Temple Of Saints - Robbed

Bells League Division One 28/10/2006

Clyde 1 Saints 0 League Table Here

Team : Halliwell, Lawrie, Stanic, Mensing, McManus, Pamela, Lawson, Hardie, Savo, Jason, Sheerinho
Subs : Cuthbert, Peaso, McLaren, Sheridan, Jackson

Another Saturday and a chance to establish a bit of a gap over the rest of the league. Of course the delights of Broadwood aren't exactly the nicest of surroundings to display championship credentials but after recent encounters with the Bully Wee it was yet another game with a bit of an edge to it. Unfortunately the outcome saw a spirited performance from a ten-man Saints side awarded with nothing after a late winner for Clyde. The other real loser though was football as we saw a referee conned by cynical cheating from Clyde players who spent the whole game diving and niggling the Saints players who unfortunately failed to show the discipline to rise above things - even so, the best chances fell to us and a bit better finishing and sharpness to our game would have been enough.

Saints again managed a week's training with no injury worries so there wasn't exactly gasps of astonishment when Owen announced an unchanged starting lineup, with Savo passing a late fitness test to keep his jersey up front. Even the bench remained constant.

The weather wasn't ideal for flowing football although I don't think I can ever remember decent conditions for any game at Broadwood - still a wee bit of rain and wind meant perfect weather for the divers in the home side who along with the other cheating behaviour easily made Clyde the most repugnant side we've played this season - in fact they make Scumdee look like the embodiment of the Corinthian spirit. Saints started poorly with Halliwell forced into an early save from a long-range shot, while our first opportunity came from a good freekick from Lawson which was cleared.

The midfielder was involved when the referee sparked controversy into the game in the 7th minute. A Clyde dive went unpunished and then a late foul on Lawson also saw the home side let off. He reacted with a challenge of his own and got a deserved yellow from referee Finnie, although if he'd awarded the freekick for the first challenge there might not have been a need to show a card. If that was bad enough the Clyde freekick found Bryson who blatantly dived in the box but was let off without a card to anger the Saints support. If that wasn't bad enough, Saints picked up their second booking with Hardie the recipient after another dying swan act from Bryson.

Saints were struggling to get going and we weren't looking too smart in defence with a Pamela header back to Bryn causing some panic before the keeper cleared. He found Sheerinho but a kick from McGregor left him flattened - again no freekick awarded. Scoring chances were few and far between. Lawrie set up Jason in the 13th minute and his cross found Hardie whose shot went straight to the keeper. Overall though the attention unfortunately was more on the actions (or rather inactions) of Mr Finnie with Mensing, Hardie and Lawson all on the receiving end of bad hacks while Lawrie came off even worse in the 22nd minute getting a nasty kick. A minute later a dangerous Clyde ball into the box found Lawson sclaffing a clearance though Hardie eventually cleared the danger.

Our best move came in the 26th minute with several blue shirts involved in the build up before a deep cross from the right found Sheerin - he sent the ball back in for Hardie's header but it was straight at the keeper. The antics of the Clyde side kept on trying to entertain us with Malone collapsing in a heap after standing too close to Mensing followed by an O'Donnell dive after a Lawson challenge - this time the referee warned the Clyde player but again kept the cards in his pockets.

The game was a pretty shite advert for the First Division (that's the 1st Division of the Scottish U-12s Girl Guide League) with Saints lacking the final killer pass and too often suffering from an inability to get forward in numbers or move into space with Jason looking off the pace and Sheerin and Stanic not pushing down the left wing enough. Even Halliwell looked off form with a spectacular slip and combined fumble in the 35th minute almost letting Clyde in - memories of Rhodes arsing about against Scumdee sprang to mind.

Even our best effort in the 37th minute from a break from Savo came to nothing after McGregor tripped over the ball and won another freekick. A Mensing shot wide of goal just after that summed up our attacks in the half but the controversy wasn't over. Goran was forced to concede a corner two minutes before the break and while we were waiting on the kick to be taken the linesman signalled over to the referee. Egged on by the Neanderthals in the home support the ref signalled an elbow had been thrown in the box. Over came Lawson and a straight red card was shown presumably for violent conduct. If that was the case the club should fine him heavily and it left us with a mountain to climb.

The second-half saw a couple of early nervous moments from Saints not helped by Halliwell's kicking. Even allowing for the strong winds, far too often his goal kicks were going straight into the stands - and down to ten men it was that sort of slackness in the play we couldn't afford. Still there were some compensations with Lawrie coming more to the fore with long throws although they made little real impact with a Hardie flick held. Just to remind us he thought he knew what he was doing the referee fell for another dive with Bryson again the prick at the centre of the action and Mensing the unfortunate Saints player to pick up a yellow card (not that it really stopped Gunther from showing the sort of commitment to his challenges that seemed to have deserted so many of his teammates today).

As it was the first golden chance to take the lead came in the 53rd minute when another Lawrie throw was only half-cleared out of the box. The ball fell to Sheerinho who played a neat chip into the box where Savo was in the 6yd area having beat the offside trap but hit a first-time volley that went over the bar when it seemed easier to score (although there was even worse to come).

Saints were holding their own despite being a man down with Clyde rarely threatening. Hardie saw a header held from a Pamela long ball while Clyde couldn't even get the ball on target from a short corner in the 57th minute. Mensing picked up a warning from the referee despite winning a solid challenge on the hour mark, while the home side saw a good long-range shot from Masterton deflected wide for a corner.

Savo was surprisingly taken off in the 63rd minute (to some boos from the Saints fans) to be replaced by Peaso. Certainly Scotland was having a worse game. There was more controversy in the 65th minute. Anderson as letting a loose ball go out for a goal kick when Imrie went in late on him off the park practically throttling oor Pamela. The ref ran over to speak to them and with Saints fans expecting Imrie to be spoken to there was more anger when it was Pamela on the receiving end of the warning.

Still Imrie did pick up a warning a minute later for a late foul on Goran (although again the cards were kept in the pocket). We began to make more chances though. Mensing had a shot go wide when he got the loose ball from a corner then in the 74th minute, Jason jumped on a loose ball and broke down the right on a great run. With Sheerinho coming through the middle though Jason elected to go for the shot and his angled drive brought out a good save.

Worst was to come four minutes later after a Clyde corner was cleared. Goran set up Peaso and his ball found Jason just over the halfway line with nothing between him and the goal except the keeper. Jason sprinted up the pitch and bore down on goal, took a couple of touches and shot straight at the keeper who made a good block - summed up his day perfectly and the sort of chance you just can't afford to pass up when down to 10 men. Imrie finally picked up a booking for another shove and was then humiliated by being made to head off to remove his jewellery. Sheridan replaced Mensing for the last 10 minutes with Gunther possibly heading for a 2nd yellow given some of his committed tackles and run in with the referee.

Clyde saw a decent shot from O'Donnell go just over the bar in the 84th minute before McLaren came on for Jason. Then came the sucker punch with a break down the left wing seeing Imrie leave Lawrie for dead. He got into the box and hit a low angled drive that easily beat Halliwell and went into the net. That was it really and with only 5 minutes left Saints were simply out of ideas - sure we pressed and huffed and puffed with Sheridan picking up a booking for his first tackle but a last minute freekick from Sheridan which was deflected wide was the best we could offer.

A frustrating afternoon all round especially with results elsewhere. MoM for me was probably Mensing who was in the thick of it all day but Lawrie, McManus and Savo all did well. Too many players were off form though - Jason, Hardie, Halliwell all can play better. There's some positive's we can take from the game but not too many and no matter how much we blame the referee or the antics of the home side, at the end of it we should have been able to rise above this to get the points we deserved.

Still there's always next week.

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