Temple Of Saints - Absolute Garbage

Bells League Division One 09/02/2008

Queen of the South 3 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team : Main, Irvine, Stanic, Moon, McManus, James, Peaso, Craig, Jacko, Savo, Sheerin
Subs: Cuthbert, Cameron, Weatherston, Rocco, Caff

After being frozen out last week, the cup preparations were put on hold today as Saints headed way out west to take on arguably the form team in the league. The Doonhamers have done a lot recently to get themselves back up the table and topped that off last weekend with a fine win at Cappielow to ensure their place in the quarter-finals. For Saints, the recent good results had seen us move clear in third and finally put a wee bit of pressure on Accies and Dundee at the top of the league, both of whom had made recent slip-ups. But, as usual, this was another one of those games we just couldn't afford to drop points.

As it was another ninety minutes of non-stop flowing entertainment was no doubt witnessed by fans at other grounds. For the Saints travelling support that headed west in numbers, it was one of the poorest performances of the season - even allowing for the scoreline, we were simply dire for long periods of the game with the so-called experienced members of the squad our biggest culprits. Too many half-hearted efforts from too many of the starting eleven with Saints resorting to the old style of hoofing the ball forward which against a physical, tall side was, like the end result, simply pointless. The recent good form has masked some issues in the side where we've been less than convincing, but today they were highlighted in glorious Technicolor and there can be no doubt that a repeat of the attitude and lack of effort today shown by Saints will see us exit the cup into the bargain. Queens are a good team and thoroughly deserved their win but we have every right to be annoyed given the lack of fight from the players who need to take a long look at themselves tonight.

Things weren't helped with suspensions starting to hit the squad. Rustybitz was already missing out on this one and after a red card in Monday night's reserve he was joined by Pamela in the bad books. That meant Kevin James being brought back to the first team sooner than expected after managing a couple of full reserve games to partner Alan McManus, with Caff on standby despite only just resuming training. Elsewhere in the side, Mad Mental Martin and Andy Lawrie were still going to be out for a while. Danny McBreen was just back in training and Jinky had only managed an hour of reserve football as he worked his way back from a broken metatarsal. Then there was the surprise return of Rocco last night after Sellik decided that nobody looked like coughing up a quarter of a million for their wee biscuit tin over the transfer window and he too, went straight into the squad that hopped on the bus west. Most of the rest of the squad had had two full weeks rest although Cameron and Rocco had been playing with the Scotland U-21s and January's Young Player of the Month, Jacko had been on international standby. That meant the side lined up with James and Chalky in defence while Mooner started ahead of Cameron. Weatherston's performances for the reserves still didn't warrant a start and he was in the dugout along with Rocco and McCaffrey. For the Doonhamers, former Saints Tosh, McCann, McQuilken and Pieman Dobbie were joined by John Stewart from Falkirk who actually managed the rare feat of scoring a goal for the Dumfries side last week - no doubt celebrating in style afterwards (or not going by the lack of tabloid headlines on the Monday).

The first minute of the game should have given us a clue of the torment that was to come with James conceding a soft freekick (let's hear it for referee O'Reilly who did his best to challenge for the Inconsistent Ref of the Decade title). Main eventually held it when it was floated into the box. We tried that rare thing called an "attack" just after that with Sheerin releasing Moon who played the ball into the box for Peaso but the striker lost out to McDonald in the home goal. The game did threaten to spark into life in the 5th minute when another Queens cross was cleared and Moon played it forward to Jacko in the centre circle but Harris absolutely scythed him down from behind earning a booking for his trouble. But it was already looking worrying for us with a lack of impetus in the middle of the park and the defence looking badly exposed at times, especially given the relative lack of mobility in the middle from James and McManus (only the former really having an excuse) while Goran and Irvine were both making too many mistakes on the flanks.

Irvine was involved in the next bit of controversy when Dobbie's pie-filled belly overbalanced leaving him on the deck and the referee awarding another soft freekick. That was headed out for a corner which was only half cleared to Burns on the right wing and his low cutback was spilled by Main for another corner which the Saints keeper managed to punch clear. Queen of the South had all the pressure and Main only held the next cross at the second attempt. But in the 14th minute we got what we deserved and again the build-up was a kick in the face for us. A long ball down the left for McQuilken was almost intercepted by the backtracking Irvine but the ball came off the Saints' defender's face and fell kindly for McQuilken who proceeded to take the ball into the box and fire a long angled shot that went under Main and into the bottom corner to give them the lead. Based on the opening stages it was no more than they deserved but the question was how would we react to it?

And the answer unfortunately was that we continued to be pish. There was almost a total lack of movement off the ball and we seemed happier to spend the time trying to play long balls over and behind the home defence. We almost came close to snatching an equaliser in the 17th minute when we actually played the ball on the deck for a while and broke down the left through Liam Craig. He took the ball wide and cut it back in for a series of shots in the box from Saints players from Savo, Craig and Sheerin, none of which could find their way past the defence never mind actually challenge the keeper and the move ended when Jacko missed a close shot and sclaffed the ball wide. The home side hit back immediately with another long-range effort from McQuilken held by Main. A minute later and Pieman turned McManus far too easily before trying his luck with a shot that luckily went well wide.

There was even more controversy in the 21st minute though when a long clearance from Saints found Savo tearing through the middle on goal. Up came McFarlane from behind to haul him to the deck in a blatant foul but the referee managed to totally infuriate the Saints fans by not even giving us the freekick never mind the red card which he should have shown to the Queens defender. That seemed to act as a signal for the Doonhamers to do what they wanted and within a minute Thomson should have been penalised after he went in heavily on Jacko but again we didn't get awarded a freekick. Saints though were almost bereft of ideas. Craig won a corner in the 24th minute but it was easily cleared with even the domineering presence of James in the box. Two minutes later it was time for the defence to shoot themselves in the feet once more as McManus gave the ball away far too easily (as with most of the defence today, they were concerned with just clearing their lines as opposed to passing the bloody ball to a teammate). Pieman got onto the end of the wayward clearance and was able to waltz forwards (well stagger under the weight of several Gregg's Macaroni pies) before laying the ball off for an unmarked O'Connor who thankfully punted the ball over the bar.

Thomson finally picked up a warning for going through Jacko again on the half hour mark. Two minutes later we almost created a chance but Sheerin's effort went wide of goal. But for the most part, we were under pressure usually due to our own ineptitude. McQuilken almost set up their second in the 37th minute with a neat chip through into the box for the oncoming Aitken but the defender sclaffed the ball wide with an effort that wouldn't have been out of place from a Saints player. We were lacking in any real creativity going forward and while Moon was doing well through the middle, too often the ball was bypassing the midfield and being aimed at Peaso and Jacko with the former having a poor game and the latter being marked out of it. A foul on Jacko 20 yards out eight minutes from the interval gave us an opportunity but as usual we blew it with Craig's freekick beating the wall but going over the bar into the bargain. Another foul just after that allowed us to play a freekick into the box where Peaso headed it back across the goalmouth only for the defence to easily clear the danger.

Peaso picked up a booking three minutes from the break for an elbow on McQuilken which though it might have been harsh was deserved and about the only sensible decision the referee made all day. A minute later McCann picked up a booking for a foul on Savo. The half finished with Jacko winning a corner - the ball bounced around the box a bit before being put behind. Kind of summed up the afternoon really.

Never one to shirk from the big decisions, Del made the first change at the interval with Rocco brought on surprisingly for Kevin Moon who in my opinion hadn't been the worst performer of the first forty-five. The decision almost paid off two minutes into the half when a neat forward ball found Savo with his back to goal and laid the ball off for Rocco. His first time effort was a good low drive but McDonald comfortably held the attempt. A similar attempt a couple of minutes later went wide of the goal. The opening spell saw Saints playing a bit better with the ball actually on the deck on occasion.

Aitken picked up the next booking for a foul on Jacko in the 53rd minute before the kick in the teeth we knew was coming. 54 minutes gone and another pathetic attempt at an attack by Saints saw us playing short passes just over the halfway line before Peaso was easily bundled off the ball. He looked for a freekick but Queens just got on with the game with the ball sent down the left before it was cutback for O'Connor with the Saints defence all over the place (McManus' attempts to get back to cover were laughable) and he had an easy finish in off the post with Main nowhere. Two-nil down and it began to look like a question of how many we'd lose more than anything else.

Our counter to losing the second goal came through the threat of Sheerin with a pathetic cross from the left that went straight to the keeper. Queens on the other hand were growing in confidence with McQuilken trying long-range lob from the edge of the box which went just wide with Main caught in no man's land. Saints were all over the place and seemed unable to get the ball past the Queen's midfield with more often than not, the play sent back via James or McManus to the keeper for a hopeful punt up the park to give the ball away again. Del took the gamble just after the hour mark with Cameron and Weatherston replacing Sheerin and Savo, the latter a disappointment given the poor performance the already-booked Peaso was having. Unfortunately it made little real difference as we seemed to be totally devoid of ideas on how to play the ball past the opposition defence. It was in fact Queen's that had the best chance in the 64th minute with a long ball for O'Connor finding Main forced to come out of his box to try and clear the danger. But it seemed that more often than not our attitude was way too negative with no one moving into space or trying to beat their marker.

Queen's almost scored a third in the 66th minute when McQuilken was given way too much room on the flank to beat James with a cross which saw O'Connor head wide of target. We took the play back up the park and a decent ball into the box wasn't cleared by the defence and fell to Jacko who just wasn't alert enough to get the first-time finish. He managed to take the ball wide only for the defence to cover and in the end he played the ball back for Craig who tried his luck with an angled effort that was deflected wide. After that excitement the corner was completely wasted. Three minutes later and another freekick into the Queen's penalty area saw Rocco's header cleared and with fifteen minutes remaining Quinn turned provider with a neat cross for Jacko but the goalie again held the effort.

It did signal the start of the best spell of the game for Saints as we finally began to press and test the home defence. And a minute after that some excellent build-up play found the Queen's defence only half-clearing the attack. The ball fell back to James in midfield and he played a neat low ball through the defence for Jacko to run onto and the striker didn't disappoint with a lovely chipped finish past the keeper to make it 2-1. Suddenly it looked like the yellow army might have a chance - Peaso's attempt to get the ball up the park for a quick restart foiled by Harris' petulance and timewasting. Stanic set up Rocco on the left next and the latter sent a great cross in for Jacko to send a back header which went just over the bar. Then in the 84th minute Irvine played a great cross in from the right for Jacko and he won a corner. That ended with the ball bouncing all round the box with Weatherston and Sheerin seeing efforts blocked before it went wide.

But as we thought we might have a chance, the fates had one more piss left to drown our hopes with. McManus gave the ball away in midfield and a simple run up the park saw the defence caught out and an easy cutback found O'Connor in the box evading any challenge to slide the ball past a floundering Main to make it three-one. That killed us off and saw a large section of the Saints support head for the exits. The game petered out after that with our only real effort a Peaso freekick that didn't even get past the wall. The final minute saw another Queen's attack as a Saints corner was easily dealt with, McManus once more losing the ball and only a Main stop preventing a goal - Craig managing to pick up a yellow card in the process as the home side took the resulting corner.

Easily our worst performance of the season by a long way with too many of the side failing to reach the standards they've set themselves. Of the ones who did, James had a solid game in defence and just gets my MoM ahead of Jacko. Mooner had a good half and was a strange choice for replacement while Craig and Rocco also played well. But the worrying part is that the likes of Peaso and McManus were easily second best to almost everything today and didn't seem to know how to cope with their opponents. Irvine and Stanic were both caught napping at times and made more mistakes than usual but their cause wasn't helped by having to cover for their defensive and midfield colleagues. While no doubt it will be argued that you can't read much into one result, it's pretty hard to see how on today's display, the management even hope to maintain a challenge for the title, especially given the big game next weekend.

Suffice to say that there are several erses needing a good kicking in that dressing room tonight - failure to do so could see us out the cup and well out of any title race by this time next weekend.

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