The Forces of Darkness 0 Saints 2 Glorious Strikes from Heaven
Team : Halliwell, Lawrie, Stanic, Mensing, McManus,
Pamela, Lawson, Hardie, Savo, Jason, Sheerinho
Subs : Cuthbert, Peaso, Sheridan, Jackson, Dyer
The approach to the Death Star isn't an easy one for real football fan. From the salmonella-carrying aroma of the burger vans to the irritating high-pitched drone of a hundred dodgy flute bands coming from car stereos combined with the local dialect and ignorance, it was like finding an oasis of fresh air in a desert of shite to join the thousand--plus Saintees (well if it's good enough for them to occupy home seats when they come to Perth...) as we set out to do the nigh-on impossible and get a result against the evil ones in their lair, something that we hadn't managed in 35 years. Of course it was always going to be an uphill struggle even allowing for the good form shown by us and the crap start to the campaign by the hosts. Rangers have plenty of big names in their side. But Owen promised us that the boys would have a go and it was going to be a good test of how we might fare against the big guns - besides it's only a diddy cup and we had nothing to lose.
But tonight was one of those enchanted evenings when miracles happen and dreams come true. Thirty- five long years of hurt vanished in a performance full of sheer hard graft, guts and class that made the home fans turn green with envy and leave weeping at the qualities their side simply don't have. Sure we were under pressure for spells but Bryn hardly had to break sweat. And while the media will no doubt do the vulture act on TFOD, there can be no denying the win for us. Quite simply we thoroughly deserved the victory and if there was a downside to the night, its that the winning margin didn't reflect the number of clearcut chances we had as TFOD ran out of ideas.
Jason and Paul Lawson returned to the squad after their enforced lay-off last weekend with the latter getting permission from the Other Evil Ones to play - and most of us hoping he'd avoid a repeat of the Broadwood "revenge" antics. One player missing out was Oor Wullie with the winger cup-tied. Peaso dropped to the bench while both Hardie and Mensing started despite carrying injuries from the weekend.
After a fifteen minute delay to kick-off due to traffic (which gave us a chance to savour both the politically correct karaoke from the home fans and the so-called entertainment from somebody's drunken uncle that had sneaked onto the centre circle) the fun began. From the start, Saints looked lively enough and certainly not overawed by the surroundings. Within a minute of the start, Papac was already down doing a dying swan act in an attempt to escape the forthcoming humiliation.
Chances were thin on the ground early doors with most of the opportunities falling to TFOD with Sebo and Bouffant sending efforts over the bar. Play was dominated by a lot of long balls with Saints sitting back quite deeply. Jason had a good run from a Goran through ball in the 9th minute but that ended with a tackle in the box, while Mensing managed to head a freekick wide. The ball did end up in Halliwell's goal in the 12th minute. Sebo went down like Murray's bank balance when Goran went near him. From the soft freekick, the ball was sent deep where Bouffant volleyed it home - after handling the ball umpteen times first. Luckily Stuart Dougal was on hand to point out the rules.
Back up the other end, Savo won a freekick which broke to Mad Mental Martin in the area but somehow he shot wide. Jason saw a weak shot held, before the home side pressed back and Saints were forced into some panicky defending with Goran in the thick of it. Novo was beating him far too often on the wing and both Sheerinho and Pamela were forced to come out to cover. For all that their crosses weren't causing any real problems with McManus dealing with most of them - you still had the feeling a wee bit of bad luck might do for us though. To be fair Saints defended well though with Hardie and Mensing called into action several times to head the ball out of danger.
But as the half wore on you got the feeling that perhaps the current Ibrox residents were well, how to put it, "pish". Even when a cross beat a Saints defence as Novo did in the 24th minute, there were no takers in the area - with the ball eventually breaking to Lawson who set up a counterattack for Jason who squared to Savo only for the Saints striker to be tackled in the box with just a bit of sharpness missing. We were still guilty of standing off their attacks with Goran losing out continually to Novo. But as it went on, we began to press forward on our own with a 27th minute corner breaking free to Lawson who shot wide of goal. Another freekick into the box a minute later (after a clumsy challenge from Hutton on Jason which should have earned the TFOD- diddy a booking) ended with another header going behind the goal. Yet another handball on the edge of the box in the 35th minute saw Sheerinho chip the ball across goal but Savo headed just over.
The half ended in much the same way with no real clearcut chances and the feeling that it was going to be a daft mistake that would break the deadlock. At times we seemed to be riding out luck, but confidence was growing and a lot of nerves starting to creep into the home play.
After the break though Saints came out fighting and looking for blood and the 1000-plus travelling fans (finally all in the ground and in fine voice) were outsinging the home fans (and that's without the use of a bloody brass band). An early Lawrie cross was headed back out to Mensing but his shot was blocked. Then in the 49th minute a Goran throw-in found Hardie who seemed to be held in the box but no penalty was given.
A minute later though the game came to life big style. First of all we should have taken the lead when Mensing set up Jason for a run behind the TFOD central defensive pair (who took the word "inept" to a whole new level). He beat the defence and was through on goal. McGregor came out to narrow the angle but still Jason should have scored, instead his shot rebounding off the keeper for a corner. Cue the nagging feeling that we'd perhaps blown our best chance of sneaking something - oh ye of little faith.
After a delay of a couple of minutes while Nick treated the linesman for a strain, play resumed with Sheerinho's corner floating over into the 6-yard box. It was half-flicked on but at the back post fell for Savo. Back to goal he went for the spectacular with an amazing overhead kick which bulleted into the net with the keeper stranded. There was about a nanosecond of stunned silence before the Saints fans went absolutely apeshit, closely followed by the players. It seemed like we might have a chance after all..
Le Guen went for broke with Martin and Prso on for Sebo and Bouffant while in the stands there was more drama with a Saints fan dragged out for presumably going too far with his celebration. Back on the park TFOD turned up the pressure but began to leave themselves exposed up the back (ooer missus). Saints weren't helped by Goran picking up a booking for a handball but despite all the chances, Halliwell wasn't that busy as most of the efforts went wide of target. We didn't do ourselves any favours though with some stupid challenges and poor distribution again a weak point. They almost equalised on the hour mark with a good break down the right and a cutback to Prso but somehow he stuck the ball over the bar. At the other end Hardie had a good run down the right to the byeline but his cutback was blocked. Play went back up the park and a good shot was deflected over the bar by McManus. Papac sent the resulting corner well over the bar (obviously the millions spent on Murray Park excluded the basics such as goals given the way the TFOD strikers reacted when faced with an open one tonight).
With Saints looking like they were hanging on, the next miracle happened. A nice break saw a long ball over the defence for Savo to chase. He held off Hemdani's challenge and got to the edge of the box where he fired in a powerful low shot past McGregor. 2-0 up, we went even more mental and several noses were pinched to check we weren't dreaming. Oh aye and the trickle of departing home fans began - it wasn't long before it became a flood.
Rangers were simply out of ideas with no organisation to their play and Saints now began to show off. Scotland had a good run into the box end in a tackle but Mensing got onto the loose ball only to shoot over. Adam replaced Rae at some point around the 70 minute mark but didn't make much of an impression. As it was we should have extended our lead when another high ball beat the defence and saw Savo through on goal but this time his attempted chip over the keeper saw McGregor make a good save to palm the ball out for a corner - from that Hardie headed over. Savo saw a chip held after getting onto the end of a good Mensing pass and Sheerin saw an angled drive held, while for TFOD Smith had a shot easily held. The game was turning into a bit of an anti-climax with Saints looking so far in front against a home side that were a shadow of last season.
With 9 minutes to go Sheerinho got onto the end of a good Lawson cross (the loan midfielder having had an excellent game) but his header went over the bar. Jason picked up a knock during the build-up and spent a few minutes off getting treatment before Owen eventually replaced him with Peaso. Almost immediately Peaso broke down the right and made room for a shot - unfortunately his effort went over and he really should have squared to the unmarked Sheerin in plenty of space. But by that time we didn't care and had begun to party with the only other nervous moment a TFOD break that almost ended up in a goal by Prso only for Lawrie to get back and clear it off the line in a legendary manner - something that pissed off Dado so much he picked up a booking for dissent. The final whistle (after an age of injury time) saw the real fun begin - especially when the police decided our smiling faces were too much for the depressed home fans and we had to wait in the ground until the neds had gone home - still we didn't really care much.
MoM is a joke - there wasn't a fault in the Saints side once we got going with McManus and Pamela outstanding, Mensing and Sheerin playing well. But if there has to be a winner it's Savo - two cracking goals and should have had a hat-trick. Generally we've played better but the effort, workrate and guts shown tonight by a lot of players who had been written off (Lawrie, Anderson and Hardie included) meant we had one of the best performances since making Europe. The high from this one will be felt for a long time.
Tonight it's great to be a Saintee.......
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 Stuart Dougal - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk or just select a rating and press the button below ::