Temple Of Saints - It's Raining Goals

Bells League Division One 29/11/2003

Raith 1 Saints 4 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, J-Ro, Flash, Bernard, Stevenson, Maxwell, Hay, Baxter, Mixu, Sid, McLaughlin
Subs : Nelson, Malone, Peaso, Fotheringham, Ferry

After paying £14 to get into Stark's Park today (another expense to blame the Marrs for) we finally saw some real grit from a Saints side who had to struggle under miserable conditions and showing sime poor early form before running out well deserved winners. and for those of you in the away end who left early and missed the final Saints goal, you probably missed out on witnessing our goal of the season.

Saints' starting lineup saw the suspended Forrest Gump replaced, not surprisingly by J-Ro with the latter's right-back position taken by Baxter. That wasn't the end of the changes though, with Peaso dropping to the bench and Chris Hay given the number 7 jersey. Parker dropped out of the squad altogether and Mark Ferry was given one of the sub slots.

The match started in what would be kindly referred to as blustery conditions with constant rain on a sodden playing surface. And the conditions influenced what was a very scrappy first 45 minutes. Saints were slow to get going with too many passes going astray and too little movement off the ball. And for the record it took all of thirty seconds for the first chant of "Let's all laugh at Dundee" to come from what was a large travelling Saints support. And about 45 seconds for the first Rovers player to take a dive. It was the home side that threatened early doors with some dangerous crosses into Cuthbert's area. And in 5 minutes some suicidal defending from Maxie saw him shove a Rover and concede a freekick 25 yards out. Flash was the man to clear Calderon's effort .

Three minutes later we tried to threaten the Raith goal but McLaughlin's corner was a poor low attempt. The game went from end to end without either side creating any real goalscoring chances. Another cross from Wee Brian actually found Mixu but the strikers header went over the bar. Ryan had a semi-decent effort from 25 yards out in the 19th minute but the low shot was easily held by Jamie 'UB40' Langfield. Apart from that, Saints were giving the ball away too easily and players like Mixu, Bernard and Sid looked off their game. Our general passing was poor and the conditions were only partly to blame. The only real excitement came from watching Ryan and Matthias Jack develop an ongoing grudge match.

Raith were causing all sorts of problems and in 32 minutes caused real panic in the Saints defence. A poor clearance from Maxie landed at the feet of Calderon on the edge of the box and his effort was blocked but not before putting some hearts in mouths in the away stand. Even worse was their miss 5 minutes later when a cross to the back post was headed back across the goalmouth instead of into the net, giving Flash a chance to clear.

However Saints began to get back into the game and put some nice moves together with Hay having some nice runs at the Raith defenders. In 41 minutes he played a lovely long through ball for Sid which was just too far in front of him.

But two Minutes later and we finally broke the deadlock. Stevenson out wide left put in a high cross to the back post where Mixu headed the ball back across goal. The ball was knocked down to the edge of the area where Wee Brian was there to pick it up. A couple of steps and a low shot into the bottom corner of the net and we were 1-0 up. The rest of the half saw Hay caught offside as Raith tried to press back. Mixu missed the ball from a good Hay pass in the closing stages and when Raith counterattacked, the Cat was called into action to come out and make a good save to feet.

The second-half started with the rain pissing down and a real danger of the match being abandoned (if it had still been goalless I reckon it would have). But within a couple of minutes of the restart, we had a good chance to double our lead. Wee Brian won a freekick wide left. He played a deep cross over which Maxwell sent back in and Mixu headed narrowly wide (although it looked like a Rover's defender deflected it - something the referee missed). Raith tried to counter-attack but Beaky in defence was having an excellent game.

Then in 52 minutes we got the second. It came from a well-worked one-two between Hay and Mixu. It put Chris free behind their defence. Having beaten the offside trap though he lost the ball to a Langfield save. UB40 couldn't hold onto the ball though and Hay was able to take it for a narrow-angled finish to make it 2-0. A minute later it could have been three as Ryan Stevenson set up Hay whose cross to Mixu was just cut out. Saints were looking more comfortable on the ball and seemed to Be coping with the slippery surface better than their hosts. Mind you Wee Brian, who was putting in a ton of running still managed a couple of inopportune slips as we pressed home the advantage.

That was to be our undoing as Raith pulled one back. Peaso replaced Hay on the hour mark and a minute later Bernard came close as he latched onto a Mixu knockdown and brought out a good save from Langfield. From it Raith broke back up the park and set up Hawley on the right who fired a decent shot past the Cat. Even then the ball seemed to stick in the Saints 6-yard box and just as a white (well pretty filthy by now) shirt got back to clear it went over the line. We were still leading but the nerves began to show as Raith came back into the game. The 65th minute saw Maxie block a certain goal from a Raith volley at the back post. Then a series of corners saw the Cat tip one shot over the bar and somehow scramble another one away.

Our best chance came from Peaso playing a lovely through ball to Sid to beat the offside trap but the latter saw his shot go just wide of target. Saints began to get back into the swing of things as the pitch slowed up with all the surface water and in 76 minutes restored the two-goal lead. From the left wing Wee Brian played a neat ball inside to Flash who headed it behind the defence for Peaso to run onto. His angled shot was half-held by the keeper but the ball appeared to go under his body and despite his best endeavours to get it back, the unstoppable force that is Mixu was there to claim a tap-in from about 2 feet and make it 3-1.

Strangely the game petered out a bit after that. Rovers tried a couple of attacks but we were resolute in defence and they began to give up in the same way a lot of their fans appeared to as well as the home end emptied. Even Beto Carranza's dive in the box 4 minutes from time looked more pathetic than usual. For Saints, our commitment was shown courtesy of Paul Bernard's yellow card for persistent fouling. The Cat did pull off a good double save in the final minute and from it, Saints broke back up the park and Peaso beat three defenders to the long ball. Despite having opportunities to pass the ball he ran through on goal and fired an absolute beauty of a drive past the flailing Langfield and into top corner of the net - brilliant finishing.

Overall it wasn't a brilliant performance for the whole 90 minutes but again once we were in front we never looked like getting beat (well not that much). MoM for me was Brian McLaughlin who ran his arse off all afternoon despite in the second-half coming close to needing a snorkel for some of the puddles on the park. He just edges out Beaky in defence who was outstanding, Hay who needs a few more games for full fitness but looks sharp and the Cat who pulled off some great saves. Assuming we manage to avoid umpteen cases of pneumonia things are looking bright.

Well apart from figuring out which strikers to play that is...

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