Saints 1 Overpriced Wegies 0 League
Table Here
Team ::
Main,McCluskey,Davison,Dasovic,Kernaghan,Weir,Scott,O'Neil,Kane,Georgio,Preston
Subs :: Griffin,Wright,Legend
New signing Mr T failed a fitness test and missed out on a home debut against those other Wegie Forces of Darkness. However Saints were able to field Callum Davison and Phizzy after injury and move 'Full Monty' Preston to the left wing in place of the suspended Jenko. Stuart McCluskey also came into the side at right-back with Danny dropping to the bench.
As for the game well suffice to say it wasn't a convincing win for the Chosen Ones but it was certainly well-deserved with the defence especially playing with skill and confidence. The midfield crowded out the Scotland internationals in the opposition and up front Shagger had an ongoing Battle of the Haircuts with Anonnoninoni (or whatever hes called).
Saints started on the attack and used Outlet on the left to link up with Davison and Georgio to cause some problems. The first chances came to Saints with Dasovic and ONeil both having good chances, although the less said about Kanes lob attempt the better. By far the best chance though came to Davison who had a good build-up on the left after another good run and let fly a 25-yard volley into the postage stamp corner of the Celtic goal, with only Goulds fingertips to keep the score even.
Celtics attacks were limited (usually by the ineptitude of Donkey Blinker) and when they adopted their usual bullying tactics on defenders referee Sandy Roy clamped down. Having said that both McNamara, for a foul on Davison, and Jackson for an elbow on everyone should have been booked for their challenges.
The only real danger in the first-half to Saints goal came from a couple of corners and from a Burley close-range effort. Having said that the central defense partnership of Weir and Kernaghan had a good game with the latter especially rock-solid in defence. In fact some of the sweeper skills he employed reminded me of Sergei. Weir was unfortunate to pick up a yellow card towards the end of the half for a late challenge on Wieghorst.
With the game goalless at half-time Celtic were expected to pile on the pressure in the second-half but with their attacks getting more and more desperate (the high balls to Donkey Blinker on the touchline were really entertaining), Saints coped with things easily although a couple of corners from Celtic did cause problems.
At the other end Davison had a wonderful run the length of the park only to see the shot go wide. Kane and ONeil also had close efforts. With Outlet and ONeil getting the run of the wings, Saints began to put on some pressure. Eventually we got a series of corner with 15 mins to go. An excellent ball from Monty was met by Weir who saw McNamara handle on the line before Georgio scrambled in the rebound. Cue a moment of doubts as referee Roy checked with his linesman before giving us the goal and booking the Wegie. There was also a worrying moment as Georgio went down and required treatment but as usual Legend was there to take his place.
After that the Wegies threw everything at us and in the case of Stubbs it included his entire body as Scott was sent about 5 feet into the air in one challenge. It only merited a yellow card in the refs eyes but IMHO he was lucky to stay on the park (although Nigel eventually replaced him with Thom). Saints did have a couple of close chances thanks to Scott and Grant but the last 10 minutes were pure backs to the wall stuff, although the new tactic in the West Stand of keeping the ball was a bit unsportsmanlike. The last Celtic attack especially saw about 3 or 4 goalline clearances and a couple of good Main saves before the ball was cleared.
Still we held on for 3 valuable points and the sheer joy of watching Messrs. McNee (cos we're on the telly tomorrow), White, Young and Provan eat shit. MoM for me was Davison - in a team which played as well as it did he shone through.
Finally a big mention to the announcer who has finally realised that a new song was needed to get the team on the park. Suffice to say The Skids and 'The Saints Are Coming' will do nicely.
Remember to vote on todays ref Sandy Roy (Edinburgh) - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk