Temple Of Saints - Hardie Saves The Day

Bells League Division One 04/08/2007

QoS 3 Saints 3 League Table Here

Team: Main, Lawrie, Goran, McInnes, McManus, James, Weatherston, Hardie, Stewart, Peaso, Sheerinho
Subs: Cuthbert, Jacko, Daal, McCluskey, Moon

At last the phoney war is over and we can get down to the meaningful abuse and slagging which typifies the Scottish game - yup chants of "That's shite Peaso/Lawrie/Daal/James" were being tried out as part of the average Saints fan's pre-match vocal exercises ahead of the trip to Palmerston. The pre-season build-up had been a decent affair with Saints chalking up convincing wins all over the shop but those counted for nothing as we faced a much tougher trip to Dumfries to take on a Queens side that were out to improve on last season especially without Weeble McCall stinking out their dugout like a week-old booze-stained wet blanket although the impact of a summer diet on ex-Saintee Stephen Jobbie remained to be seen.

As it was the tradition of doing sweet FA in our opening games was continued for about 85 minutes before the boys finally woke up and managed to ruin the home fans mood with two goals in the last couple of minutes to scrape a barely-deserved point out of the shambles that had been the performance up until then. There will be plenty of talk about the merits of the team spirit as we showed in the closing stages but don't even begin to let that fool you - we were for a large part of the game a shadow of the side that finished the last campaign and put on such good displays pre-season. Too many players were well off the pace and lost their shape for long periods of the game while the lack of willingness to take responsibility has to be a big worry for the manager. There were some pluses (Weatherston's performance was a big plus) but not too man to keep the sense of optimism going at the heights it reached before kick- off today.

Saints went into this one with the usual list of minor knocks and rumours of a mystery signing, meaning a late team selection. In the end there were no real surprises and no mystery signing with John Stewart given the nod ahead of Daal up front alongside Peaso while Weatherston started in front of Jamie McCluskey with Jacko and Mooner making up the numbers on the bench.

The game started in excellent conditions (even after the confusion at the turnstiles with attempts to charge the fans £15 when the sign said £14), with even Mr Dobbie's impressive bulk failing to blot out the sun. We started brightly enough with Weatherston winning an early freekick as he threatened on the wing but the final ball was offside. Then Mr Cockup came back to haunt us. A simple ball down the right wing in the third minute found Jobbie-boy getting the better of a static Stanic and into the box. Main, obviously learning from last weekend was off his line and one quick chip later the ball sailed over the goalie's head and into the net taking a hearty chunk of the faith of the travelling fans with it - it was that sort of sucker punch.

We almost managed to hit back three minutes later after a long hopeful punt from McInnes was put behind for a corner. Sheerinho fired one over in typical fashion with Kevin James the target and the skipper rose up to send in a good header that was deflected over the bar. A minute later and Weatherston and Stanic sent balls into the box for Peaso but again the home defence was able to easily clear the danger. Our first real shot didn't come until the 11th minute with a decent cross from the Mad Mental one on the left wing finding the Mullet in front of his marker but Weatherston could only sky the ball over the bar. Two minutes later and it was hearts-in-mouth time for the Saints support as McManus went to sleep and allowed Jobbie through. He forced the ball to the byeline and was given room by the entire Saints defence to cut the ball back across the goal where it was tapped home only for the goal to be ruled offside, although there was little real effort from either Main or his back four to stop the goal. Not a very inspiring sight, and even worse a minute later we witnessed Gilmour leave Lawrie standing to break into the box and send a low ball across the goal which the Queens strikers only just missed and Main again seemed to get nowhere near stopping it.

We hit back in the 16th minute with a long goal kick finding Stewart who forced a corner. The ball came over to the back post and was headed on before Mullet Weatherston got to the ball and tried a shot that was blocked on the line. Even so the Queens defence looked a million times more confident and secure on the ball than Saints and you got the feeling we were bricking it every time they attacked. Not that the defence was only culprits with the midfield looking totally disjointed - Hardie seemed to be out on the wing, Sheerinho was too slow at times and McInnes, for all his experience, didn't look as though he knew how to pass the ball either along the ground or to a yellow shirt (and it's not as though we were difficult to spot in our away kit). But there was a real worry in defence with Main and his back four struggling to even communicate with one another - for all the shouting, there were too many occasions when a ball was left or nobody challenged or closed down the attack.

Saints were making the odd chance and halfway through the half, Hardie and Peaso played a nice one-two but Hardie was unable to control the final ball in the box and his chip shot was a weak one and easily held. Weatherston finally had a decent run down the right wing just after that leaving McQuilken for dead before being heavily tackled in the box. He repeated the feat a couple of minutes later before running into four defenders and losing the ball - either way it was at least slightly more inspiring stuff from Saints. But the old cockup wasn't slow in returning and in the 26th minute Lawrie managed to lose the ball to O'Connor before conceding a freekick on the edge of the box. The ball came in and was missed by the entire defence before the final shot came in and Main held it. Two minutes later though Mr Cockup got his revenge with another easy ball from the Queen of the South defence missed by our boys. In came McFarlane and from about 25 yards out he fired in a dipping shot that went over Main (who was off his line) before going in off the underside of the crossbar. A good goal but at the time a real sickener for Saints.

Strangely enough we managed to start to play a bit after that and within a minute Sheerinho had fired in a low drive that the Doonhamer's keeper did well to get down and tip the ball clear. Then in the 32nd minute Weatherston turned on the pace again skinning the Queen's defence before cutting into the box where McQuilken brought him down. The referee didn't hesitate to point to the spot but failed to show any cards. Sheerinho stepped up and duly dispatched the spot kick to make it 2-1. Saints seemed to be a bit more fired up and a minute later Weatherston retrieved the ball on the touchline midway up the park before tearing up to the box. His low cross found no takers. James and Peaso combined to set up Stewart next but again his cross across the goalmouth found no yellow shirt waiting. At the other end Burns sent a volley wide for the home side while we rounded off the half with a couple of corners that failed to cause any real problems in the goal as we lacked the killer touch. Oh yeah and Weatherston took the piss out of McQuilken again before being hacked down by the defender - still no card though.

Owen obviously gave the boys a bollocking at half-time since there was a lot more urgency in the play in the second half. Early pressure failed to come off though and almost straight away Queens were up the park and making James and McManus look like total arses before Lawrie came over to block O'Connor. It was even worse when Main's goal kick went straight to the feet of O'Connor and only James intervention cleared the ball. For all our efforts though we weren't creating much with crosses either held easily by the keeper or else a total lack of support up front for the likes of Peaso and Stewart with the midfield still looking lethargic (although the Mad Mental One was beginning to make his presence felt).

The pit of defeat opened fully seven minutes into the half with Lawrie conceding another soft freekick. The ball came back out and from a throw- in found it's way into the box where Dobbie leaned in and ended up on the deck with Stanic unfortunately within his not inconsiderable shadow. The referee pointed to the spot again with Goran picking up a booking for the foul (and luckily that was all the cards as Stanic, McManus and James proceeded to show the same lack of discipline that caused us so many problems last season). Jobbie stepped up to take the kick but Main brilliantly saved it by getting down to his right and tipping the ball clear. For all the cheering and singing (and yes, rekindled hope) that triggered in the Saints support the Football Gods decided to get their own back on us within a minute. Another long ball down the left and Lawrie was caught out as Jobbie got behind him. No other defender went over to challenge and Main was slow to come out and cover the angle - one low angled drive later and the ball was in the net to make it 3-1.

We hit back with a Goran cross headed in by Hardie and flicked on by Peaso into the keeper's arms. But by now there was a real lack of focus and concentration in the side with Stanic in particular losing his discipline - too many stray passes or players out of position. Owen decided to make his first change ten minutes into the half with Stewart, who hadn't been too bad, withdrawn in place of Dyron Daal. Almost immediately Queen of the South came close to snatching a fourth goal as McManus was skinned again only for the final cross to go across the goal with no takers. For Saints Peaso saw a decent volley go out for a corner and then the Mullet won a freekick on the wing which was cleared. The ball was fed back in by McInnes and found Peaso who sent in a good header that came off the post and seemed to be going into the goal only to cannon off the keeper for a corner.

Despite the Doonhamers starting the sort of timewasting that fans hate (especially when there's a third of the game to play), Saints kept up the pressure with a Sheerin cross headed in by Hardie via Peaso to the keepers arms. Hardie then had a good break down the left before cutting inside to lay the ball off to Sheerin in the middle. He fired in a low drive that the keeper did well to get down and eventually hold as Daal came in to try and get the rebound. Daal had a shot held and then a long goalkick found Daal and Peaso link well before the latter had a shot held. Then with twenty minutes to go Peaso tried a chip on the angle that the keeper again held. For all these chances though we were starting to slow up (Weatherston especially looked done) and there was little real creativity coming through the midfield.

Peaso was replaced in the 73rd minute by Jackson. The next chance came from a corner three minutes later but while James got up for the usual header his direction was about 180 degrees off target. Hardie won a freekick on the wing eleven minutes from time but while Jackson got up for the header his effort went just wide of goal. Weatherston was replaced by McCluskey on the wing for the last ten minutes as the hope began to face. Hardie had a shot over the bar and then a long ball from Saints was missed by the Queens defence allowing Hardie in but his chip beat the keeper and still went over the bar.

Then with three minutes remaining we were given an unlikely lifeline as Hardie was caught in the box. It was a soft penalty and a pretty daft one for the defender to concede but when a referee like Brines points to the spot for the second time in a game you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. So with the chance to salvage a wee bit of respect for the side, Sheerin stepped up to the spot and calm as you like sent the ball into the net leaving Dyron to head up and fight with the keeper to get the game underway as quickly as possible. Even then most of us I reckon thought that any more goals were unlikely as the game moved into stoppage time. But a minute later we pressed back and some good attacking play saw the ball played over the defence into the box where that man Mad Mental Martin tore in like a Pamplona Bull before slotting the ball through the keeper where it took a deflection before trundling oh so slowly over the line. Suddenly we were level and the celebrations were mental (with Hardie picking up a booking for leaving the pitch). Even then we had a chance to win the game with Hardie forcing the keeper into a good save deep into stoppage time and Jackson seeing a decent effort held as well.

Overall I'll settle for a point given some of the below par performances from a lot of the side today. But we have to face up to the fact that we should have done a lot better given the supposed quality in the team. Annoyingly as well it was a lot of the veteran players that let the side down with Main's positioning questionable, Stanic losing his discipline, McInnes looking lost a lot of the game and worst of all Lawrie and McManus in defence leaving us completely exposed on one side of the park. We lacked a killer instinct up front and the midfield was all over the place at times with no communication and little responsibility being taken. For all that though the Mad Mental One just squeezes out the Mullet for the MoM award while McCluskey, Daal and Stewart also had reasonable competitive debuts and at least looked like they knew what to do with the ball.

It's going to be a bloody long season though......

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