Temple Of Saints - Saints Scrap a Win

Bells League Division One 26/12/2006

Saints 2 Clyde 1 League Table Here

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

Right then - with the festive frolics out of the way and all the crap about new resolutions and turning points being spouted in the media and online from Saints today was the chance to see the words turned into some sort of action. We know Saints have been rubbish in the second half of almost every game this season (that wee trip to the Death Star excluded obviously), but with Owen even going for a 2pm kick-off to try and improve things there was a lot resting on the performance today - especially after the Gretna Dream (copyright C Young) ground out a win over Accies before Santa hit the road at the weekend. We were eleven points off the pace going into this but for a change at least a win would close the gap, and maybe get a wee bit of belief back into the McDiarmid stands. There was also the added bonus of being able to shaft our opponents today after they beat us at Broadwood earlier in the campaign in a game for which the description bad-tempered was like saying the odd person may have slightly over-indulged on booze in the last 24 hours. I don't think any of us expected an easy afternoon for the ref. As it was, there was plenty of controversy on the park but despite a poor performance from Saints overall, we still managed a late, no more like very late comeback to score twice and take the three points which overall e just deserved especially when you look at the overall chances created over the 90 minutes. Unfortunately, Owen still has more than enough work to do to strengthen the squad with a few players looking like they were still in the generous festive mood that gave away so many points over the last month. For all that it was a nice win for the home fans and meant a bit of festive cheer for a change.

Saints had Savo raring to go while Simon Mensing was a slight doubt over an ankle injury - both made the starting lineup though. And as usual the big question was who would get the nod for the number one jersey with the Cat fully fit and Bryn still showing the odd lapse in form. The Cat got the nod but the changes didn't end there with Andy Lawrie dropped for Pamela as Saints switched to a 3-5-2 formation with Mensing and Stanic on the flanks.

Saints started well enough with Scotland looking lively to win an early corner - pity Mensing's header from the kick failed to threaten the Clyde goal. The Bully Wee didn't take long to threaten on their own though and within a minute had brokern up the park and won a corner of their own. The Saints defence only partly cleared the danger but the final long-range shot went safely over the bar. Two minutes later they came a lot closer with another ball towards the defence only half-cleared by the head of Kevin James. It fell to a Clyde player who fired in a powerful close shot that Cuthbert reacted well to turn round the post. Saints were soon on the attack again though and this time Mad Mental Martin and Simon Mensing combined well on the right side to set up the latter who cut inside before letting fly with a low 20yd drive that went just wide of the post. The game was fairly even with Saints showing little of the sort of first-half domination we saw against Accies ten days ago. For all that Clyde weren't threatening that much either although there was no lack of the sort of physical challenges that typify their play.

Our next chance came in the eleventh minute with Goran setting up Jason on the inside left. He squirmed past his many markers before laying the ball off to Mensing in the box but his shot was a weak one and easily held by the keeper. Two minute later another good break saw Sheerin set up Savo who played the ball into Hardie in acres of space. Unfortunately in what was all too typical of Saints play today, the midfielder took so long over the ball we could have celebrated Xmas all over again , before eventually losing possession. And that was a problem with most of the midfield today with little in the way of real creativity and even when we had the ball, there wasn't anything like enough support for the front men.

Saints almost took the lead in the 16th minute. Referee Iain Brines (who had a poor game overall this afternoon) waived play on as Jason was hacked from behind. The ball came to Darren who fed Sheerinho with the ball going to Stanic who cut inside the defence and tried a neat chip that was just wide of the goal. Hardie got onto a Mensing cross but shot wide a couple of minutes later and then Stanic set up Sheerin in the 27th minute but his chip shot was cleared. Clyde had rarely threatened the Cat's goal but came close in the 30th minute when a long ball broke for them and they got into the box. The Cat came out to block the shot and a heavy collision followed leaving him and his opponent downed. The ball broke to another Clyde player but his poor effort was cleared by the backtracking Saints defence, before the referee stopped play to let both players get treatment.

The fouls were starting to go in thick and fast with Savo, Jason and Sheerin all on the receiving end. Eventually the ref awarded Saints a freekick after Malone went in on Jason. That freekick was cleared and the ball broke to McHale who was tackled by Anderson - unfortunately despite Pamela winning the ball McHale went in for the Oscar nomination and conned the referee with the Saints defender picking up a booking into the bargain. Three minutes later and Imrie picked up Clyde's first booking for a heavy foul on Hardie - not that we managed to do anything with the freekick though.

We came close with another freekick in the 38th minute though with one of the better worked set pieces from Saints in a long time. Jason won the freekick after getting onto the end of a long ball from McManus but he was felled 25 yards out. Sheridan took the kick and rounded the wall finding Jason with his back to goal. He played a simple ball to his left and found an unmarked Savo who had turned and broke from the wall. So far so good but unfortunately that's where it went tits up with Savo failing to control the ball to even get a sclaff directed towards the goal. Clyde forced a couple of chances after that but nothing that the Cat couldn't handle with the Saints defence looking a bit more comfortable with him behind them.

Our best chance of the half came four minutes before the break when a long ball from Sheridan found Savo on the right corner of the box and without looking at the goal, he fired a lob over which had the keeper and defender beaten but went just the wrong side of the post. The half drew to a close with Saints putting the pressure on but not really looking like scoring with a Hardie shot over the bar the closest we came. For all that the defence was looking more and more fragile as the game on with James and Stanic caught out for pace a couple of times with Clyde taking advantage of the three-man defence, while in midfield the central pairing of Sheerinho and Hardie were slow to get forward and support the front men with little real creativity on display.

The second period was only three minutes old when we should have broken the deadlock. A Saints freekick was played into the box on the second attempt by Goran Stanic. His cross found James who headed the ball down for Hardie and he fired in a cracking angled drive which ended with an excellent save by Hutton to tip the ball wide. Back up the other end a slack passback from McManus ended with the Cat casually controlling the ball inside his 6yd area and dribbling past a Clyde player before clearing the danger - it's a long time since we've been able to see a Saints keeper do something like that without the entire East Stand going into a complete panic.

For all these chances though, there were still too many long and high balls being played rather than any sort of patient build-up and with Jason limping from a first-half knock and the midfield effectively being bypassed, we were constantly outnumbered as we chased a goal. The only real danger was coming from the flanks with Goran playing in some good crosses but all too often the final ball was lacking and Clyde were able to break back up the park. An Anderson ball in the 55th minute found Kevin James but his shot went wide while at the other end Imrie rivalled McHale in the diving stakes to win a freekick at the edge of the box - the final shot going well over the bar.

Three minutes later it began to go wrong as the game plan became unravelled. Sheridan picked up a soft booking in the 58th minute for a bodycheck and a minute later we went one behind. A simple Clyde break down the left saw a long ball missed completely by Hardie. They were able to pick up the ball and take it to the byeline with no real challenge before crossing from the goalline to find Arbuckle unmarked at the back post with the Saints defence nowhere near him. He got up for a good downward header that beat Cuthbert and hit the back of the net.

Unfortunately that had the surrender flags going up in the Saints support - we've been here too many times before this season. Within a minute we were pressing back with Jason getting the break of the ball on the left and cutting the ball back for Savo but his effort went over the bar. Four minutes after that Sheerinho won a corner with James and Scotland both going up twice for the same ball and twice missing it. It was turning into that sort of afternoon and within a minute Jason had been replaced by Peaso with several fans in the East Stand not slow in expressing their opinions of the change. Our play was generally pretty flat and Clyde were more than happy to timewaste their way through to the final whistle - apart from a Savo shot which went well over, the main action was at the other end with James and McManus involved in some scrappy defending and guilty of taking far too long over the ball and giving away possession far too easily.

With 16 minutes to go McLaren came on for McManus as Owen switched to a 4-4-2 formation with Mensing dropping back to right-back and Stanic on the left. The game had plenty of controversy left with a Clyde player taking a dive after a challenge from Mensing. With no whistle forthcoming they had a kick at Sheridan instead and to his credit he kept his temper. And with nine minutes to go it looked like we'd received some reward after a foul on Peaso saw a freekick played into the box where James headed it down to an unmarked McLaren who somehow sent his shot a mile over the bar. Two minutes later though and an almost identical move saw Sheerin's freekick headed down by the skipper for an unmarked Savo who slotted the ball home to make it 1-1.

Paul Lawson replaced Hardie as the game sparked to life once more. Saints were pressing again and the home fans were behind the team. An 86th minute break saw Sheerin and McLaren link to set up Mensing and his ball found Savo only for the final shot to go wide. James missed a good ball from a deep Sheerin cross but with a minute of normal time remaining the stands erupted. A long ball from the back found McLaren unmarked in the box and instead of going for the shot he elected to just head the ball past his marked for Peaso to run onto and angle the ball into the net under the keeper. 2-1 and from the look on the players' faces you'd have thought we'd won the cup.

Clyde tried to get back into the game but their fouls and cheating came to nothing and was summed up when Malone decided to go all psycho on Sheridan as they squared up in injury time with the Clyde ned dropping to the deck faking an injury only to be ignored by the referee - even at the final whistle the ned had to be pulled up the tunnel by his manager as Mad Mental Martin played the unaccustomed role of peacemaker and kept Sheridan clear. Still that's how a bad loser behaves.

MoM for me, despite the win comes from defence with Steven Anderson's return to the side marked by another solid performance. Elsewhere and Savo, Sheridan and Cuthbert are the only others to escape criticism - of the rest the likes of James, Stanic and Sheerin were all guilty of fading out of the game or else making crucial mistakes. Our midfield badly needs strengthening with Hardie looking out of place for a lot of the game while up front Jason Scotland needs to start getting his act together - especially if he wants to get that move he doesn't really want!!!

Hell though at least we won.....

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