Temple Of Saints - Bah Humbug!

Bells League Division One 26/12/2005

Saints 1 Ross Co 1 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, Pamela, Goran, Stevenson, Rustybitz, James, Henry, Sheridan, Milne, Scotland, Sheerinho
Subs : Paston, Dobbie, Scrabble, Dyer, Doris

With the spirit of Christmas still hanging in the air (and the breath for some of us), Saints went into this afternoon's early home game knowing that it was time to start narrowing the gap on the Paisley mob with consistency the key factor. Added to that there was a wee bit of a grudge match against a County side that took the three points off us in Dingwall and who are one of the rivals for the title race. Unfortunately an uninspiring Saints side did little to boost morale amongst a home support - little in the way of entertainment or apparent tactics and far too many silly mistakes all over the park. It's even more disappointing that despite all that we still had chances to win the game but yet again our play in the opposition box was about as effective as Kernaghan's spell at Dense Park. The whole side looked jaded and worryingly the fringe players asked to step up today failed to impress.

Of course it wasn't helped that Owen was forced into some changes. Ryan McCann is going to be out for the best part of two months with his medial ligament injury and Simon Mensing was ruled out of this one with an ankle knock. At least Darren Sheridan had a chance to make amends after some public criticism of his set pieces by the manager, before beginning his three-match suspension. Into the side for the walking wounded came Pamela Anderson for a starting jersey at right-back. Willie Dyer and Stephen Doris took over their places on the bench.

Saints started brightly enough for about the first 90 seconds or so but the Xmas over-indulgence soon showed through with the early kickoff obviously confusing the Saints players' overworked brain cells. It's been a long time since I've seen such an uninspiring first-half performance as we witnessed today. Passes going miles astray, too many high balls, a first touch that showed all the skill of Peter Fyhr at his worst and tackles that did the same for John Davies. As early as the third minute McKinlay tried a long-range effort that the Cat reacted to tip over.

That should have served as a warning to Saints but we went behind three minutes later. The Saints defence was caught square by a break down the left ended in a low cross which was somehow missed by the Saints defence and found Higgins unmarked in the box. He was given far too much time to control the ball and, unchallenged, hit a low shot into the net. Saints tried to regain the upper hand but Sheerin and Scotland both saw shots go well wide of target. Rustybitz had a decent 11th minute header from a Sheridan corner held and then Stevenson (who had abysmal service all afternoon) saw his shot blocked by John Henry - the sort of misfortune that just summed up the afternoon.

Henry tried his luck after quarter of an hour when he got onto a Dazza freekick but as at Love Street his finishing was poor and he was forced to settle for a corner - Le Freak headed that over. Henry got onto a Pamela cross in the 22nd minute but his header was comfortably held by Garden. Defensively we looked solid enough but as a whole, Saints were slower than County and too eager to pump the ball forward rather than keep the ball on the deck. As it was Ross County hadn't threatened much but Lionel fired in an excellent 35-yard drive in the 25th minute that the Cat saw late but managed to tip wide. If that wasn't enough for the home fans to start worrying, it got worse with the next cross which saw Ryan make a hash of a clearance in the 6yd box almost scoring an own goal although thankfully Goran cleared the danger off the line. Saints were creating little in the way of clearcut chances - a good move on the half hour saw Scotland set up Sheerin but his cross found a County penalty box distinctly lacking in blue shirts. It was poor stuff and the subdued fans in the East Stand were becoming restless and more vocal in their criticisms of the lads.

Owen too seemed to be getting pissed off and made his first change with Ryan (who had picked up an earlier knock) sacrificed for Dobbie. That meant a rejigging of the midfield with Scotland going through the middle and Henry switching to the right wing. Scotland was causing County a lot of problems although his shirt seemed to be a prize possession of the Dingwall defence given the way they wanted to grab a piece of it. Despite the change though, we still struggled to hold onto the ball with the biggest danger coming from set pieces - Rusty saw a volley held after he got onto the end of a James knockdown in the 39th minute and then in injury time another James header fell for Savo but his volley went over the bar.

The expected skyrocket up the collective arse of the side at half-time had little effect if it occurred with Saints in trouble in the first minute after County beat the offside trap and sent a cross over which saw Rustybitz caught dallying and the Cat forced to make the save. The referee was in the thick of it was well with his whistle going for the slightest challenge but refusing to dish the cards out even when McKinlay had put in three hefty challenges.

Owen switched things round again ten minutes after the break with Sheerin withdrawn in place of Scrabble with Henry somehow immune from the manager's wrath. Dobbie had a weak effort just after that but in 61 minutes we finally drew level. Henry picked up the ball on the edge of the box and found Dobbie who slipped the ball to Scotland and his angled shot from about 10 yards beat the keeper and went into the bottom corner of the net. It wasn't quite against the run of play but we barely deserved it either.

The goal did seem to fire us up though and we finally began to string a few passes together with Scotland's play from "the hole" a major boost. Having said that County almost drew level when Burke was given too much room and saw his shot deflected for a corner. Saints were working hard without really creating anything. Scotland had a decent run end in a shot going well wide but that was it. The cards began to be shown by referee Fyfe though with Scrabble the first unjust victim for a foul on Cowan off the ball. Saints almost took the lead with 15 minutes to go with a brilliant Scotland drive well saved by Garden. And three minutes later Owen made his final change with Savo making way for Doris.

We had plenty of pressure by now as County seemed to be ready to settle for a counter-attacking game. After Dobbie was fouled on the edge of the box, the resulting freekick was headed in by Henry to Dobbie who set up Scotland who forced a corner. The ball came over and found James who bulleted a header towards the goal. It looked set to go in but unfortunately Dobbie got his head in the way and headed the ball behind. Summed it up really. Even after that we had chances with another James header cleared off the line and then 3 minutes from the end Scotland appeared to be brought down in the box. No penalty given and both sides kept chasing the winner with Rustybitz the next booking.

Back at the other end Henry was fouled but Sheridan's freekick failed to find Rustybitz at the far post. Then into injury time Scotland made a great run before being brought down apparently in the box. Despite it looking like an excellent penalty claim the referee was again having none of it with the freekick being awarded on the edge of the box. Dazza's ball went in but the header fell to Scrabble whose overhead kick was easily held. County broke up the park only for Anderson to fell their man and he was lucky to escape with a booking.

A draw was probably a fair result but at the same time it wasn't good enough in terms of the attitude and effort from some of the side. Anderson's confidence seems shot and Dobbie was hopeless when he came on. The midfield pairing of Henry and Sheridan is too slow and although we were solid enough in defence, it's not enough when we need to win games. As it was my MoM was Jason Scotland for being the only creative player in a blue shirt today.

Bah humbug and all that.....

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