Temple Of Saints - Not good enough

Bells League Division One 04/03/2006

Saints 2 Airdrie 2 League Table Here

Team : Glennon, Stevenson, Goran, Pamela, Rustybitz, James, Sheridan, Winter, Hardie, Scotland, Sheerinho
Subs : Cat, Henry, Fozzy, Coyle, Dobbie

So, after another enforced weekend lay-off when the only football entertainment came courtesy of the result from Gretna, the final quarter began today with Saints playing host to the wonderfully civilised travelling support from Airdrie. With their quaint flags and interesting ditties, we knew this would be a pretty big game - unfortunately someone forgot to tell the players that and while we can be proud of the fight they showed in coming back from two goals down to salvage a point and indeed almost take all three, the honest truth is that we had too many passengers in the side and a far, far too casual approach to the game. Saints might not be out of the title race yet but as has happened all too often this season (especially against the timewasters we were facing today), we're trying our best to kill off any hopes and dreams of the Saints faithful without the other challengers having to lift a finger.

Simon Mensing's spell in the sin-bin (thanks to a daft red card in the last encounter at New Broomfield or whatever it's called these days) began with this match. But the good news was that Pamela was back from a leg injury and Darren Sheridan had recovered from the flu bug that saw him miss out on the Accies win (you'd have thought that someone of his advancing years might have qualified for a free jab in these enlightened times). It meant Martin Hardie moving up front with Dobbie sacrificed - he dropped to the bench as Scrabble dropped out. For Airdrie Prunty and McManus missed out.

We started..... no that's wrong. The actual game started on time but we were late getting off the block and by the time the internal alarm clocks went off we were one behind. A simple cross in the second minute wasn't properly cleared by the Saints defence and the ball fell to Twigg who turned well and chipped Glennon from 10 yards out with the Saints keeper off his line. Suffice to say it wasn't exactly the ideal start. We hit back within a minute with Jason setting up Hardie for a shot that was held but the game settled into a pretty dour affair with the ball spending the majority of the opening stages in the air. Airdrie were no great shakes and after their goal rarely threatened but our midfield spent most of it's time hanging back while Jason was again crowded out killing off our main playmaker - cue another umpteen high punts for Hardie to head to no one in particular.

It wasn't until the 11th minute that we managed another shot but that was a pretty weak low drive from Winter after Stuart Dougal (who managed 90 minutes without booking a single player) graciously awarded us a freekick after a couple of white shirts handled the ball. Three minutes after that, Stanic got his head onto a rare Ryan cross only for the attempt to be blocked. The ball broke to Sheerinho who set up Darren but his effort (in the loosest sense of the word) went well wide of Robertson's goal. Jason had a decent run a few minutes later and sent a weighted pass into the box but Hardie was just too slow to reach it. Airdrie were still making rare attacks aided and abetted by the anti-tackling style of the Saints midfield play.

Midway through the half, McLaren was given far too much room on the left to cut in and try his luck. The shot was cleared but nobody chased down the loose ball and Matt had to look alert to hold onto the follow-up shot. Overall though, the game was turning into another one of those scrappy encounters we've seen all too often in the Sacred Ground that is McDiarmid, with skill at a premium and Saints unable to chase the game. It was summed up in the 33rd minute when some more tricky play by Jason won us a freekick on the edge of the box. Up stepped Sheerinho and Sheridan to show that even with a second attempt, we're still unable to do anything creative from a dead ball situation (see also Dazza's corner kicks which are lucky to threaten even half the time) - how about just once, we try something different?

The first half ground to a close with Saints still pressing. Jason saw a shot blocked after he got on the end of a freekick after Hardie had been brought down on the left. The ball went out for a corner which was whipped over to the back post where Hardie rose up to put a powerful header over the bar. Then Jason set up Goran who went on a brilliant run up the middle of the park before slipping the ball through the defence to Hardie coming in from the left. He fired in a cracking low shot that beat the keeper but went just the wrong side of the post.

Oweny obviously wasn't too happy with the first half performance and changed things round at the interval. Off went Jamie Winter with Dobbie coming on to replace him as we switched to a 4-3-3 formation. Unfortunately the lack of common sense that had dogged us in the first- half was still there after the break - with similar consequences. Five minutes after the restart and Darren was penalised for a soft tackle on the edge of the Saints box. After the traditional 3-yr wait Lovering stepped up, fired a shot towards the goal and with the help of a deflection so wicked you could give it a beard and call it Saddam, the ball went into the net.

Game over? Well it might have seemed so as Saints went into their usual shapeless tactical mess. We huffed and puffed but when you get the referee waiving away decent penalty claims such as Hardie had when he was bundled over two minutes after the goal, it's hard not to feel a tad despondent. We almost conceded a third goal in the 55th minute. Airdrie won a dodgy corner from blatant offside. The Ball was sent over and with Glennon nowhere a header was sent in - luckily Sheerinho was there to head the ball off the goal line.

That seemed to spark us into life a bit and within a minute some good build- up play ended with a Dobbie snapshot going just wide. And a minute later a throw-in on the left was flicked on by James to Hardie at the corner of the 6yd box and he tried a spectacular angled overhead kick that beat the keeper but went just wide. Mad Mental Martin had another shot go over and then just after the hour mark Goran went on a run through the middle that let him set up Dobbie for a decent shot that Robertson tipped clear (hey at least it was on target). Oweny came on to replace Ryan (who again had faded badly as the game wore on). And his talisman-like presence had the desired impact. The corner was floated over, James headed it down at the back post and there was Mad Mental Martin to drive the ball home.

Saints had the bit between their teeth now and started to attack in earnest. In the 64th minute Scotland was fouled on the right (including a nice wee follow-up kick which the ref missed from McLaren). The freekick found James in the box but his header went out for a corner - from that Rustybitz sent a header over. Stanic tried to set Coyle up with a nice chip into the area where he was clear but the gaffer was just too slow. Rustybitz tried his luck with a downward targeted header that went wide, followed in the 72nd minute by Sheerinho getting on the end of a corner that had been punched clear. But his attempt at demonstrating his Uruguayan skills failed as his volley sailed over. Next up was Dobbie - he got on the end of a James head flick but his shot was held. Saints were pressing forward in numbers by now and creating plenty of chances. Airdrie were restricted to a corner (which they naturally took their time over) 15 minutes from time, which Matt comfortably held.

The last ten minutes saw Kevin James and his teammates practically camped in the Airdrie area. Coyle saw a chip saved and the skipper had a decent header cleared. A Stanic freekick from the left came back out to Owen and his chip was headed across goal by the unmarked Dobbie when it seemed easier to score.

Jason fired a shot wide in the 87th minute before a quick break from Airdrie saw McLaren through and he brought out a good save from Glennon. Justice was finally done in the final minute when Sheerinho picked up the ball on the left and sent a deep cross over that Hardie fired back into the area. Dobbie seemed to miss the ball and it broke to Kevin James ten yards out and he blasted in a rocket (using his feet!) to make it 2-2, which was the least we deserved. Unfortunately it was also all we got as there was only time for a Dobbie shot to go over the bar and Sheerinho to head the ball at the keeper before Stuart Dougal blew the final whistle - with barely any time added on. Strange given the Airdrie antics throughout the match.

For once I'm going to agree with the match sponsors for the MoM award - Goran Stanic was easily the most consistent Saints player on the day. Others worth a mention include James, Jason and Mad Mental Martin but too many players had an off day (Dazza IMHO probably had his worst display in a Saints shirt), while for the likes of Stevenson time must be running out for them to show the consistency we need.

I don't think we're anything like close to giving up yet, but the faith was well and truly questioned today - and that's not good enough

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