never change. Weir and Bernard recovered to start the game with Keigan dropping to the bench. For Clyde there was no Kernaghan and veteran Andy Smith was up front. Conditions weren't the best with a strong wind and intermittent drizzle not helping matters. And the heavy McDiarmid pitch threatened to tire both teams out by half-time.

Saints started poorly with both teams showing plenty of nerves. Clyde had the first chance with a 3rd minute 25-yard drive which Cuthbert easily held. The game was pretty end-to-end in the opening stages but as has happened too often recently, Mixu was unable to win much of the ball in the air and when he did he couldn't find his man. For all that Clyde had little in the way of clearcut chances with the Cat dealing comfortably with a Smith header and Harty trying to emulate Caley Thistle and taking a tumble in the box under pressure from Vata.

But in the 9th minute they took the lead with a soft goal. Harty had forced a corner off Weir. The ball was floated over to the back post where McConalogue was unmarked and able to fire in a low drive through the crowded 6-yard box into the net. A minute later Clyde's Gibson picked up the first booking of the game for a late challenge on Robbo. Saints had their first real shot on goal from a throw-in with Maxwell's head flick falling to Bernard but his volley went wide. Maxwell saw a good long-range freekick deflected out for a corner and from it Vata had a weak header held. Next up Robbo hit the ball over to Mixu who played a one-two with McLaughlin before having his shot blocked.

At the other end the nerves were fraying as Cuthbert spilt a low shot and Vata struggled to clear the lines. But from it we broke up the park only for Mixu's header to be saved. Vata picked up a booking for a professional foul but Saints were looking suspect at the back typified by a nervous header from Robbo to concede a corner. We came close to pulling level in the 33rd minute when a brilliant McLaughlin run ended in a cracking shot across goal which Halliwell had to be at full-stretch to tip wide. The keeper picked up an injury in the process but after some treatment easily dealt with the resulting corner.

Unfortunately from it Clyde broke up the park and a simple ball found Andy Smith in the box and he had an easy finish to make it 2-0. Saints tried to get back into the game but the fight had been knocked out of them and the home fans were a lot more subdued with frustrations starting to be voiced instead. We had a couple of headers but didn't make any impact. We'd switched to a 4-3-3 formation with McLaughlin pushed forward and Vata switching to midfield. Meanwhile Clyde replaced the injured Halliwell with Morrison. We were still pressing even if the final ball was missing.

A minute from the break we almost pulled one back. Sid had a good run in the box before setting up McLaughlin. He couldn't get room for the shot but laid the ball back to Rudi and his chip shot went just over.

Half-time saw Hay replace the dire Mixu (to cheers from the East Stand). And Saints started a bit livelier with McLaughlin, Jazza and Robbo causing some problems. The latter won an early corner but as usual the final ball was lacking as Saints just couldn't get a shot in. Andy Smith had a 54th minute header go wide as Clyde settled for hitting us on the break. A minute later Hay had a chip go just over the bar and then in the 58th minute we should have pulled one back. Hay had a run down the right and shot into the box where Maxwell of all people was in the 6-yard area - only for the big defender to beat the keeper but see his shot cannon back off the underside of the crossbar. Hay almost got onto the end of a McLaughlin cross in the 63rd minute but the Clyde defence cut it out - by now the chants for Parker were coming from the East Stand. And two minutes later Hay and Sid were frustrated in the box as they tried to find room to shoot but were crowded out.

So it was time for the final insult and with 21 minutes left, a Cuthbert goalkick was cleared back and Harty found himself through. He was able to outrun Weir and despite the attempts of him and Maxwell to get a tackle in he slotted the ball home to make it 3-0. Cue chants for the Saints manager to "get to f*ck".

Robbo went off and Parker came on after 75 minutes but we looked beat with the tired legs and stray passes coming more to the fore. With 10 minutes left, Parker was through on goal but fouled. No freekick was awarded and Clyde broke up the park but despite being a mile offside, the linesman's flag stayed down and it took the Cat running out of his goal and making a last ditch clearance to stop another goal. Maxie was replaced by the Flash a minute later as Saints kept pressing. In the 88th minute Hay had a good break into the box but was well tackled. Clyde broke up the park and Harty got the better of Cuthbert outside his box and it took Jim Weir's body to block the 20-yard angled shot on goal.

The real slap in the face was still to come and in the 90th minute Parker finally got behind the Clyde defence and ran into the box before sticking a low drive into the net - pity a large section of the Saints support missed it due to having already left. Then after the restart we pressed forward and a McQuilken cross into the box was headed goalwards by Bernard only to come back off the woodwork and Sid to miss the follow-up. Summed up the afternoon really.

For me MoM was McLaughlin but he was the best of a poor bunch. There's no faulting the effort from the players but on the day we were slower to react and too cautious. Mixu, Reilly and Hay were all poor. Bernard and Sid had moments but that was all they were and it sums up the side when the player who did the most running today was probably Cuthbert - even if it was just to get the ball back into play.

I can hear some big-boned chanteuse starting a song......

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