Saints 1 Ross County 1 League Table Here
Team : Cuthbert, Vata, Forsyth, Bernard, Dods, Maxwell,
Sid, Reilly, Hay, Taylor, McLaughlin
Subs : Nelson, Parker, Baxter, Mixu, Stevenson
Second-last home game of the season and you have to say we're out of the championship race and unfortunately today's performance was like a microcosm of the season with stupid errors and too many Saints players who looked like they'd started their summer holidays early. The usual suspects in Cap'n Jim and Robbo missed out. Paul Bernard had trained this week and came into the side which had a makeshift defence. Jazza's knee injury kept him out so Flash took over at left-back. Up front it was Hay and Sid who made up the strike pairing with Mixu dropped to the bench alongside Keigan. Weather-wise, it was wet and windy day and that was never going to help the sexy football shine through instead turning the match experience into a damp squib.
Saints started in the best possible taste but not without giving County a gilt-edged opportunity to take the lead when O'Donnell, unmarked on the right wing was fed the ball in the first minute but Cuthbert made an excellent block. Saints broke up the park from the resulting corner and gave the sweetest possible reply. Hay played the clearance back to Sid who sprayed it out left to McLaughlin. Wee Brian went on a great run up the wing before firing a cross into the Ross County box. Up rose Chris Hay with a header down to the bottom corner. The keeper seemed to have it covered but somehow let the ball squeeze under him and into the net.
We tried to build on that pressure but despite having the wind behind Saints the best we could get was a couple of close offside decisions. Our best chances came courtesy of the County defenders. In the 12th minute McLaughlin chased a passback to the County keeper who sclaffed his clearance out for a corner. From it another defender almost headed the ball into his own net. Six minutes later and good work down the right by Bernard ended in a low cross which was just put behind by a defender. From the corner kick, the ball was knocked back to McLaughlin who passed it to Bernard. His cross back into the goal was headed in by Taylor but a defender was there to header it off the line.
We were still sitting off them too much with the central midfield pairing of Mavis and Taylor reluctant to push too far forward and apparently unable to put in a tackle when County moved up the park. Add to that a Saints defence that looked shaky when under pressure and you can understand the frustrations that were oozing out of the East Stand. We just seemed unable to step up a gear and lacked any urgency to increase the lead. So it was that County came back into the game with a 32nd minute freekick which found O'Donnell free again but his volley hit the side-netting.
But if you thought that was bad then three minutes later our season ended in a farce. A County freekick into the Saints box found Dods unmarked facing the goal. Cuthbert had the ball covered but that wasn't good enough for our Darren. Either he was trying to knee the ball back to the keeper or punt it over the bar but in the end the Scotsport Blooper Video for the season has another entry thanks to a wonderful chip over Cuthbert's head and into the net to make it 1-1. Stunned silence time from the home stands.
We tried to regain the lead but McLaughlin's pass to Taylor a couple of minutes later ended in a weak shot that was comfortably dealt with. But for the most part we'd lost a lot of our shape and looked very shaky at the back. Still we managed a couple of chances before the break. Sid had a neat pass to Taylor in 41 minutes cut out and then Bernard had a neat cross to Hay but his angled shot was deflected across an empty goalmouth.
The second-half started in much the same way but the wind had at least dropped - not that that affected the "product" on the park to any great extent with too many players seemingly happy to settle for the point and a lazy second 45. Bernard had an early shot blocked and then in 50 minutes a Vata freekick into the box almost led to some poetic justice as Dods got onto the knockdown but his shot was blocked. Within a minute though we were left open at the back again when Rankin got onto a loose ball and his low shot was well blocked by Cuthbert. Two minutes later and Cuthbert had to be sharp to tip a curling shot wide. From the corner he missed the ball but Dods was there to clear a County header off the line.
It didn't do him much good though and he was replaced by Baxter in the 55th minute with Vata switching to the centre of defence alongside Maxwell. Baxter's introduction gave us a chance to press more on the right wing and within a minute had put a cross over for Taylor but his shot was saved. Hay was next to get to the wing and cross over for Sid who forced a corner. From hit Sid hit a shot wide. Then Vata had another (one of many) free kick wasted and when County broke back up the park via a long clearance, McGarry beat Forsyth into the box but pulled his shot wide. Baxter set up Taylor again in the 66th minute when he latched onto a poor clearance by the keeper. A run and cross later and he sent the ball into the middle to Taylor but his snapshot went well over the bar.
Things were that desperate that Stark put Parker on a minute later in place of McLaughlin. It didn't do much to stop the end-to-end action with County continuing to threaten on the break. McCulloch had a good shot in 69 minutes but hit it just over the bar. Then a minute later Taylor (who faded badly in the second-half) failed to clear his lines and gave the ball away to Hamilton but Cuthbert was there to save the shot.
At the other end Parker forced a corner but from it Saints saw one shot blocked and then Parker's attempt at the rebound was deflected back up the park triggering another County attack which only ended with an excellent last-ditch tackle by Forsyth. Then a minute later another County corner saw Cuthbert miss the ball completely but Vata was there to clear the area. Saints went back up the park and another Baxter cross found Hay who knocked the ball down for Sid but his shot went wide.
Mixu replaced Taylor with 15 minutes to go but Saints were fading badly struggling to threaten the County goal never mind stick the ball in the net - all the more galling since we now had four strikers on the park. We came close in the 83rd minute when Sid played a neat one-two with Parker before firing a curling shot just wide of the top corner. Then after a Rankin shot was blocked by Vata, Saints broke back up the park. Sid laid the ball off to Parker who passed to Hay but his final shot was far too weak. County had another couple of efforts but by this time the chants for a replacement manager in the home dugout had started once more.
And if you want one final piece of evidence that the players just weren't in it today you only had to look at the 2nd minute of injury time when we won a free kick inside the County half - Flash positioned the ball then ran up the park as Vata came over to take it and then proceeded to take ages before kicking the ball into the box straight to an opposition player. It was that sort of day.
It's not mathematically impossible yet but the recent run of decent results has counted for little in the end with the same old faults still showing through. Sid gets my MoM for being the only creative player we seemed to have in the side. Of the rest Hay tried but we lacked any shape to the defence with Dods looking like the fragile player we all thought he was and the central midfield (remember the experienced backbone?) were never in the game although to be fair to Bernard he at least looked interested. As for the Parker's and Mixu's of this world - they're just not contributing to the side.
Time to go - there's some fat lady wanting to give us all a wee song........
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| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Clyde | 32 | 19 | 7 | 6 | 57 | 35 | 64 |
| Caley Thistle | 32 | 18 | 6 | 8 | 60 | 31 | 60 |
| Saints | 32 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 55 | 37 | 55 |
| Ross County | 32 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 48 | 36 | 48 |
| Falkirk | 32 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 42 | 36 | 50 |
| Queen of the South | 32 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 40 | 44 | 46 |
| St Mirren | 32 | 7 | 13 | 12 | 33 | 43 | 34 |
| Raith | 32 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 35 | 53 | 32 |
| Ayr United | 32 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 34 | 56 | 25 |
| Brechin | 32 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 30 | 66 | 22 |
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