TFOD 3 Saints 0
Team : Cuthbert, J-Ro, Flash, Bernard, Dods, Maxwell,
Parker, M-Ro Peaso, Sid, McLaughlin
Subs : Nelson, Malone, Mixu, Stevenson, Hay
Oh it's good to be back at the Death Star - all that sportsmanship, fair play and well-behaved supporters that we all miss in the First Division. Not only that you get to see it all in a wonderful modern all-seated stadium. Unfortunately though, that was about as entertaining as it got for the large Saints travelling support who had to settle for the moral victory over the knuckledraggers in the home stands. Its not often you'll hear them outsung and having to rely on a dodgy brass band to try and drown us out was just pathetic.
Saints made several changes to their starting lineup with Parker and Peaso making up the strike force and Dods returning to the centre of defence. In midfield M-Ro was passed fit so Ryan dropped to the bench as Stark gambled on the loan midfielder. For the Evil Empire it was a reserve side so the home support were obviously confused at having to back some Scots players with youth starlet Chris Burke out wide right.
The game started as we all feared with Saints under the cosh and within 10 seconds the Forces of Darkness had forced a corner. From it almost-legendary prog-rocker Emerson fired a volley just wide of target.
The same ageing rock star threatened again 5 minutes later but Sid was there to close him down in the box. Three minutes after that and he made it a hat-trick of misses by putting a Burke corner over the bar. As for Saints we just couldn't get out of first gear with Peaso and Keigan lonely figures up front. It was Cuthbert that was the busiest Saints player on the park and in 11 minutes he reacted sharply to tip a header from Egil the Mixu clone over the bar. And a couple of minutes later the Scandinavian's dive on the left after Maxwell came within 10 yards of him saw the defender booked. The resulting freekick was played into the box and deflected towards goal forcing the Cat into an acrobatic save to put the ball over the bar.
Cuthbert made another low save from Egil just after that but was helpless when the Evil Ones took the lead on the quarter-hour mark. And unfortunately for Saints it was a good solo effort from Burke who had a cracking run, rode a couple of tackles before chipping Cuthbert to make it 1-0. Saints were just not at the races but we tried to get back into the game and McLaughlin had a good run in 22 minutes before putting his chip-shot just wide. TFOD hit back and by now the referee was getting into his stride, awarding the home side a very soft freekick when Lovenkrands went down on the edge of the box. Pricksen took it though and sent it over the bar.
Saints pressed back up the park and after Keigan won a freekick wide right, McGregor in the TFOD goal could only punch the cross clear as Darren Dods rose up to put him under some pressure. Of course Rangers broke up the park and Burke had a good run end in a shot going just wide. Saints weren't exactly being blessed with too much in the way of luck either. First Peaso wasn't awarded a freekick when blatantly shoved by some Scumdee reject as he led another attack and then on the half-hour mark, Parker was cruelly adjudged to be offside when he got behind the TFOD defence.
Sid almost got his head onto the end of a decent cross from McLaughlin a couple of minutes later but Saints suffered a real setback when M-Ro, who had looked slow all night, limped off to be replaced by Stevenson. In between Flash picked up the nights second booking for a foul on Burke whilst Lovenkrands was merely warned for a so-late-it-was-in-the-semi-final challenge on Dods. The final chance of the first half fell to TFOD as Lovenkrands went down at the edge of the box. Luckily for Saints, it was the new Amoruso, i.e. Vanoli the ice-cream man who took t e freekick - he nearly hit the brass band with a curling effort which blazed over the crossbar.
From the start of the second-half, it was much the same story with the Saints defence under early pressure to clear a series of corners. But gradually we seemed to settle and started passing the Ball about a bit more comfortably. It didn't make much difference to the statistics though, but in 54 minutes McLaughlin had a great run into the heart of the Evil Empire's area (think Luke Skywalker in the first movie) but instead of going down, which he was more than entitled to do he simply lost the ball. A couple of minutes later he set up Parker wide but Keigan's cutback across the goal was held.
So guess what happened next? Yup, a 58th minute break by TFOD sees Robertson fail to mark Lovenkrands properly and a high cross into the box found Egil Thingy who outjumped Dods to header the ball past Cuthbert to make it 2-0. The game was effectively over as a contest but Saints got back into it a bit forcing a couple of corners. And from a McLaughlin freekick, Dods headed the ball down to Ryan whose pass to Wee Brian saw the latter fire a low drive just wide.
Mixu replaced Parker with 20 minutes left and immediately we began to win more balls up front. Within a minute of coming on, he'd set up Sid whose pass out wide to J-Ro who was brought down by Lovenkrands (and no he didn't get booked). Wee Brian took the freekick and found Peaso's head but his attempt was saved. Mols had a collapse on the edge of the Saints box 15 minutes from time - obviously depressed from seeing the home fans deserting the stadium in a mad rush to get to the late-night pharmacy for their methadone dose. On the park, Amoruso Mk2 wasted the freekick.
Saints got back up the other end and Peaso's persistence won another corner which the TFOD keeper could only punch clear. And ten minutes from the end, Peaso was put through but ruled offside - another dodgy decision. He stuck the ball in the net anyway which earned a warning from the referee and cheers from the Saints fans. TFOD pressed back and forced Cuthbert into a couple of saves. Stark put on Eddie Malone for Wee Brian but at the death Mols got the third goal after a scramble in the Saints area. Luckily for him we'd stayed until the end cos there were bugger all home fans left to witness it.
The final whistle saw the Saints players come over to applaud the away fans. Perhaps the final scoreline flattered TFOD but we never really threatened their goal until it was too late which was a bit of a disappointment. MoM for me was Wee Brian again as he was at least willing to have a go. The Cat also deserved praise for keeping the Forces of Darkness at bay early on, but individually Saints weren't too hot tonight.
Still at least we can concentrate on the league and the "real" cup now. And one final thought - last time we were in the First Division and lost a cup-tie at the Death Star, we went on a great run and romped home in the title race. Just something to consider.....
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