Saints 0 Aberdeen 1 League
Table Here
Team :: Robertson,McQuillan,Il
Biscotti,Dasovic,Weir,Kernaghan,Tosh,O'Neil,Kane,Georgio,Jenko
Subs :: McCluskey,Wright,Grant
Well the writing was on the wall last week with a pretty crap performance against Stirling and this week Saints proved that they've learned fuck all. Even without new signing Gary Bollan the defence looked to be ok despite Jesus failing a late fitness test. But the midfield was just crap and up front Luggy persisted with a lone striker which meant the usual attack of Georgio surrounded by 3 opposition players.
The goal came after 10 mins when after some scrappy play on the left wing by Kane and Jenko (both of whom should be dropped now!!) the Sheep broke and ex-Saint Billy 'Dive' Dodds did his best to encourage chants of Dundee reject amongst the home fans by sending a low drive past Robertson in the Perth goal.
Neither side seemed to have any real advantage after that although the Saints defence had a couple of close moments when Robertson dropped the ball and at the other end Bandy-Legs was lucky to get his fingertips to a Georgio shot to send it wide.
Saints midfield was to be blunt garbage. Del O'Neil looked unfit / unwilling to take any part in the match - if he wasn't fit he should never have been on the park and if he was he should have been substituted at the interval. Tosh was as crap as last week and suffered from a total lack of confidence as the first half progressed which meant that by 45 mins he was nothing more than a spare man with no Saints player apparently willing to entrust him with possession. Dasovic tried his best but spent too many times trying to cover for the mistakes of Kane. As for Jenko - sod the new contract he should be told to pack his bags now. His control is rubbish, he's too slow on the wings and his tactical ability is non-existent. Even his set-pieces which have been his saving grace in the past are useless. As one wit said today 'Never mind Gary Bollan, Marc Bolan would be more useful'.
Second-half saw Saints with much of the possession but with little impact. McQuillan had a good 25-yard drive saved and Georgio and Tosh came close. Luggy brought on Wolf and the Legend to replace Del and Tosh but to no avail. We did have several fairly valid penalty claims rejected by referee Dougie Smith with Dasovic and Georgio suffering most from the attentions of the Aberdeen defence.
Only one booking for my MoM Preston - some innocuous shirt-pulling earning a yellow card which given the offences the Dons players got away with (kicking the ball away, high studs) seemed rather harsh. Il Biscotti was easily the best Saints player on the park - probably cos he was doing all the work on the left wing in the second-half.
Strange how we can go from Europe dreams to worrying about a loss of form in 2 weeks. Suffice to say that the upcoming Motherwell and Arab matches have suddenly taken on a lot more significance.
Remember to vote on todays ref Dougie Smith (Troon) - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk