Jammy Tims 2 Saints 0 League Table Here
Team :: Main,McQuillan,Il
Biscotti,Attila,McCluskey,Whiteford,O'Halloran,O'Neil,Roddy,Georgio,Jenko
Subs :: Griffin,McMahon,Connolly
Oh well so much for trying to stop the party. Thanks to the wonderful urban delights of a Wegie taxi journey and some poor signposting to direct the 800 Saints fans to their corner seats I was 5 minutes late getting in and so missed the apparent defensive mistakes that let Larsson score a 20-yard drive after 2 minutes.
With Weir and Kernaghan out El Luggino opted to play Whiteford in the centre of defence and brought in Attila to the midfield. Unfortunately it has to be said that we were up against probably the strongest Celtic side and 50,000 baying bigots (and dont give me any crap about how they've stamped it out in Wegieland).
All this meant that for the first 20 minutes or so Saints were under constant pressure and it was only Main and some panicky defending which kept the score to 1-0. With Pa Broon in the crowd watching 2 of his keepers it was easily Jesus that put in the best performance including an incredible save in the second-half.
Saints main problem was a total lack of communication between defence and midfield with far too many players taking too long on the ball or if they did release it failing to find their man. Of course in the grand old tradition of Wegie-based football the referee managed to constantly favour the home side to such an extent that you could see the fight going out of Saints. I mean when it comes to overruling your assistants constantly and punishing the slightest challenge whilst letting the Celts away with all sorts of obstruction it kind of spoils the match.
Still Saints did have chances as they fought back into the game with McQ and Chief linking well on the right only for Georgio to miss an open goal with his head from the resultant cross. Still we forced several corners (most of which ended up with a ruling of a foul on the keeper) and Legend had a good break through on goal only to be pulled back for an earlier infringement.
Second-half started with Celtic again piling on the pressure but as the minutes ticked by you could see the nerves from last week creeping in again as their fans quietened down and the players saw some of their passes start to go astray. In Saints defence, Andy Whiteford proved that he was well up to the debut with some good calm and confident clearances. Il Biscotti and McMahon (on for Chief) got some breaks up the wing and in the middle Georgio (a very popular chap with the non-bigots amongst the Celtic crowd) and Legend were causing problems.
Saints made some chances to pull even with Jenko, O'Neil (up until then probably our worst player) and Legend trying to get past the Celtic defence. But as usual with Saints piling the pressure up front Celtic broke down the right through MacNamara who outran Il Biscotti and sent a low ball into the box for Harald Sixpack to score. Cue massed singing from the unwashed and the stewards in the away section evicting some of the many Tims who had taken Saints fans seats.
After that it was all over. Sturrock put on the remaining 2 subs for Dino and Legend but to be honest Connolly didnt look fit enough to score. With the final whistle the place went into party mode for the home support (including a pitch invasion which has to be investigated by the SFA). To say the noise was deafening is an understatement and from a semi-neutral point of view Parkhead easily outdoes TFODs pit for atmosphere.
Overall Saints had a lot of hype but ended up missing too many chances against a team which in retrospect were probably at their peak. MoM for me was Andy Whiteford who for a 'kid' making his Premier debut had a good game. Mention too to Attila for coming out after the final whistle to do the 3 cheers for the Saints fans. Its just a pity that the rest of the team and manager obviously couldnt bother their arses to do likewise and show some appreciation for their fans.
Bastards of the day were the ref for spoiling a good match and every single Saints fan that sold their ticket to a Celt (180 quid was what I heard). With fans like these who needs the club.
Still only 11 weeks till the new season.
Remember to vote on todays ref Kenny Clark (Paisley) - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk