Temple Of Saints - Phew!!!!

Bells League Division One 12/03/2005

Raith 1 Saints 2 League Table Here

Team : Samson, Anderson, Forsyth, Hannah, Rutkiewicz, Maxwell, Bagan, Sheerin, Peaso, Sloan, Dyer
Subs : Cuthbert, Hay, Jackson, McManus, Keyring

If ever a game could be considered a proverbial 6-pointer then this was it. Defeating Raith would send them down but more importantly might just do enough to reawaken some flickers of hope amongst the downtrodden Saints fans. Fail to win this though and the slippery slope to the Second Division would look a lot more likely. But hey this was a cup final and we all know how shite we are in them - so expectations weren't that high no matter how wonderful training had been all week. As it turned out, the performance wasn't much better than last weekend but the three points mean at least there will be a few more relieved fans in Perth tonight - what it means longer term though remains to be seen. Certainly it'll take a lot more than the shambles on display at times this afternoon.

With the McDiarmid injury situation only just starting to improve slightly it meant that the usual suspects in Foxy, Fozzy, Bernard and Dobbie were absent along with the rest of the first-team squad that were currently out of favour with the management. Even so, we expected some changes ahead of the game, if only to serve as a boot up the arse for the players that disgraced the sacred shirts last weekend. Webby was of course suspended for taking his turn at being an idiot against Accies. But, Peaso was released from the cooler to help the boys plan their own version of the Great Escape even if in his absence, his fellow striker for most of the season Moorie had already used his get out of jail free card and tunnelled west to Stranraer. That left Sloan as the strike partner but that wasn't the end of the changes. With Webb out, Rustybitz was given a rare start. Cowan and McCann also dropped out of the picture with Anderson in and Willie Dyer given the no 11 shirt. On the bench McManus and Andy Jackson joined Hay and Keyring.

Saints lined up with three at the back as Flash joined Maxie and the Rusty One in the centre of defence. That left Pamela and Debut Dyer on the wings. The game had a fairly quiet start with plenty of mistakes from both sides. It wasn't until the 7th minute that we had anything close to goalmouth action with a Rovers freekick from their left going right across the Saints goalmouth unchallenged by either a defender or the static Samson. Five minutes later, Maxie set up Sheerin who played a quick one- two with Peaso before chipping the ball forward to Pamela in the box but his shot went wide. Peaso was fouled on the edge of the home area four minutes after that. Hannah's shot went miles wide and the doubts began to creep in. Bagan won our first corner of the game but Sloan's effort was easily held.

Then Mr. Cock-up came to town. Twenty minutes gone and we had a warning when a Raith cross was missed by everyone but eventually cleared. A minute after that though we weren't so lucky. Raith forced a corner. The ball was sent into the box where the defence again failed to clear their lines and Samson was nowhere. It fell for an unmarked Clark in the box and he made no mistake. 1-0 down and the only way to describe the reactions of the Saints support was stunned silence.

We tried to get back into the game and within a minute almost drew level. A Sloan cross found Pamela at the far post but his downward header was missed by Peaso and went out for a corner. Sloan's corner found Maxie at the back post but his header hit the post. If we thought that going one down was going to galvanise the team we were sadly mistaken. From a midfield that suffered from a lack of penetration through the middle to a continuing habit of playing high balls to a vertically-challenged forward line and some absolutely woeful passing and (lack of) movement off the ball.

For all that we did have one decent chance in the 26th minute when Peaso, with his back to goal, turned and had a shot which the keeper held. The goalie was even less challenged by a Sloan run a minute or so later with the winger-cum-striker's shot one of the weakest of the day. Defensively though we were being sliced open at times. Flash had to concede a corner at one point after poor positioning (or memories of last week) saw Samson stay on his line. And the Saints keeper had to make a couple of good saves as Raith forced some openings with only some relatively poor finishing keeping their lead to a single goal. By this time the Saints fans were beginning to lose their faith again - for all the wonderful training during the week we'd heard about it was the same faces making the same mistakes.

The exceptions to this were on the wings where Dyer had a decent game down the left and Pamela was making plenty of opportunities on the opposite flank. And with 11 minutes of the half remaining we managed to salvage something out of the dross. A throw-in on the left was flicked on into the 6yd box and found Anderson again at the back post. His shot beat the keeper and just crossed the line before Peaso was in there to stick it home - Pamela's goal to me.

The goal seemed to lift the side (certainly warmed up the fans) and two minutes later Anderson could have doubled his tally when he got on the end of a fantastic long crossfield pass from Peaso into the box only to totally sclaff the final shot. And as if that wasn't enough he managed a 38th minute back-post header over the bar from a Sloan cross. It wasn't all one-way traffic and Raith's no10 missed a sitter two minutes from the break as he was allowed forward without anyone putting a decent tackle in - instead the defence seemed content to try and shield him out of play. As it was though he got through but pulled the shot wide.

The second-half started with Saints just as skilful as ever - this time it was a minute in play and Samson came to collect a cross (yes he did shout for it!!) only to drop the ball and recover it at a second attempt. Flash added to the woes with a needless booking seven minutes into the half for a shirt-pull on the wing. The freekick sailed over the bar though. Raith then had a couple of quick soft bookings as Sheerin's impersonation of a footballer was called into question and they started treating him like a punch bag. But of course by now we were starting to take things a tad easier - anyone would think Connolly was happy to settle for another bloody draw. Raith of course, had other things on their mind and began to press forward more although with little success as the three centre-backs did their job in clearing their lines (even if any punt didn't find a yellow shirt).

Saints made their first substitution in the 62nd minute with Sloan (who struggled to get into the game after the break) withdrawn and replaced by Andy Jackson (!). Unfortunately the youngster's first touch saw him lose possession in the middle of the park and Raith got forward to fire a low shot that Samson held fairly comfortably. The fact that they got in for the shot though had Maxie and Flash arguing with one another - strange given that the voices from the stand were blaming both with equal venom.

In the 64th minute, Raith's no2 (easily their most impressive player) cut out a Saints throw-in and aided and abetted by our fine players ran practically the length of the pitch where he fired in an angled shot that Samson fumbled before Anderson who was backtracking cleared the danger (injuring himself in the process). Then two minutes later we had some real controversy. First of all a Raith cross was missed by everyone (including the keeper) but when the ball was hit back in, it seemed to come off the underside of the bar and bounce on the line before being cleared. Raith protested but Stuart Dougal after checking with his assistant waived play on - I'm not 100% sure it wasn't a goal but that's where the luck factor comes into play. It didn't make for pleasant viewing though.

Connolly started gambling on the kids with David Bagan (who certainly had a better game than some of his midfield cohorts) replaced by Stevie McManus with twenty minutes to go. Three minutes later another good Anderson cross from the right wing was dropped by the Raith keeper but Dyer at the back post was crowded out before he could follow up. Raith broke back up the park and with the Saints defence again all over the place they had a simple shot lined up with only Samson to beat only for the Raith striker to totally miss the ball and let Rusty in to clear for a corner. You have to laugh but if it had been anyone else other than Raith you get the feeling it would have been in the back of the net.

With eleven minutes to go though we managed to take the lead. Keyring came on for Dyer (who had a decent debut) and within seconds had latched onto a pass and run into the box before slotting the ball past the keeper to make it 2-1. Cue mucho sighing of relief in the Saints dugout. Unfortunately it meant that Raith piled on the pressure for the rest of the game with a series of corners eventually ending in a header over the bar. Peaso had one low drive tipped wide and Hannah saw a freekick hit a wall (who says he couldnae manage that?), whilst Jackson who seemed to be all over the park saw a shot go well wide after a Peaso cross.

The final whistle seemed to be an age coming but at least it signified the first win of the year. God knows we made hard work of it and if the players think they'll get away with that sort of performance against their opposition for the next few weeks they've got a rude awakening coming. As it is the central midfield still struggled and Peaso was well off form as was Samson who again failed to convince me he's any better than Cuthbert. But praise the Rod, there were finally some bright moments - Dyer had a good committed game on the left and my MoM Anderson had a solid performance on the other flank. Defensively we avoided any real howlers and IMHO Chris Hay will be lucky to get a look-in for a starting jersey again after Jackson's performance. Add McManus to that and maybe youth is the way forward.

We're not out of the woods yet but the emergency board meeting rumours should be on hold for another week.

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