Saints 1 Airdrie 0 League Table Here
Team : Halliwell, Lawrie, Stanic, Mensing, McManus,
Pamela, Hardie, Sheerinho, Savo, Jason, McLaren
Subs : Cuthbert, Peaso, Jackson, Ryan, Darren
After the highs and lows of the trips west over the last week, it was a return to the sacred turf of McDiarmid today to host the visit of Airdrie (or whatever they call themselves these days). Despite their current status as relegation candidates after a poor start to the season, Owen's record against his old employers hasn't been that great and with the likes of Hardie and Oor Wullie plying their trade in Perth there was a bit of an edge going into this one. Nothing less than a convincing win would do to restore the faith that had taken a Bit of a knock at Cappielow. Well it wasn't that convincing in the end but the three points are in the bag and we kept another clean sheet - still loads of room for improvement though.
As expected Bryn and Oor Wullie returned to the starting lineup. Elsewhere and of the three doubts before the game, Kevin James missed out with Pamela Anderson coming into defence alongside McManus while Ryan Stevenson dropped to the bench as McLaren got the left-wing berth. Sheridan returned to the bench.
Saints looked disjointed from the start with too many high balls being played and the midfield doing their best lethargy impression. A 3rd minute throw-in found Jason who played a quick one-two with Mensing before setting up Savo but he couldn't find room for the shot. We had plenty of possession in the opening stages of the game but were unable to create any real chances against an Airdrie defence that seemed to revel in the physical side with Christie having an early go at Jason and Hardie involved in an ongoing battle with ex-Saintee Stuart Taylor. Twigg was the first player requiring treatment after he went in on Pamela but came off worst. Unfortunately the referee had a, shall we say "alternative" opinion of some of the challenges and there was little protection for the Saints players which infuriated the Saints supporters .
On the pitch Airdrie enjoyed some good spells of pressure as Saints looked a bit jaded. A couple of early freekicks caused the defence some problems as we struggled to clear our lines. Even when we cleared the danger, it was invariably a high ball played forward which the Airdrie midfield won to send right back at us. It didn't exactly make for exciting football and the frustrations in the home stands weren't helped by our first real attack in the 18th minute ending with a wild cross from Sheerinho going out without troubling the keeper. We should have taken the lead a minute later when a through ball found Jason who beat the offside trap. In a move reminiscent of the build-up for the third last weekend, Scotland got into the box one-on-one only for the keeper to block his angled shot. Just like last weekend the rebound fell to Savo, but this time, he pulled his shot wide.
A subdued Willie McLaren was next to try his luck, playing a one-two with Jason but his drive went wide. Airdrie hit back with Mensing called into action to head a dangerous cross behind for a corner with Pamela eventually clearing the area. Another Airdrie cross on the half hour mark caused us even more trouble when both Halliwell and Anderson missed the ball - luckily, there was no Airdrie player there to follow up. The challenges were going in thick and fast though with Scotland on the end of several nasty tackles from Christie (with no all of them ending up in freekicks as referee MacDonald seemingly picking up on Scotland's new "reputation" from Tuesday night). McManus took the freekick but Hardie was adjudged to have fouled a defender in the box - it was that sort of petty stop-start type of game. A minute later Christie went in the book after another tackle from behind on Jason - although ironically, the card was shown for dissent as opposed to the actual foul.
Saints were started to control the play a bit more with Scotland setting up McLaren for a weak shot that Robertson held. At the other end, Prunty went in on a challenge with Halliwell but the Saints keeper got the ball. Then with 6 minutes to go, another Christie hack on Scotland saw us get a quick freekick that found Jason. He turned and set up Mensing on a run through the inside right channel, but Simon just overran things a yard too far and the ball went wide.
We were starting to look a bit more convincing though and took the lead a minute before the interval with a well-worked goal. Lawrie took a shy on the right and when it went to a white shirt, followed up and won a corner. Sheerin sent the inswinger over to the far post where he found Mensing. His header went into the 6-yard box where Hardie headed it down for Savo who turned and shot home from a couple of yards out. One-nil up and we almost began to settle - especially when there was still time for McLaren to try and catch Robertson off his line with an attempt from the halfway line - the ball went wide though as it just wasn't to be Oor Willies day.
Hardie set up the next chance within a minute of the restart with a ball through for Savo but Robertson just beat him too it. The play went back up the park where the Saints defence gave too much room to Taylor who got on the end of a knock-down only to volley his attempt over the bar. That was followed up five minutes later with a freekick for Airdrie which ended up in another free header going over. With Saints leading though, Airdrie were forced to push forward more and Saints tried to take advantage of the extra room. Sheerin tried a speculative lob that was held before Goran picked up our first booking in the 59th minute for persistent fouling - not that he'd been especially dirty. McLaren, who had been pretty poor even allowing for the lack of service, was replaced by Dazza on the hour mark, Sheerin moving to the left wing and Mensing to the right. A minute later a Saints clearance found Hardie who played a neat flick forward for Jason to run behind the defence - only for the referee to blow for another incorrect offside decision.
Saints pressed and won a few corners with Mensing and Sheerin having shots blocked. Then in the 68th minute we should have extended the lead after Robertson hesitated over a passback. Savo got into block the clearance and the ball came to Jason on the left. He got into the box and squared for the unmarked Sheerinho but somehow he screwed his shot wide. Two minutes later and we had an even better chance. Good work from Jason on the right wing saw him play a deep cross to the unmarked Sheerinho who tapped the ball back across for the unmarked Hardie but somehow from 10 yards out he put the ball just wide of goal. Savo was replaced by Peaso for the last 15 minutes as Saints chased a winning goal. At the same time Airdrie were getting desperate and the fouls and dodgy decisions weren't helping. The 99th offside decision against Scotland in the 79th minute saw the Saints striker's frustration boil over and a petulant throw of the ball earned him a booking (the only consistent decision the referee made all afternoon was booking Airdrie's trialist winger for a similar offence five minutes later).
With seven minutes left, Sheerin and Sheridan set up Jason who made a good onside(!) run down the left before cutting the ball back from the byeline for Peaso but his shot went wide of goal. Airdrie tried to snatch an equaliser and they were aided by some desperate Saints defending with Halliwell punching the ball clear several times. We had a decent penalty claim in the 85th minute when a Sheridan cross found Hardie. Some neat control and a shot at goal came off a defender's arm but Saints had to settle for the corner. Hardie got up for it but sent his header over the bar. The closing stages saw the referee losing the plot with a strange calculation of the amount of injury time and some soft decisions. Airdrie's sub picked up a booking deep into injury time after a late assault on Lawrie and from the freekick a long ball found Peaso who set up Jason. He got into the box, beat a defender but again saw his shot come back off the keeper. Still the final whistle at least saw us get the 3 points.
MoM for me was Simon Mensing again although the Saints defence played well. There is a lack of sharpness about the side and Willie McLaren especially was a disappointment. We certainly missed James' height all over the park but Anderson had a good enough game. Savo took his goal well and Jason again should have had a couple but given the previous form we've shown against the Buckie Boyz, I'll settle for the three points tonight.
The tough games start next week!!!
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| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Livingston | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 14 |
| Saints | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 14 |
| Gretna | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 7 | 13 |
| Partick Thistle | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 11 |
| Scumdee | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 9 |
| Hamilton | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 7 |
| Ross County | 5 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 6 |
| Clyde | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Queen of the South | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| Airdrie | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 1 |
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