Temple Of Saints - Doom 'n' Gloom

Bells League Division One 27/08/2005

Airdrie 3 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team : Paston, Mensing, Stanic, Pamela, Campbell, James, Stevenson, Sheridan, Milne, Scotland , Sheerin
Subs : Cuthbert, Dobbie, Peaso, Janczyk

After the trauma of the last week and back-to-back defeats against the Paisley Mob, today saw us head off to the Mordor-esque land of darkest Lanarkshire to take on Oweny's previous employers. Unfortunately despite a promising first-half, idiotic defending, a missing midfield and a keeper who is doing nothing to inspire confidence, it shows just how much work Owen has to do to get us back on track. And he won't be helped in that by Mark Campbell who picked up another needless red card. Just another wonderful afternoon for the Saints support one of whom exchanged verbals with Anderson at the final whistle.

With Jason Scotland suffering from Whitehall bureaucracy he wasn't expected to play - we got it sorted out though and he took over from Dobbie up front. But the big questions were what sort of changes Owen would make to the side and whether the players would be able to bounce back. John Henry missed out due to a knock. In goal, Owen stuck with Mark Paston but Ryan Stevenson came in for McCann and Sheerin replaced Scrabble.

Saints looked a lot sharper and hungrier from the kick-off but it was the home side that created the first real chance in the third minute after McLaren the wonderkid nutmegged Mensing before firing in a cross which Pamela got back to clear. Two minutes later, James set up Sheerin who laid the ball out to Stanic but his cross was cut out. Dazza tried to set up Ryan next with a freekick into the box but Stevenson's header went the wrong direction. Airdrie broke up the park and McLaren tried his luck but his shot was easily held. James tried a header from a Dazza freekick and a flick on from a corner but we couldn't find the final ball to break down the home defence. Savo had a chance in the 12th minute when he latched onto a long ball only to hook the final shot well wide. But Airdrie hit back and after Anderson and Mensing had a mix-up going for the same ball, James half-cleared the danger, but when the ball came back in Anderson was there to mop up.

We were dominating the play though. Jason Scotland was looking sharp and causing problems. He forced an 18th minute corner but from it James stuck a header just over the bar. But five minutes later we took the lead in spectacular fashion. Some good pressure from midfield saw Campbell play the ball forward to Scotland who turned, cut inside and fired in a dipping rocket of a shot from fully 25yds out into the roof of the net. A couple of minutes after that, we almost doubled our lead when a Dazza chip into the box almost found Savo only for the keeper to come out and clear.

But Airdrie came back and against the run of play drew level in 27 minutes. Prunty broke through the middle and with Paston coming out to block a shot along with a backtracking defence. Prunty went down and the ref didn't hesitate to point to the spot from which the penalty was duly dispatched. 1-1 and for some reason we began to retreat into our shell and sit back. We did try to make some chances though - Scotland saw a low drive blocked on the half-hour mark and the ball broke to Sheering whose curling shot went just over the bar (he then vanished into the ether once more). Airdrie hit straight back and Prunty saw a chip beat Paston but come back off the bar - Anderson again clearing the danger.

The game was pretty scrappy and 10 minutes from the break we almost went behind after Mensing was caught napping in the middle of the park. Airdrie broke through on goal but thanks to another Anderson tackle in the box they had to settle for a corner. When it came over, Paston was nowhere at the near post and the defence cleared the ball in a panic. It came back in and the Saints keeper struggled to half-punch it clear. The half ended with a bit of controversy after Stevenson got onto the end of a long ball and broke into the box only to be bundled off it by Lovering - nothing from the referee and to be fair it would have been a very soft award.

We started the second period brightly enough with Milne chasing another long ball but too often we were punting the ball up instead of building from the midfield with only Sheridan trying to create something. Mensing almost had an own goal when he slipped an Airdrie cross just the correct side of Paston's right-hand post but it was another cross that the Saints keeper failed to collect. We had a spell when we just couldn't clear our lines with the defence looking poor and the Saints midfield sitting far too deep to allow us to break out. Our early chances were limited to crosses into the box with nobody there to follow up and a Scotland shot 12 minutes into the half which also saw us end up panicking as the new cult hero dropped to the ground but thankfully it was only cramp.

Owen didn't waste time changing things round with Peaso and Scrabble replacing Savo and Sheerin in 58 minutes. Unfortunately within a couple of minutes we went behind with some more suicidal defending. A quickly taken freekick caught the entire Saints defence off guard and McPhee broke to the right and hit a shot across goal. It didn't look like Paston touched it but the ref gave the corner. The ball came over was headed in and found Prunty with his back to goal and Paston behind him - he turned and the keeper was left for dead as the striker finished. 2-1 down and the gloom settled over the travelling support.

The players weren't helping matters with the confidence shot to pieces and the defence unable to string a couple of passes together. The midfield were non-existent with Mensing too slow and Stevenson unable to beat his man (which was doubly disappointing given how he'd taken the piss out of Lovering in the opening stages). Dobbie replaced Mensing with twenty minutes to go and within a minute the sub almost pulled us level. Good play from Scotland, Scrabble and Stevenson released Ryan on the right. He cut in and played a cross across goal to find Dobbie at the back post but his header went just over. That was a rare attack though and within a minute Paston had been forced to make a good block from a shot and then another Airdrie break went unchallenged before the final shot was deflected for a corner - at least we cleared it.

Saints seemed to have given up with Stevenson and the defence showing a lack of urgency in getting the ball into the opposition half. Campbell picked up a stupid booking for persistent fouling with 15 minutes to go and with Airdrie timewasting we just couldn't get going. Airdrie still threatened though - a low cross 10 minutes from time was spilled by the keeper although he recovered. We tried to get back with Peaso breaking through but his shot was blocked.

Then with seven minutes to go the afternoon of gloom was completed with a simple break through the middle by Airdrie. Somehow they got past the defence and too the ball wide to the byeline. Paston went out to block it but the cross got past him to find Twigg with an easy header into an almost empty net. Total bloody shambles and the sort of crap that we thought we'd got rid of last season.

With only consolation to fight for we did have one good break with plenty of classy passing with two minutes to go. But then Mark Campbell went and lost possession and as Airdrie broke back up the park he raced back to haul back the Airdrie player. The second booking and subsequent red card at least meant that we won't have to worry about selecting him for the defence for a while. The game finished with a damp squib with another Captain Kev header held and a Peaso freekick which caused about as much danger to the Airdrie goal as Mark Campbell did from the away dressing room. The final whistle led to the boos from the away fans with only James applauding us for turning up. Oh aye and Ando having the verbals.

At least there were a few plus points today with my MoM Jason Scotland proving that he's a quality player. Anderson and Sheridan also played well but the rest were poor. Paston should be dropped for the Partick game - he's a liability and I don't think he caught one cross today. The rest need to get their act together and perhaps the side needs a shake so Owen can prove that nobody is guaranteed the starting jersey. The only consolation is that we have a free weekend after the Partick game before we take on the league leaders in a game which we have to take something from.

We need that Partick win now - otherwise it could be a long September.

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