Temple Of Saints - Ugly but Deserved

Bells League Division One 25/03/2006

Saints 1 Clyde 0 League Table Here

Team : Glennon, Mensing, Goran, Pamela, Rustybitz, Fozzy, Henry, Sheridan, Hardie, Scotland, Sheerinho
Subs : Cat, Savo, Oweny, Winter, Ryan

Going into the last few games of the season with the promotion chance all but gone, it was an opportunity for Saints to make their minds up about who is likely to still be around for the "real" campaign next season. Today saw us take on the Cumbernauld Mafia with their new strip deal and who were still living off their win over the Forces of Evil in the cup. As usual these days, nothing less than three points was going to do but in the end, we fully deserved the win despite the less-than-convincing winning margin number of blue shirts that were off the pace - step forward Messrs Sheridan, Sheerinho and Scotland.

Skipper Kevin James was again ruled out but Simon "Naughty Boy" Mensing returned from his suspension with Ryan Stevenson dropped to the bench and Jim Weir seeing the end of his flirtation with the first team. For the New Town Gangsters, McGregor was ruled out after an incident at training saw his cheekbone smashed. Neddie "Enforcer" Malone was still in their line-up to try and put the frighteners on Jason. The game started on a heavy pitch with the area in front of the East Stand worthy on the English Premiership. And with Charlie Richmond in charge it took all of two seconds before the first foul with Mensing marking his return to the first team with a rash challenge. Thirty seconds later it was Rustybitz that was on the receiving end of the referee's whistle. The freekick went well wide of Matty's goal.

Saints first chance came in the fifth minute when a throw-in found Jason whose flick reached Sheerinho. His cross into the box reached Mensing who fired in a rocket that was blocked by a defender. A minute later, Goran went on one of his mazy runs, but his cross found no blue shirts in the box. Then a long clearance from Fozzy found Jason. He turned well before squaring to Mad Mental Martin whose shot was blocked. We won our first corner in the 11th minute after good work by Simon. The ball was only cleared as far as Sheerin and Jason who both saw shots blocked. Clyde had a soft freekick awarded three minutes later but the defence dealt with it comfortably before heading back up the park where Dazza set up Stanic whose cross was met by a powerful header from Mensing that the keeper held.

We were well in control with plenty of possession and pressure. Sheridan had a decent header blocked and then a 20th minute attack ended in a Henry cross which Sheerinho somehow headed wide, when it looked easier to score. Fozzy saw another header go wide before a Brighton dive saw Clyde get another freekick that was headed clear. Saints kept up the pressure and in the 29th minute Pamela found Henry whose cutback to Sheerinho in the box was met with a rocket of a shot that was deflected over the bar. The corner was hit out to Dazza who fired it back in for Hardie's head but the keeper beat Henry to the follow-up.

Two minutes later and the best move of the game led to the goal. Sheridan set up Henry on the left and his cutback was flicked on by Jason just enough for the ball to find Simon Mensing 8 yards out and he beat Neddie Malone to drive the ball into the net. After that, the game opened up. Clyde pressed back and only came close through a long-range effort which the referee decided had taken a deflection off the invisible Saints defender. Mind you we had a nervous moment from the resulting corner as Matty managed to do a Kelvin and drop the ball, but the defence cleared the danger.

Eight minutes before the break Saints made their first change with Ryan replacing Fozzy who looked to have picked up a knock. Mensing went to the left side of defence as Ryan moved to the right flank. And three minutes later, he should have scored our second. A neat Sheridan chip broke for Sheerinho and he hit a long cross which reached Stevenson unmarked at the far post, but he rushed things and ended up volleying the ball across the goal when a simple tap-in would have been enough. Sheridan saw a decent freekick held three minutes later after Hardie had yet again been hacked down. Then a minute after that Henry released Stevenson through the right channel and he fired in a good shot which was tipped wide. From the corner some good play saw the ball find Ryan who cut across the goal to Scotland but his shot was deflected out for a corner and that ended in a soft Hardie shot going wide. There were more than a few echoes of Dens in the play.

Clyde made their second substitution at the interval as they shook up their defence. But two minutes after the restart, Hardie was brought down on the edge of the box. After some arguing with Jason, Mad Mental took the freekick himself with the wall stopping the first shot and then a defender blocking his follow-up which also left Hardie down needing treatment for a knock. Three minutes later and the first signs of slackness in the Saints play began to cost us. Sheridan's woeful pass led to a Clyde break with Glennon making a good save. The ball was still in play and when it was crossed over, Glennon was nowhere and it took a defensive header to settle for a corner. Two minutes later another Clyde long-range shot was well held by the keeper.

Saints were struggling though and that was typified by Scotland and Henry being crowded out as they tried to walk the ball into the net. The midfield were very poor though as we failed to close the Clyde players down and movement off the ball was almost non-existent. We were still making some chances thanks to a Cumbernauld defence that was diabolical (as demonstrated by the amount of room Henry was being given). Closest we came though was on the hour mark, when Jason turned his man and fired a 25-yarder just wide of target. Scotland and Henry both had shots blocked after that as we forced a series of corners.

The game was dying down as a real contest though and becoming a lot scrappier with niggly challenges going in all over the park (something Neddie Malone was making the most of). With 15 minutes to go Scotland and Henry were replaced by Savo and Winter but by that time it seemed that Saints were happy to defend their slender lead with the midfield again sitting back far too much and Goran looking like the only one of the back eight who was willing to try and keep the play out of the Saints half. Ryan picked up our first booking after another Malone collapse with ten minutes to go. This time the freekick into the box was half-punched clear by Glennon with Goran clearing the danger.

Malone decided the cons were working and the most blatant dive outside of Stamford Bridge three minutes later saw him get another freekick - the wall did it's job and blocked the danger. Towards the end Goran had an absolutely brilliant run up the left wing before cutting inside. His ball was cutback to Jamie Winter but his side-footed shot was well held. Clyde went up the park with Bryson doing a Neddie this time. Neddy himself took the freekick and though it beat the wall, Glennon was in great form to tip the ball over the bar. The corner was again headed clear by Goran before Richmond decided enough was enough.

Not the prettiest of performances but we thoroughly deserved the win on a heavy pitch. There seemed to be a lot of tired Saints players out there today though with Sheridan, Scotland and Sheerin off form. Defensively we were solid though with Anderson having a much better game than last week (a bit quieter though). MoM for me had to be Goran who was easily the best player on the park but it was good to see Mensing back and Hardie deserves a lot of praise for his play up front.

At least the challenge survives another week!

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