Saints 0 Clyde 0 League Table Here
Team : Halliwell, Lawrie, Stanic, McManus, Weir, James,
Mensing, Sheridan, Savo, Scotland, Sheerinho
Subs : Cuthbert, Stevenson, Jackson, Peaso, Trialist
This was it then. The phoney entertainment that was the mixed bag of pre- season friendlies was over and it was finally time to get down to the real business of winning the league. The fixture list had been fairly kind to us for the league opener, with a home match against the pseudo-Wegies from Cumbernauld, who hadn't had their own troubles to seek off the park during the summer with managerial upheavals and plenty of the wrong sort of tabloid headlines. And while Saints might have deserved the points based on the number of chances, we failed to produce the sort of quality, hunger and workrate to earn anything more than a share of the points. More disappointing was the knowledge that this side is close to our strongest starting lineup - today it was simply not good enough.
Last season's suspensions kicked in for the game with Rustybitz, Mad Mental Martin and Pamela forced to watch this one from the comfort of the stand. Elsewhere and Savo partnered Jason up front with Peaso and Jackson on the bench where they were joined by a trialist. The big change though was in goal with Geri Halliwell preferred over the Cat. The game got under way with Clyde looking a lot livelier and sharper from the kick-off. They forced the first corner within three minutes after the first of several dangerous crosses caught the Saints defence napping. Four minutes later and Weir was caught out as he played a short passback from the right to our left-footed keeper leading to another panicky clearance.
Saints weren't giving much cause for optimism in the home stands with passes going astray, poor positioning and a marking system which was non-existent. The referee was doing his best to endear himself to neither set of supporters with Sheerinho getting an 11th minute warning for a clumsy challenge. A minute later Jason was fouled but no freekick was awarded and Clyde broke up the park forcing Geri to come out and save the ball at the attacker's feet. We weren't making much in the way of chances and showing no imagination when we were awarded a freekick - Kevin James the only player targeted by any of Sheridan's set-pieces. Christ if 90% of the fans can predict what Saints will do at a set piece, don't you think that the opposition might have a wee clue? A 13th minute freekick found James and his header reached Jason but he couldn't control the ball.
The game was very scrappy though and Clyde were by far the more dangerous on the break without threatening our goal much. Kevin James saw a header go over from a freekick in the 21st minute and two minutes later, Savo got on the end of a Lawrie chip to head over. But the visitors missed the best chance of the half after another Clyde break down the right ended in a cross to the back post where they somehow managed to stick the ball past an empty goal.
Saints hit back when Sheerinho hit a cross in for Savo, but his header was cleared off the line. The resulting corner was cleared as far as Goran and he set up Jason but his shot was well over. But our defence was still making too many mistakes with an unmarked Clyde player getting a free header in eight minutes before the interval with the ball going over. The closing stages of the first half were again dominated by some poor refereeing decisions which prevented either side from getting going. Saints had Sheridan and Mensing booked for fouls within the space of a couple of minutes but we still managed to carve out a decent chance. Lawrie set up Jason in the box for him to turn round, lose his man and fire in a curling shot which went just over the bar.
There was no sign of the needed foot up the arse for the Saints players at half-time and Clyde again started the better with a decent freekick that Geri did well to hold. Our cause wasn't helped by Mensing going off for a few minutes with a head wound (and taking longer to come back on thanks to the inept referee). Sheridan tried to set up Jason with a freekick in the 55th minute but Scotland sent his shot well wide. That was enough for Owen and Jim Weir (who lacked pace but had not too bad a game) was hooked to make way for the trialist (or Derek Young as he's more commonly known). He came on in midfield with Mensing immediately dropping back to the right side of defence. It took a while for things to change though with James picking up our third booking for a daft shove.
Our first real chance of the second period came in the 63rd minute when Stanic who was coming more and more into the game fired in an excellent cross that Mr Trialist got on the end of only for his header to be saved. Owen decided to freshen things up front and Savo made way for Peaso. Saints began to press more and had a good claim for a penalty turned down in the 65th minute when James was blatantly held in the box. Next up was another corner won by Peaso. The ball found James again and his header found Peaso who had a decent shot cleared off the line.
Then 20 minutes from time another freekick from the left was again headed on by James for Lawrie who did well to turn but his shot was soft but still beat the keeper and came back off the bottom of the post. Peaso had a shot held and Scotland a header saved as Saints kept pressing but we lacked the conviction and killer instinct in front of goal. Sheerin had a long-range shot held ten minutes from the end and three minutes from the end of normal time Jason set up the impressive Young who tried a similar shot that went just over the bar.
Stanic picked up a booking just before the end of normal time before Saints, as we've seen so many times before managed to miss a couple of easy chances in injury time. First up was Jason winning the ball on the left and taking it to the byeline before cutting it back across the goal only for Peaso to miss the ball. Then with the final kick of the ball Lawrie found himself with room in the box on the right and rather than have a go himself tried to cut the ball across only for the ball to rebound off the back of Peaso.
The boos at full-time were deserved - Saints should have killed the game off and too many players (Sheridan, Sheerin, Lawrie and Savo) were off the pace and lacking the sharpness and teamwork we expected from a team that was supposedly peaking today. MoM for me was Simon Mensing who was solid all afternoon while Stanic, Scotland and James all had decent games. Halliwell didn't look too confident getting passes from his defence but didn't do much wrong but the only other plus point had to be the appearance of Derek Young who showed the hunger, pace and skill that we'd been crying out for all afternoon. With Gretna looking impressive from the off today, there's not much time for Owen to start improving this side if we're hoping to challenge.
At least we didn't get beat though....
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| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Gretna | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| Livingston | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Ross County | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Partick Thistle | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Clyde | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Saints | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Scumdee | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Airdrie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Queen of the South | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Hamilton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
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