Temple Of Saints - Crisis Time?

Bells League Division One 02/12/2006

Score League Table Here

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

Sorry - another game I had to miss due to unforseen circumstances (all the more annoying after coughing up for a bloody ticket as well).

Report from the BBC

Two first-half goals were enough for Gretna to claim a comfortable win over St Johnstone and stetch their lead in Division One to five points. Steve Tosh stole possession in the opposition box before slotting the ball inside the near post after 21 minutes. Gretna's second goal came after 38 minutes, when Australian Eric Paartalu drove home from close range. The second half lacked quality from both teams and neither could find the net despite a spate of half chances.

Report from Scotland on Sunday

TWO errors from young on-loan Celtic goalkeeper Michael McGovern in the St Johnstone goal helped Gretna stretch their advantage at the top of the First Division. Over the 90 minutes the home side definitely deserved to win. Indeed, with a bit more luck near goal, they could well have scored more, so it was all the more tragic for McGovern that he was culpable in both first-half efforts which earned Gretna the three points.

Gretna could have been ahead as early as the third minute when skipper Chris Innes failed by millimetres to connect with a Steven Tosh corner at the back post. Jason Scotland then twice came close for the visitors before Gretna went ahead in the 21st minute. McGovern was slack in intending to clear a back pass to Steven Anderson, Tosh intercepted and exchanged passes with Colin McMenamin before firing home from a tight angle.

Erik Paartalu then came close for the home side before Alan Main kept Gretna in front with a superb flying save from a Paul Sheerin free kick and, while Steven Milne did have the ball in the net for Saints in 37 minutes, it was from a clearly off-side position. Saints annoyance at this decision wasn't helped when Gretna went straight up the park to double their lead. McGovern failed to deal adequately with a free kick into his area which allowed Innes to lay the loose ball off to Paartalu, who fired home from the edge of the box.

Right on half-time, Milne was a whisker away from knocking in a Martin Hardie cross as Saints kept battling.

Gretna lost McMenamin early in the second half, James Grady coming on, but with Saints switching to 3-5-2 in an effort to get back into the game, the home side had to soak up some sustained pressure for a spell. Milne headed wide, but with Gretna getting to grips with Saints' new formation and David Graham and McMenamin starting to wreak havoc down the flanks as the game ran on Gretna looked more like increasing their lead than conceding to their Perth rivals.

McGovern made an excellent one-on-one save to deny Grady while Tosh was off target with a handful of efforts following Graham's thrusts down the left. Main made a fine late save from Scotland but, by then, the realisation had swept round Raydale Park that Gretna had won a big match to reinforce their status at the top of the First Division.

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