Temple Of Saints - No singing yet...

Bells League Division One 17/04/2007

Clyde 0 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team : Cuthbert, Anderson, Goran, McInnes, Lawrie, James, Sheerinho, Hardie, Peaso, Jason, McLaren
Subs : Halliwell, Savo, Lilley, Jackson, Monaghan

From the delights of Hampden to a spring evening at the rather sparser surroundings of Broadwood (though to be fair the opposition support seemed to be there in about the same numbers). Three games to go and a chance to narrow the gap on the Village People to three points and keep that old title race going for another week of suspense. Of course we don't make things too easy and our record in fixtures following "big" cup-ties isn't that impressive (unless it's another cup competition), but the faith was well and truly back amongst the fans and there was a real sense of optimism amongst the faithful going into the salubrious surroundings of Clyde's ground. Owen said pre-match he was looking for the right sort of reaction from the players after the weekend and for the first forty-five he got it but then the tired legs kicked in. But thanks to a scrappy late goal and a large dollop of the sort of luck that had deserted us at the weekend, we came away with the sort of win that while we deserved the points was never going to pick up any awards for sexy football - still at this time of the season that doesn't really matter

Teamwise, the suspensions had kicked in in earnest. Mensing was on his last game on the sidelines while Morais joined him after his two yellows for punting the ball away. Chalky McManus was also out but his ban will see him miss the rest of the season. Add to that the injury to Rustybitz and Owen called up 17yr olds Bobby Barr and Adam Monaghan to the first team squad, although only the former made the bench, while Savo got off his sick bed to join him. The reshuffle meant that Lawrie came back in at right-back while Anderson moved to the middle alongside the skipper.

From the start, Saints looked the hungrier side in front of a large travelling support shoehorned into a corner of the main stand. And within a minute Peaso was on the receiving end of the first of many fouls which encouraged the petty whistle-blowing from the referee. The freekick came back out for Sheerinho but his return chip was held. Two minutes later and a great run from McLaren saw him play a one-two with Peaso before playing a low ball across the box which was cut out. Saints were enjoying the best of the early chances and getting the best of the referee's decisions. Goran fired a good long freekick forward in the sixth minute that was flicked on by Mad Mental Martin but the ball fell just the wrong side of Peaso in the box and Hutton was able to gather the ball. A minute later Peaso turned provider by getting onto the end of another long ball before laying it off to Hardie only for his shot to be blocked in the box. Then Jason set up Peaso on a run down the right and he cut in before playing a neat chip across the goal for Jason and his header went back before being cleared by the defence.

For all the early possession we were enjoying, the final ball was still lacking and Clyde were defending their area well. Another freekick found James in the box and he headed the ball down but Peaso and Wullie both failed to connect and the ball went wide. Clyde's McKeown was warned in the 12th minute for another late foul on Jason. The freekick was spread to the other side for McLaren and he played a good cross in for James but his header was cleared. It wasn't until the 13th minute that Clyde managed their first real attack of the game - that ended offside. Saints kept the pressure up and Hutton was looking nervous in goal, almost being punished for a poor clearance when the ball was played back in by McLaren for a Hardie header, but the keeper recovered to hold the attempt.

Of course it wasn't all sweetness and light and there were hints of nerves amongst the Saints players with McInnes and Anderson lucky not to be punished for early mistakes of their own. Ando especially failed to clear his lines in the 19th minute and ex-Saints player Ryan McCann cut in from the right and sent a low shot just wide of the Cat's left-hand post into the side netting. The chances kept coming for Saints with James and Hardie getting on the end of freekicks but failing to hit the target. Another good move just before the half hour saw Lawrie set up McLaren who played the ball forward to Jason but Scotland just overran things to allow Hutton to cover. There were signs creeping in following the excellent opening stages, that we were beginning to go a bit more off the boil and the Hampden Effect was starting to be felt. Hardie set up Jason for another chance but that was cleared and then after good work from Peaso forced a corner that was again easily dealt with by the home defence as Saints failed to capitalise on all the chances they were being gifted.

The best chance of the half for Saints came in the 32nd minute when a brilliant long ball from Stanic found Jason on the left. He was chasing the ball while Hutton and one of his defenders came out of the box and got in a tangle. The ball broke free, Jason took it into the box and with an empty goal in front of him decided to go for the softly placed shot rather than power. The ball was heading goalwards but the lack of power allowed a Clyde defender to get back and stick it out for a corner instead leaving every Saints fan in the ground with our head in our hands. That seemed to spark Clyde to life and within a minute they'd broken up the park and Gilmour tried his luck from distance with a good low shot that went just wide of the goal after taking a deflection.

Five minutes from the break they came closer after winning a soft freekick on the edge of the area. The shot went under the wall and the low drive saw the Cat get down brilliantly to tip the ball wide with the rebound being blasted over. As if that wasn't bad enough, three minutes later Goran managed to get caught on the ball. Clyde broke up the park again and as Saints to a man stood off another low shot went goalwards with Cuthbert getting down to his left to tip the ball out for a corner - at least that was cleared at the second attempt.

After finishing the first period poorly, we started the second by almost scoring. Imrie clumsily fouled Hardie (talk about a death wish) and from the freekick, the ball found it's way into the area where Captain Kev was up to head the ball down. It bounced nicely for Peaso who went all Savo-esque and tried the overhead kick which was heading towards the goal only for Hutton to manage to get his fingertips to it and tip it round the post with an excellent save. A minute later and another ball into the Clyde penalty area was headed on by Hardie finding McLaren in space on the right but he took too long over the ball and was eventually tackled - unfortunately something that began to happen a lot to him in the second-half as he began to fade badly from the game. Clyde weren't long in creating some chances of their own and five minutes into the half a long ball saw them beat the offside trap - the final shot went across an empty goal though before Anderson cleared the danger.

By now though we had another worry to concern ourselves with as James was visibly limping with what looked like a groin strain. He played on though but was unable to move about much and certainly his kicking was greatly restricted. Saints as a whole again began to lose their shape and the tired legs were catching up with the likes of McInnes, Jason and Sheerin all fading from the game and making daft mistakes. Luckily the Cat was still alert and he had a good save from a Clyde snap shot in the 57th minute. At the other end though we were still having problems. A decent cross in from McLaren after he had been released by Jason found Scotland but the Saints striker was unable to control the ball cleanly. Anderson was unlucky to become the first player in the book on the hour mark for what looked like a fairly innocuous challenge. Two minutes later and a Clyde break was ended by Peaso bringing down their player. He picked up a yellow but more worryingly there was a real clash between him and Wullie with the pair squaring up to one another. I'm not sure what was said or who started it but McInnes had to separate them and it looked for a while like the emotions were about to boil over.It also started a reaction amongst the away fans with McLaren coming in for a lot of stick at times - admittedly he wasn't having a good game but it almost seemed like he was about to be on the receiving end of a lynching.

Saints were still struggling to find the breakthrough as corners and freekicks were easily cleared by the Clyde defence. We came close in the 67th minute when a good Hardie cross from the left was headed down by Peaso but again Hutton pulled off an excellent save. That was Peaso's last kick in the game and he was taken off to be replaced by Lilley - a decision that didn't go down too well with an increasingly frustrated Saints support (think how TFOE reacted when Ratty Riordan went off to get an idea).

Clyde were getting more and more into the game. A long-range effort went just wide of the goal and then after Jason had a shot over the bar at the other end, McInnes gave the ball away in midfield in the 72nd minute and Masterton was in with a cracking shot that beat defence and keeper only to cannon back off the Cat's left-hand post. Saints went straight up the park and played a simple ball into the box for Jason. He tried to walk it through two or three white shirted defenders before being tackled. But the ball simply broke to the Mad Mental Man and he managed to poke home the ugliest goal ever past Hutton to give us the lead - although it seemed the Clyde dugout were attempting to get the referee to implement a new version of the offside rule to chalk the goal off.

With a quarter of an hour remaining, that should have seen us relax a bit more but Saints were out on their feet by now and Clyde were going for it. McLaren managed one good cross for Lilley but the striker put it behind. Clyde soon attacked though and Imrie had an easy dive but the freekick thankfully went easily behind the goal. Jason set up Lilley at the other end but his angled shot went over more in hope than anything else. We were conceding too many soft freekicks and allowing Clyde back and with six minutes to go Lady Luck once more came to our rescue after Clyde pressure ended up in a shot from the edge of the box that went through three blue shirts, took a bounce to beat the Cat and then came back off the bottom of the post - even then a Clyde player should have scored but managed only to sclaff his shot over the bar. You began to feel we might nick the points after all.

Jackson came on for an unhappy Jason a minute later and began to keep the ball at the other end of the park with some nice touches. Even then Clyde still had a last ditch shot in the 87th minute but this time James was there to block the attempt in the box. The game ended as it had begun with more scrappy fouls as Harris picked up a booking for a bad tackle from behind on Jackson and Lawrie was on the receiving end of a nasty challenge in injury time. Still we held on to take the points, if not all the plaudits this time.

MoM was close - Anderson was excellent despite picking up a bad knock midway through the second half, while James showed great leadership. Peaso had a good game as well while the Cat was back to his best. But for a goal, some excellent play and the kiss of the badge as he went off the park, Martin Hardie gets it once more. We looked knackered at times tonight and while McLaren and Peaso seemed to have made up at full-time there are strong signs that the pressure is beginning to get to them - how much of that is due to the attention on the squad since the semi-final remains to be seen but Owen has to try and calm some of the hot-headedness that's creeping into our play - the squad is stretched as thin as it can be and we can't afford another daft suspension.

Fat Lady ain't singing yet....

This Match Report is copyright Temple Of Saints - not to be reused without permission. Contact webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk.

Remember to vote on todays ref Scott MacDonald - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk or just select a rating and press the button below ::

Saints Index Fixtures Index Grange Index

Any problems / comments mail webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk