Temple Of Saints - Bogey no more

Bells League Division One 06/10/2007

Livi 0 Saints 2 League Table Here

Team : Main, Irvine, Stanic, McInnes, McManus, Anderson, Quinn, Sheerin, Deuchar, Jackson, McLaren
Subs: Cuthbert, Peaso, Lawrie, Moon, Stewart

The last game of the first quarter of the season and, for Saints, it was a chance to keep the great form of recent weeks going. We'd been banging in the goals of late, had come through two difficult trips to the bird-crap- infested slums of Greenock and carried out a clinical destruction of Accies last Saturday. Even so, we were still only third in the league and needed to keep the wins coming to close the ground on the leaders. With thoughts and dreams of next month's cup final at the back of the mind, then, it was time to negotiate the new town roundabouts, dodge the OF shellsuits and keep clear of the local chavs, to make the trip to West Lothian and a Meadowbank side that had shown some signs of recovery in recent weeks to lift themselves off the foot of the table - proving that it is a bit more difficult these days when a lack of local support and "big money failed OF directors" mean you can't do a Gr£tna and buy your way to a title (although given the fiver parking charges it seems they are trying to).

The fixtures at Almondvale last season had been close affairs, more known for the mistakes we made than anything else, and today was no exception for long periods of the game but in the end the confidence and skill of the Saints side shone through with two good second-half goals and arguably one of the most controversial decisions of the season as a Saints penalty was disallowed - well it was given but then ordered to be retaken then given as a freekick to the home side. God only knows what the referee was thinking about and Owen wasn't too happy at the final whistle but he can't complain at the Saints performance with the boys thoroughly deserving the win and several players having arguably their best game for Saints - step forward Mr William McLaren. Add to that we disposed of another bogey team and it's not a bad way to end the first quarter of the season.

Going into the game we had more than a few injury worries. The usual long-term victims had been joined by Weatherston and McCluskey in recent weeks while Rustybitz had been out of favour for the last couple of games. Jacko had also looked set to join the walking wounded after being criminally assaulted on Tuesday night and he faced a late fitness test to see if his wee legs were going to be okay for facing up to the schemey thugs in the home defence. The verdict was that he could manage ninety minutes so other than a change of keeper, it was a completely unaltered Saints side that took the field while for Meadowbank, the haunting visage of Quitongo was on the bench under the cunning disguise of "trialist".

With the usual cheery surroundings, Saints started poorly with strange echoes of last week as the home side pressed early on with several enforced errors in the Saints defence as first a dodgy clearance from Main allowed Fox in before McInnes dealt with the danger and then, a long ball from Livi ended with a slack backpass from McManus to his keeper which forced Main out for one of his panicky clearances. Another good run for Livi in the third minute was only stopped by a good McManus tackle but we were on the ropes. Too many stray passes and nobody in the Saints side seemed willing to take control of the play and hold onto the ball. Ando made the next cockup in the fourth minute with another poor header back although luckily Craig mucked up the gilt- edged chance and allowed Main out to clear the danger, followed up by what I believe was a mild expression of dismay from Main towards his central defender.

Our first chance came in the 5th minute with Goran playing the ball to Rocco who sent it long for Wullie out wide on the right and he played a neat cutback for Gary Irvine coming in the inside channel but his low drive was fairly weak and blocked by the defence. Four minutes after that and Livi's Penis was given loads of room as the Saints defence stood off him before passing to Dorrans who tried his luck from distance, sending the ball wide. That signalled the start of a reasonable spell of pressure as Saints continually failed to clear their lines, never mind actually mount an attack. We looked slow off the mark and it seemed we were suffering from the after-effects of the midweek win at Greenock. Any time we did manage to get the ball forward, the Meadowbank defence were rarely troubled as Jack n the Doc struggled to get going. They forced a corner in the 14th minute after Irvine had to clear behind but Main eventually punched the ball clear. We went up the park and a good McLaren cross came over but the Doc headed the ball wide.

Two minutes later and Sheerin and Jacko played a neat one-two to set up Sheerin on the edge of the box and he sent in a great shot that Liberda got down to turn round the post - not that we did much with the corner. The game was really scrappy though and it seemed that neither team was capable of sticking the ball in the net and we might end up settling for a boring goalless affair. McInnes was the only one who seemed likely to rock the boat of the good ship boredom with a warning from the referee in 25 minutes for persistent fouling. Kennedy tried to chip Main but the keeper was in no danger of being beaten.

Saints hit back and just after the half-hour mark, a good cross from Sheerin was headed on by the Doc for Wullie at the back post but the defence got in to clear. Sheerin tried his luck himself two minutes later but his effort was cleared as far as Del who sent the ball back to Sheerin for a shot which went wide, although the referee in his infinite wisdom decided to blow for a foul on a defender instead. The best chance of the half for Saints came in the 37th minute when a long ball was sent on by the Doc for Wullie who was behind the defence in the box. He was obviously waiting on the offside flag and when it didn't appear, the final shot was a weak one and wide of goal. Irvine picked up our first booking for a foul on Fox five minutes from the break and just after that Rocco almost gave us the lead after Jacko sent the ball wide left to him and he tried a cheeky cross which beat the keeper but went just over the crossbar.

Saints were looking more settled and next up a good freekick found Goran in the box who sent a decent cross in for the Doc but he sent the ball over the bar. Rocco tried a cross for Wullie next but that was cleared and then at the death we should have scored when a long goal kick was headed on for Sheerin. His shot was blocked and fell for McLaren at the back post but his shot was well saved by the keeper.

As is the norm these days, we seemed to get a kick up the arse at half-time and started the second period a lot livelier. First up was a pass from Irvine to Wullie on the right which ended with Wullie flicking the ball past and leaving the left-back for dead before cutting back in for Gary but he was crowded out. A minute later and the ball was sent out to Stanic on the left and his cross was flicked on for Wullie at the far post who fired in a shot that went out for a corner. Deuchar headed that one over. Two minutes later we almost scored when Stanic set up the Doc for a flick onto Jacko. The keeper came out but didn't hold the ball, Jacko rounded him, took the ball to the byeline and squared for the Doc to score but the linesman (who had a strange line in hand gestures) ruled that the ball had gone out of play.

By now we were looking a lot more comfortable and starting to make inroads on the home defence with the midfield pushing forward almost at will. We forced a series of corners to little effect but eleven minutes into the half, there was more controversy when Sheerin played a simple through ball for Jacko at the edge of the box and he was caught. Everyone expected the freekick but for some reason Mr Boyd decided to go for his own interpretation of the rules and booked Jacko for diving. Not a popular move amongst the Saints fans but of course worse was to come. Irvine kept the pressure up in the 58th minute with a good ball into the box which bounced about with Jacko, Sheerin and Rocco all trying shots before it went behind for a corner. Pamela headed that one over the bar. He repeated that feat on the hour mark but in 63 minutes it didn't really matter. A lovely flick on from Wullie on the right found Jacko in room and he sent a pinpoint cross over which the Doc duly dispatched into the net to make it 1-0. Good to see the fans appreciate the build- up as well as the execution.

Suddenly the game took on a different shape and Livi showed a lot more urgency in their play. McManus had to look sharp to tackle Penis in the box when they threatened from a freekick but when Jacko broke up the park he was caught by Mitchell who picked up a yellow card for his trouble. Penis had a shot go just wide before, with twenty minutes remaining, a lovely chip through found Jacko again beating the offside trap and force a corner. From that Sheerin and the Doc both had headers blocked before the ball was eventually cleared. It seemed like it was only going to be a matter of time before we scored a second. Fox had a long-range shot go over the bar as Livi got more and more desperate. Craig had an attempt go wide from a freekick in the 76th minute before the Doc tried his luck at the other end with a low bouncing shot that went wide.

But with 12 minutes left we got our reward and just like last week we took advantage of the opposition making a tactical switch as Jose came on to jinx his team. Almost immediately, a good pass forward found Wullie on the right and he took the ball into the box before chipping the ball across the goalmouth. The Doc missed it but it fell perfectly at the back post for Jacko and he made no mistake. Two-nil and it seemed to be a question of how many we'd get. There was some worry for us when Rocco needed treatment after picking up an injury tackling Dorrans (probably nits or some local virus). Saints kept the pressure up as the game opened up. Jacko had a good run and set up the Doc who squared back for Sheerin who had plenty of room but was caught napping on the ball - something the rest of the side was becoming more and more guilty of slowing up as we began to tire. Ten minutes from time and we came close to snatching a third though with a long ball through which the Doc headed on for Jacko in the box and he fired in a rocket of an angled volley from 12 yards out which the Ferranti Thistle goalie pulled off an amazing stop to tip the ball over the bar.

Peaso replaced the tiring Doc just after that as the game began to wear down, but with five minutes remaining it exploded into life again as Jacko, on a good run through the middle was sent flying in the box. The referee didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot and after a small delay, up stepped the Wizard to slot the ball home comfortably. Or so we thought. What happened next almost defies belief as the referee blew his whistle and seemed to signal an encroachment into the area. Okay we thought, it'll be a retake. Ball goes on spot but then for some strange mystical reason, the day-glo ref decided to act like a total banana and awarded a freekick to Meadowbank. No explanation and going by the reaction of Owen, it's something that mystified the players and bench. There was little real action in the closing stages though. Meadowbank put a couple of headers well wide. Mooner came on for a couple of minutes to replace Rocco and Wullie managed to pick up a booking for apparently kicking the ball away - that summed up the referee's afternoon.

While there was some frustration in our play today and we should realistically have won by a bigger margin, there's no doubt that it was the sort of gutsy fighting performance that we needed to grind out at this time of the season. The strikers have hit a good run of form and the midfield although slow to get going soon turned it on with McLaren my MoM. Hopefully the two-week break will allow the batteries to be recharged a bit but after a shaky start, there's no doubt that we are starting to turn things round and the confidence with players like McLaren who would normally have hidden for spells and Jackson who is playing as well as ever, we have a real chance of seeing a much better second quarter of the season.

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