Temple Of Saints - Title Hopes Sunk

Bells League Division One 25/11/2006

Saints 1 Livingston 2 League Table Here

Team : Halliwell, Lawrie, Stanic, Mensing, McManus, Pamela, Hardie, Sheerinho, Savo, Jason, McLaren
Subs : O'Brien, Peaso, Dyer, Sheridan, Jackson

After last weekend's display of crappiness, which saw us slip further back down the table, was followed by more dropped points in midweek at Dingwall, today's encounter with Livingston suddenly took on the persona of a must-win match. While our opponent's form has shown about as much chance of the title heading to Almondvale as Pearse Flynn has of being invited to the Livi staff xmas party, they were on of the favourites at the start of the season and were not going to make things easy. Saints had a solid home record though and had been well and truly given a boot up the arse this week. So it was going to be a great return to the winning ways today wasn't it? Unfortunately nobody seemed to have reminded the players that it might take a wee bit of hard work to do that and one of the worst performances of the season saw that home record vanish. And if last weekend saw us brought back down to earth after the cup heroics, today saw us well and truly buried along with any hope of a title challenge. Too many of the current side don't have the mentality or approach to take us to the top or else they're not willing to work for what they think will come to them on a plate with a certain Mr Scotland in the first half especially guilty of the lazy shite approach to the game.

We started with Paul Lawson sitting in the stand once more following his midweek red card. That meant a rare start for McLaren in midfield with Darren settling for the bench once more. Jason was picked to start up front despite his lack of form and Peaso was stuck in the dugout alongside Jackson and Dyer. That meant a central midfield partnership of Sheerinho and Hardie with Mensing out wide right.

From the off, it looked like a tough game with Livi's front men causing us plenty of problems with their pace. For all that, Saints made the first chance of the game with Jason setting up Hardie for a shot but his effort went over the bar. We looked sharp enough in the early stages with McLaren sending a couple of good cutbacks into the box but there wasn't a blue shirt there to get on the end of it. Livi threatened in the 7th minute with a long goal-kick found Craig and he got into the Saints box before trying a chip which had the beating of Halliwell but ended up going across the goalmouth with the Saints keeper taking a knock in the process (not that it excused some of his actions later on).

The opposition forced the first corner of the game a few minutes later after Mensing was skinned on the wing (Lawrie having drifted into the middle again). That ended in a header over the bar but again the Saints defence looked suspect. Of course it wasn't helped by some negative tactics from Saints with eleven blue shirts dropping back into the box for every corner which effectively killed off any quick counter-attack. Mind you that would have assumed that we had a keeper that could kick the ball in a straight line - yet again Halliwell's distribution cost us badly. The other problem with Saints was the lack of effort from midfield with the players unwilling to push forward to support the front pair, although too often we seemed to fall victim to some strange offside decisions with Savo unfortunate in the 12th minute after getting on the end of a quick throw-in.

McLaren had another weak shot held but it was Livi that came closer in the 14th minute when another good break down the right ended in an angled shot into the box. Halliwell got down to it but managed to spill the ball with Anderson clearing the danger. The defence came to the rescue a couple of minutes later when a Livi corner caused all sorts of problems. Mensing managed to lose the ball in the 18th minute but Livi's break luckily ended in Fox sending his shot just wide of the goal. They kept up the pressure though with another low shot turned round the post by Halliwell.

Saints were simply not at the races and even when we got a chance to get back into the game we wasted it. Savo won a freekick in the 24th minute but again it turned into a hopeful high ball into the box which failed to cause Tweed or McPake any problems whatsoever. Livi broke back up the park and cut us open before firing in a good volley from their no7 which Halliwell turned behind for a corner. Saints hit back with a McManus freekick finding McLaren on the left. His cross came in for Savo but the referee ruled that the Livi defender had been pushed by Savo. We just weren't getting any breaks but at the same time didn't look like causing their reserve keeper any problems. McLaren looked lively but wasn't having any luck on the wing and even a long ball from Sheerin saw Oor Wullie just fail to make contact.

Our best chance of the game came from an unlikely source in the 31st minute after McLaren forced a corner on the left. Sheerinho sent the ball in but it was half-cleared to Mensing on the edge of the box. He half-hit the ball as far as Lawrie on the penalty spot and the Saints defender went for the spectacular with an overhead kick that was brilliantly tipped over the bar by the goalie. The follow-up corner saw a good Mensing shot deflected wide. Okay, it wasn't much compared with some of the recent performances, but there was a little bit of hope that Saints were about to waken up and start playing.

Ha! So much for that, as we almost immediately went back into the eleven men behind the ball negative tactics that had served us so badly so far. Mensing conceded a corner that when it came over was missed by everyone in the six yard box (another heart in mouth moment for the home fans who were starting to get more than a tad restless). Five minutes before the break a long-range ball from Mackay was headed behind. The corner was cleared but again with Saints being so defensive, there was nobody up front. Discipline was starting to go as well with McManus giving Jason a major bawling out for a slack pass - not that the striker didn't deserve it.

As it was Jason had our best chance just before the break when some great close control from Mensing in midfield saw him make room to slip the ball out to Jason in the box on the right. Scotland took one touch too long though and his angled shot beat the keeper but went just wide of the goal.

There were no changes at half-time but Saints started a bit better with Lawrie threatening early on with one of his long throws which was cleared. Five minutes into the half and Saints had a good break down the left with McLaren setting up Goran who tried a pass to the unmarked Savo only for a defender to intercept. Three minutes later and we had another break from a throw-in on the left. The ball found McLaren who sent a cross into the box which Mensing headed down to Jason on the byeline. His cutback beat the keeper and found Lawrie in the six yard box but his shot was again cleared off the line. Jason had a go next with a good run and shot which was blocked by what suspiciously looked like a handball - no dice from the referee though.

Scotland was certainly playing a lot better and Saints in general looked a lot sharper. He set up Savo in the 56th minute who took the ball down the right before returning it to Jason. A simple layoff found Sheerin unmarked in the box, but he hesitated and let Walker in to close him down. Sheerin took a touch too long and while he could have laid it off to McLaren in plenty of space to his left, he went for the shot and sent the ball over the bar. Goran sent a corner in a couple of minutes later which was again missed by everyone in the box and another Goran cross on the hour mark found Hardie in the area but his header was held. Five minutes later and Jason set up McLaren for a run on right wing. He broke inside and tried a shot but it was a weak effort and easily held. Another run from McLaren on the right a minute later, found Jason inside but his low angled shot beat the keeper but went just wide of the goal. With Saints having some good pressure, it was only a matter of time before our luck ran out.

So it was in the 68th minute that a Livingston throw-in on the left was played inside. With the midfield sitting off them, Livi were given plenty of room to press forward. The ball into the box wasn't cleared properly, and eventually fell to Liam Fox 20 yards out, and he fired in a cracking drive which the keeper didn't have a chance with. And just like last week going a goal down meant the heads went down on the park as well - again we suffered from a lack of motivation on the park.

Owen made his first change in the 70th minute, with boos greeting his decision to take Savo off and replace him with Peaso. Three minutes later and we were right back in it though. Some good pressure ended with a Hardie shot being deflected out for a corner. The ball was floated in and McManus met it at the edge of the box. His header in found Hardie unmarked in the six yard box and he had no problem in heading the ball into the net to make it 1-1. That seemed to fire Saints up and a couple of minutes later McPake became the only player booked for some late fouls on Scotland within the space of a few seconds. The resulting freekick from the left wing was missed by the keeper but Mensing's back post header went over the bar. We were looking a lot more confident but the real kick in the teeth was just round the corner.

With five minutes to go and Saints pressing the ball ended up with Halliwell. Cue another of his cracking sclaff clearances heading out right in the direction of the dugout. A Livi player got to it first, took it forward a bit and with Saints on the back foot again sent a teasing long ball into the area. Out comes Butterfingers Bryn to the edge of the six yard area. He got his hands on the ball but as has been his habit of late, then proceeded to spill it. Almost in slow motion, the ball fell in the box and with the defence too slow to react (God forbid they have confidence in their keeper) and Halliwell back-tracking, it was Mitchell who reached it and slammed it into the gaping net. You could see the title chances vanishing along with a lot of the disappointed Saints fans. Even the keeper and players gave up with a real reluctance in the side to get the ball out of the goal and back up the park to restart the game.

We huffed and puffed for the last few minutes and had plenty of half- chances but you knew it just wasn't going to be our day. Lawrie hit a shot over the bar while a long freekick in the 87th minute found McLaren on the left. He sent a great cross only for Mensing to have his header held at the back post. A similar fate befell a Peaso header from a Sheerin cross in the last minute and then in injury time we still had time for a Sheerin volley and a McLaren shot to be held. The final whistle was not met by the sound of a happy home support.

Individually almost everyone came in for criticism from the Saints support today, some of which was deserved and some not. Halliwell's distribution and handling was again suspect and to be honest if Cuthbert was fit I'd hope Owen would change things around for next week. Defensively we weren't too bad and almost ironically Lawrie had one of his best games for us. Midfield saw Mensing looking off the pace and despite his goal, Hardie just doesn't seem to have the creativity or drive we were crying out for in the centre of the park. McLaren came onto a much better game despite some of the undeserved abuse he was getting from the East Stand ("McLaren you're shite, piss off back to Ibrox" being one of the more pathetic ones). Savo had a decent game but Jason's first half was simply dire, and, although he did start turning on the magic after the break it's not enough given the form of the rest of the side. MoM for me goes to Lawrie for a decent game and a couple of good shots on goal. As for the rest of the side, we now have a keeper that causes panic in the stands every time he gets the ball, a midfield with little creativity and a striker who can only be bothered to do a part-time shift occasionally.

Like I said that will probably kill off any title challenge unless Owen started getting the players working as a team for the full 90 minutes once more.

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