Temple Of Saints - Le Freak Strikes

Bells League Division One 15/10/2005

Saints 3 Brechin 1 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, Mensing, Goran, Stevenson, Rustybitz, James, Scotland, Sheridan, Milne, Dobbie, Sheerin
Subs : Paston, Oweny, Henry, McCann, Pamela

Yet again Saints went into a home game with high expectations of the three points remaining at McDiarmid come 4.45pm. Our home form might not be in spectacular form yet but given Brechin's performances this season the odds were certainly favouring Saints finishing the first quarter of the campaign with a win. And despite some minor difficulties, we thoroughly deserved the win against a Brechin side who are a lot more physical than a few years ago but already look set for the drop. The fortnight's break had done little to ease the injury problems for Oweny. Peaso's wee tidy-up operation has turned into a festive lay-off while Ravey Davey Hannah and Rustybitz had managed to pick up some rare tropical disease after the former forgot the quarantine regulations following a trip to Juteopolis. Keyring was ruled out with Achilles trouble along with Mark Campbell but John Henry was available for selection.

That meant one enforced change for the manager though Owen bravely resisted the temptation to pull on a starting jersey himself and instead entrusted Dobbie with the job of taking over from Peaso to partner Savo up front. Elsewhere the starting lineup remained unchanged (Scotland having managed to catch his connections this time) though Henry replaced Scrabble on the bench and Oweny making up the numbers.

From the first kick of the ball Saints were on the attack and we had the ball in the net within the first 60 seconds. A Dazza freekick was put out for a corner and from it the ball found Rustybitz whose header went in but not without being adjudged to have fouled Nelson in the process. Saints kept up the pressure though with some good play in midfield with that man Dazza at the heart of things. And he was involved in the move to open the scoring for Saints in the 5th minute. Ryan was the star of the move though with a good run down the right. He squared the ball to Jason on the edge of the box who in turn laid it back to the unmarked Dazza. We all expected the shot but instead he slipped the ball into the box to find Stevenson making a run and he played a lovely low shot past Nelson into the back of the net.

Two minutes later we nearly made in two-nil after Goran backheeled the ball to Sheerin who went on a great run up the left, playing a one-two with Jason then rounding Nelson before finding his angled shot blocked. The eventual corner was held. Brechin had a couple of early shots from Britton go wide without troubling the Cat. Then in the 13th minute Mensing was caught napping and lost possession with Goran eventually being forced to concede a corner.

The defence cleared that one but two minutes later, Lady Luck decided to drop her knickers for Brechin big style. Hampshire was given plenty of room to wander up the park. He fired in a powerful shot from the edge of the box which too a deflection so wicked it's already being lined up as the new Bond villain before going into the top of the net. Memories of Stranraer suddenly sprang to mind.

Saints immediately took the game back up the park with a Stanic cross finding Mensing but his header was saved. Then Scotland set up Savo for a run into the box - he was held but no foul from referee Underhill. Scotland had a good chance himself in the 22nd minute when the ball reached him at the back post but his shot was cleared off the line. Brechin were happy to sit back and defend and with the Saints midfield sitting too deep we were struggling to create any real chances. Stevenson and Savo linked well in the box but too often the final shot was blocked. Scotland saw a good 30-yarder go over and then ten minutes from the interval, Stanic played the ball in from wide left finding Sheerin who tried his luck with a cracking volley which went over the bar.

The game turned more controversial a few minutes later as Dazza went in late on his fellow pensioner Ally Mitchell . The referee blew for the foul but then Mitchell rose up and started raising his hands to Dazza who backed off. Mitchell kept coming and it took several of his teammates to pull him back. Given what happened to Mensing it looked like a straight red card but it was a bad mistake from the referee that saw him only book Mitchell and then book Sheridan. Back to the action though and after some good build-up Dobbie (who looked off the pace and lacking in match sharpness) turned his defenders and then fired a 20-yarder low drive that Nelson got down to tip wide. From the corner the ball found James but he was bundled off the ball - no penalty from the referee. The half was rounded off by a Mensing run ending in a tackle in the box and James sticking another header wide.

From the restart Scotland moved to a wider right role and this paid off from the start. A series of crosses from our soon-to-be-famous World Cup star early in the half saw Savo have a volley blocked, then a decent corner won. From that the ball was returned to Dazza and his cross found James but Nelson made another good save from the skipper's header. Next up was Stevenson setting up Dobbie on the right and he squared the ball to Savo who missed the ball. It came to Jason but his shot was blocked, with Dobbie eventually forcing a corner from which James stuck another header over the bar.

Brechin were on the back foot and trying to kill the game with some of the worst timewasting tactics we've seen at McDiarmid in a long time - at least the ref finally began to warn them but given they were doing this with 30-plus minutes left on the clock it's no wonder fans become disillusioned with the lack of entertainment on the park. On the park Saints were enjoying the pressure with Mensing hitting a shot wide and then after Savo was fouled on the edge of the box, Dobbie's free kick beat the wall but went just over the bar, then Sheerin saw a good shot deflected for another corner. Dobbie was replaced in the 67th minute by Henry, with Jason moving up front. A minute later Dazza had a run before sending the ball left to Sheerin but his first touch was just off and Nelson managed to save at his feet.

But in the 73rd minute we took the lead after a corner was sent over from the far side. Henry took the ball and sent it out to Sheerin and his cross found Kevin James rising like Le Freak at the back post to stick a header past the keeper and make it 2-1. A typical James goal to say the least and it's been a long time coming but it was well deserved. And a couple of minutes later we made it 3-1. Sheerin, who was overflowing with confidence, was involved again with some good play on the left of the box. His initial shot was blocked but he persevered and found Savo in the box and his shot saw Nelson floundering like a sinking admiral to make it 3-1.

And if things weren't bad enough for Campbell and Paton in the away dugout Lady Luck finally showed that she'd swapped sides a few minutes later. In a brave move they committed all their subs (taking "Elbows" Britton off in the process) only within 60 seconds to see Alex Burns stretchered off with a bad injury. Down to 10 men it nearly got worse for them 8 minutes from time when defender David White was flattened needing treatment after colliding with his keeper on the edge of the box and if justice had been done, they'd have been penalised for handball when Jason tried to send the cross back in to the empty goal.

Saints were full of confidence now with even Oweny coming on for Scotland. A minute from time we almost scored a fourth when Sheerin found himself on the left and played a lovely ball in only for Nelson to just beat Savo to it. Then Sheerin struck again finding Savo who went left before firing a low cutback across goal which found both Oweny and Henry just too late to get the tap-in.

We fully deserved the win today even if some of the players looked a bit off the pace (Mensing, Dobbie). James was excellent at the back along with Stanic and Rusty and Dazza was his usual majestic self in midfield. But MoM for me had to be Paul Sheerin who looked like a player reborn in the middle of the park making plenty of chances and unlucky not to score himself. N

ow can we start the glorious run?

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