Temple Of Saints - Time Runs Out

Bells League Division One 27/12/2003

Caley Thistle 1 Saints 0 League Table Here

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

This was the biggest game of the season, the proverbial six-pointer. And despite the doom and gloom of recent results, there was a large travelling support that made the journey up the A9. Pity that effort wasn't matched by the half-hearted display on the pitch. Don't be fooled by the scoreline either - we deserved to be beaten by a lot more. And going by the reactions of the Saints supporters at the final whistle time's up for Stark. Saints starting line-up remained surprisingly unaltered up front although Lovering came in for Flash, whilst the subs bench saw more youth replaced by experience with Hay and Mavis coming in for Ferry and Fotheringham. Eddie Malone made up the numbers. Apart from that it was as you were on the tactical side.

The game started with Caley Thistle pressing what seemed to be a rather shaky Saints defence. The 2nd minute saw their first chance 0f the game when a dubious handball went in their favour. Bingham put the freekick over the bar though. Two minutes later Lovering was skinned on the left side but Nelson saved the low cross. Saints tried to get back on the attack themselves and from a Sid freekick into the box Maxwell put a shot across the home goal. Then in the 8th minute a good flowing move saw McLaughlin slip the ball to Lovering who crossed to Peaso but the striker's header went over. Sid tried his own luck next with a shot from the edge of the box but it was a soft one and easily held. Saints seemed to be settling though - just shows how easily I was fooled. J-Ro had a cross held in the 12th minute and then two minutes later linked well with Bernard and Donnelly to fire in a decent shot just over the bar.

Unfortunately that was it for Saints and within sixty seconds Caley had the ball in the net after Maxwell sclaffed a clearance with Lovering missing - luckily the ref, on one of the rare correct occasions today, ruled it offside. Next up in the calamity show was J-Ro who lost the ball to Hislop - Nelson saving the eventual shot. Bernard picked up a yellow for a late challenge and that led to a period of pressure on the Saints defence which wasn't helped by their total inability to clear their lines properly. Sid picked up a harsh yellow in the 25th minute for a late foul on Bingham (a major diver these days). We had moments, admittedly rare ones, where we strung a few passes together but too often the final ball was missing or there was no support. And when we did press, any counter-attack from Caley Thistle saw us struggle to get back and cover. Lovering and Robertson must be the two slowest full-backs in the league.

We did have one more decent chance to take the lead before the interval. Peaso won a corner which eventually fell to Ryan Stevenson on the edge of the box. He hit a decent shot which was deflected for another corner. That one came to McLaughlin who was fouled as he tried to make room for a shot. With a surprising show of intelligence, the wee winger took a quick freekick slipping the ball left to Lovering who beat the offside trap but also pulled his shot just wide.

Caley Thistle hit back and it took a series of Darren Dods tackles in his own area to clear the ball - unnerving for the watching Saintees. We just looked too slow to react to any threat. Nelson's kicking wasn't helping either with an apparent inability to find either a Saints player or the halfway line.

The second-half started just as badly for Saints with the 49th minute almost bringing a candidate for own goal of the season. Dods did well to deflect a netbound Caley shot for a corner. From the set-piece, the ball was floated into the 6yd box. Maxwell rose up to head the ball clear but it somehow came back off the head of a teammate and it took a sharp reaction from Nelson to save at the feet of Bingham. Saints broke up the park and a minute later. Mixu fed the ball to Stevenson and he found Wee Brian on the left. The winger took the ball inside and attempted a nice curling shot which went just over the bar. And with 40 minutes still on the clock, that was about it from Saints. We tried to press but left ourselves wide open at the back. Hislop had a good break in 55 minutes but put his shot over. We were giving the ball away far too readily and Caley nearly punished us in 59 minutes when Golabek fired one in from the edge of the box just wide.

Hay came on for Peaso in 62 minutes - no real surprise since Peaso hardly touched the ball all afternoon. He didn't do much though - he won a corner in 65 minutes but needless to say we gave the ball away. Mavis came on for Stevenson a minute later but looked badly short of match practice. And combined with Lovering's similar lack of sharpness it meant we had a real problem on the left side of the park with Catwoman having to come back and do his own fetching and carrying. The 67th minute saw Lovering give the ball away down the left, the ball was sent across and Golabek forced Nelson into a gold save. Mind you most of us were questioning where the marking on that side of the park was. It got worse for Lovering two minutes later when he was needlessly booked for kicking the ball away. And then a minute later he was skinned again by Hislop and it took a last-ditch tackle by Maxwell to block the shot. Hislop was even unluckier and had to be stretchered off. Three minutes later Caley had a penalty claim turned down as a blatant dive. Then a minute after that they had a freekick which forced Nelson into a good save.

But it felt like we were only delaying the inevitable. And with all the predictability of a Nelson goal-kick finding one of the opposition, ten minutes from time we effectively raised the white flag. Caley took a quick freekick to Tokely and when he broke into the box Bernard went in with the late challenge. The referee had no option once he pointed to the spot. So it was a second yellow and subsequent red for the Saints player and after Wilson sent Nelson the wrong way Saints were one-nil down.

The last throw of the dice for Saints, and possibly Stark, saw Keigan come on for Mixu but by then the fans were letting the away dugout know their opinions on the performance. Keigan had little impact and instead we had to endure Caley waltzing through the Saints defence and two minutes from time Nelson pulled off a fantastic one-handed save from a Bingham (unmarked of course) to give us a hell of a lot more credit than we deserved.

Surprisingly there was a MoM for me - mind you there were only two of the 14 so-called stars who even came close to putting on an acceptable show today. Nelson made some great saves but his kicking and distribution were poor - sorry but in my opinion Cuthbert should be back between the sticks. That leaves McLaughlin who again ran his backside off all day and at least tried to go forward at times.

As for Stark, if he is to have the slightest chance of keeping our hopes alive for the season he has to shake the team and tactics up big-time. And currently if you ask any fan that witnessed today's shambles, the experience over youth strategy isn't working. If Stark is unable to sort things out then it's time to get out.

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