Temple Of Saints - More Pish

Bells League Division One 30/04/2005

Queen of the South 2 Saints 0 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, Cowan, Forsyth, McCann , Webb, Maxwell, Bagan, Sheerin, Hay, Dobbie, Sloan
Subs : Samson, Foxy, Dyer, Jackson, Hannah

At last the end of what has been at times a tortuous campaign is drawing near. Just one game plus closed-doors matches for King Oweny to decide which members of the squad are going to be kept on for the inevitable championship-winning season which beckons for 2005-06. And it has to be said that based on today's shambles there won't be many of the starting eleven still around the hallowed halls of McDiarmid next year. What a difference a year makes - this time twelve months ago the majority of the travelling Saints support spent ninety minutes cheering for the man in the home dugout - today it was all so different, with the support arguing amongst themselves and making for another unpleasant atmosphere at times.

On the park it wasn't much better with two soft goals conceded and little sign of Saints having either the ability or organisation to even get one goal back, never mind rescue a point. We've got one game left to salvage some pride from 2005 so far - it's time the Saints players started paying the fans back.

For once the changes to the starting lineup weren't totally due to bad form. Bad Boys Peaso and Ryan Stevenson were forced to watch this one from the sidelines after picking up enough SFA Reward Points to get a Saturday afternoon off. As for "Pretty-Boy" Pamela Anderson, his suspected broken nose from a close encounter with an Airdrie elbow meant he was also absent. In came Bagan, Hay and Webb. The Cat and Flash were given starting jerseys ahead of Samson and Dyer who dropped to the bench. Saints began the game fairly well and actually kept our shape. David Bagan was looking excellent against his former employers but it was McCann who had the first chance with a second minute shot that went over. The same player hit a decent effort into the box a couple of minutes later but Dobbie lost out to an opposition defender.

But when Queen of the South pressed they caused plenty of problems to a Saints defence that looked cobbled together. Forsyth was giving the ball away too often and Webb was caught flat-footed. Saints saw Dobbie and Bagan have shots held before the home side should have taken the lead in the 11th minute. Bowey broke through the middle easily out-pacing Webb and Maxwell and slotting the ball past Cuthbert only for the goalpost to rescue us.

For the most part, we were struggling to even get a shot near the target with hesitation the main problem - the home defence simply didn't give our players the time on the ball their brain cells needed to decide about what to do - Sloan being one of the biggest culprits when he latched onto a Dobbie cutback but his final effort was blocked. Sloan also sent a freekick well wide and Webb had a header blocked. But our best chance came in the 21st minute when some good pressure paid off as Dobbie released Hay. His first shot from the edge of the box was stopped by the keeper but his follow-up with the keeper stranded went just wide - cue the usual jokes about scoring ability given his wife's current condition.

Unfortunately five minutes later, the mini-collapse began. Flash conceded a soft freekick when Payne tumbled. From it the ball was crossed into the box and Wood rose up to send a looping header past the defence and Cuthbert into the top corner. And if we thought that was soft it was even worse a couple of minutes later. Another freekick on the right wing was sent over into the area where Wood again shook off his marker (Maxwell this time) and hit a low drive through the crowded area and into the bottom corner. Cue a barney between Forsyth and Sheerin and chants for Maxwell to GTF from some of the idiots in the Saints support - at least they didn't hang about for the second-half.

Back on the park Sheerin sent a shot wide and Webb headed a Maxwell cross over. McCann had a good run into the box where he was brought down - no kick given and Hay sent his shot over. Maxwell had an effort blocked while at the other end Payne and Forsyth clashed after the former dived in the box (not that he was booked of course). But if you wanted the prime example to sum up our afternoon it came just before half-time when Dobbie tried a cheeky chip from the halfway line - needless to say it went a mile wide.

I'd love to say that the second forty-five marked a real turnaround for Saints but I'm afraid to say it was more of the same. Queen of the South definitely seemed to be happy to sit back and comfortably hold on to their lead, soaking up the minimum Saints pressure and hitting us on the break. Dobbie had a couple of early chances go wide but generally the midfield was too tightly packed, we were well-marked and yet again we showed an apparent inability to play the ball along the deck. The hour mark saw another Hay run and shot go wide. Just as we could have predicted really. A minute later and Bagan, who had a pretty decent game on the right wing was replaced by Foxy.

Flash picked up a booking for persistent fouling although an earlier clash with Payne went unpunished. From the freekick the ball was played into the box where Wood had another shot go just wide. Saints were creating some chances with a 20yd Foxy shot held. When the home side pressed they still caused us problems with the Saints defence unable to clear their lines properly. Webb became the second name in the referee's black book for a clumsy challenge with 18 minutes left. Chris Hay was replaced a few minutes later by Andy Jackson who made some good runs but we never looked like scoring. Cuthbert made a good save 10 minutes from time from a Lyle shot. Saints had the better of the final chances though. A Jackson run saw him link well with McCann and Sloan before the former won a corner - Sheerin's final shot was blocked. Then in injury-time, Forsyth finally had a run up the left wing and played a lovely cross in for Dobbie on the edge of the 6-yard area who proceeded to sky his effort over the bar. It was just that sort of day really.

MoM was actually possible though with McCann again having a good performance in the centre of the park. Pass marks too for Cuthbert (not really at fault for the goals) and Bagan along with Jackson. But as for the rest to be honest I don't think I'd be too bothered if they all left in the summer. We badly missed Peaso up front and Anderson in defence with Webb looking a poor shadow of the player earlier in the season. There was again a real lack of responsibility and leadership on the park - too often people don't move into space or can't play even the simplest of passes.

Some of the Saints crowd went for a wild west theme today - pity the real cowboys were the ones on the park.

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