Saints 0 Paisley Bogey Team 1
Team : Paston, Mensing, Stanic, Pamela, Campbell,
James, McCann, Sheridan, Milne, Dobbie, Janczyk
Subs : Cuthbert, Coyle, Sheerin, Peaso, Stevenson
Baws 2 : The Revenge as Mr Spielberg might have put it. Yup with Saints still smarting (and Mensing still blushing) after we let the Paisly fakes win last Saturday there was at least the quick chance for Saints to try and make amends in the CIS Cup. There were several players tonight who had a point to prove following their poor performances on Saturday and the Saints fans needed some reaffirmation in Owen's bouncebackability after the league defeat. Enough there you'd think to add more than a bit of spice to a cup-tie. Plenty of spice in the end but no relish as another soft goal conceded saw us chasing the game and looking very, very poor at times - there's a lot of work to be done before the weekend.
With Mark Paston signing a 1-year deal yesterday the big question was whether or not he'd be given the starting keeper's jersey ahead of Kevin Cuthbert after the latter came in for some heavy slagging after the weekend match. As it was Owen went for the Kiwi in goal with the Cat dropped to the bench. Elsewhere and the question marks over the defence saw some rearranging. Pamela Anderson came in with Mensing moving to the no 2 shirt and Ryan dropped to the bench - John Henry was the player making way.
The new keeper was tested early on with a nervous punch in the first minute as St Midden put the pressure on from the start. A minute later he easily dealt with a cross ball. But just in case we got too optimistic within 60 seconds he was picking the ball out of the back of the net. McCann conceded a freekick on the flank, the ball was sent over and that bugger McGowne sent a looping header over the defence and Paston caught in no man's land. Not the best of starts. Unfortunately Saints were unable to get going and too often it was the route one long ball which the Paisley defence had no trouble dealing with. We did try a cheeky chip from Dazza in the 6th minute but Hinchcliffe beat Savo to the ball. James headed a Scrabble freekick well wide a minute later but it was pretty abysmal stuff.
Saints nearly went two down as the quarter hour mark approached when Keane on the right beat James and then an onrushing Paston only for a last-ditch interception by Pamela sparing the goalie's blushes. Even more desperate was a dodgy backpass from Campbell who chipped the ball back across goal to Paston forcing the keeper to header the ball off the line.
As at the weekend Dazza was at the heart of almost all Saints' moves and tried a long-range effort that went over before trying a chip to set up Savo, but that was cut out. Dobbie tried a volley that missed the target but too much time was being spent chasing the ball as Saints were again second to every ball. There was little penetration down either flank and far too often we ended up playing the ball back across the defence - THAT brought back too many memories of Saturday's shambles. The game was more even with St Mirren happy to hit on the break and they should have doubled their lead in the 27th minute. A loose ball from Dazza was intercepted by Kean who broke through, beat the keeper as he came out and only Anderson's excellent defending on the line prevented the goal. Dobbie saw a long-range effort held and Mensing, in a rare foray forward set up Savo with a cross but there was no follow up in the box.
Owen had obviously seen enough and put Peaso on for Campbell in the 33rd minute reverting to a 4-3-1-2 formation with Dobbie sitting behind the front pairing. Saints had some pressure but when Midden broke out, Mensing became the first player to be booked for a foul on the halfway line. Saints were getting more of the ball now. A Scrabble cross was eventually mishit by James. Then, with 8 minutes remaining, Savo played a great through ball past the defence for Peaso to run onto. He broke into the box but the final angled shot was poor and hooked across the goal. Still it gave us a little hope. And a minute later we came even closer. A Dazza corner found Mensing in the box and his header was tipped onto the bar by Hinchcliffe before being cleared.
After the half-time PR exercise of Chairman Geoff parading new signing Jason Scotland (and by God do we need someone with his pace in the side), it was unfortunately more of the same from Saints. We were slow to get going and Paston looked even more nervous with rushed clearances and some poor distribution, aided and abetted by a defence that seemed unable to create any attack other than a hopeful punt up the park. Five minutes into the half and a slack passback from Anderson was almost intercepted and with Paston coming out late to collect he almost collided with Le Freak who was back making the necessary panic-stations hoof into the East Stand. Not very inspiring stuff and you'd have thought we'd stepped back 12 months in time.
There was little real goalmouth action as Saints struggled to break down the Paisley defence (and like the fans grew more and more frustrated at the timewasting tactics of Gus' side and the referee's inability to deal with it). Dobbie and Savo had a couple of shots held, the latter after some good build-up play by Goran. But it was St Midden who had the best chance in the 62nd minute when Mehmet was given too much room and tried his luck from distance forcing a good save from Paston who tipped it wide.
Owen came on for Dobbie five minutes later but we weren't man's any decent chances. The game did threaten to boil over 20 minutes from time as a freekick into the box was headed down by James to Scrabble who went over under a challenge from Potter. No penalty and the pair clashed leading to a warning for Potter and Scrabble limping for the rest of the game. Van Zanten was the next name in the book for timewasting although Millen and Broadfoot were lucky to escape earlier punishment for a similar offence. St. Mirren were still causing the new keeper all sorts of problems and a 78th minute corner saw him spill the ball at the near post with Anderson luckily placed to clear the loose ball out of danger.
With time running out, Stevenson came on for McCann and there was a flurry of cards. McGinty picked up a booking for a nasty challenge on Anderson then Potter and Stevenson clashed after a 50-50 ball with the referee booking both.
Mensing had another header tipped clear as we chased an equaliser with Kevin James moving up to flick on the long balls from defence. With two minutes to go we almost scored with a freekick into the box flicked down by James for Peaso but his turn and shot went just wide of the post. Then James himself had a header cleared in the last minute as St Mirren tried more timewasting. Even then in injury time we had a gilt-edged opportunity with a corner from the far side. James headed it down, it was cleared to Dazza at the edge of the area who chipped it back in finding Savo with just the keeper to beat on the edge of the 6yd box. He rushed the shot with a volley though and the ball sailed over the bar.
In the end there was little between the sides but St Mirren edged us for pace again and made us chase the game. There was little sign of the silky passing football that we've seen in earlier games and too many in the side were off their game - McCann, Mensing and Scrabble all struggled. Defensively we looked a little bit better but Campbell was poor early on and Paston didn't look match-fit in goals. MoM for me though was Anderson just ahead of Stanic and Dazza.
We should have known better - new keeper debuts usually mean we exit these diddy cups.
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