Kilmarnock 0 Saints 1
Team ::
Main,McQuillan,Preston,Attila,Kernaghan,McCluskey,OHalloran,ONeil,Grant,Farquhar,Jenko
Subs :: Georgio,Phizzy,Dasovic
Its strange what 3 years away from the big league do. Returning to the new Rugby Park (complete with working scoreboard) with its new seats and big-time atmosphere was totally different to the previous visits. Oh good I thought a welcoming atmoshpere. But of course 5 minutes into the game and you suddenly realise what a bunch of arrogant shits the Killie fans and players are.
Yes its true that over the course of the 90 minutes we stole the match but the point apparently missed in all the post-match interviews and reports (and no doubt in the press next week), is that we defended well, scored a goal and for all the Killie domination never really looked in trouble in the second half especially with the inept goalscoring abilities they showed in front of the Saints goal.
Saints were missing several key players and the most immediate weakness was shown several times in the opening spell as Pat Nevin fucked Preston over quite regally with the Saints defender having one of his worst afternoons in the left-back position. On the right we had problems as well with McQuillan again standing off the attacker which left the wing open. Only Kernaghan and McCluskey in the central defence seemed to show any sign of form. The midfield was jsut as bad with Attila now looking totally crap and Jenko almost as bad. John O'Neill looked like the business early on but managed to pick up a booking for not retreating 10 yards (from one of the worst refs this season) and faded significantly after that (IMHO Dallas has a lot to answer for).
However, Chief OHalloran had an excellent game in right midfield putting in a lot of tackles and generally looking like someone who wants to play for the jersey. Added to that he managed to get his first Saints goal when in 13 mins we had the miracle of Jenko running up the left wing. He put a good cross into the box which was deflected back out to Rhino on the right side. He had a shot and although it took a deflection it was enough to put Saints one up.
Unfortunately we didnt do much else for the first half with the only other real effort being a speculative lob by Attila (about the only thing he did all afternoon). Even the set pieces (when the ref deigned to give us a free kick) came to nothing and surely questions must be asked about Jenko - his running off the ball, corner kicks and pace are all a lot less than what we have expected of him in the past - time for a bit of rectal digit extraction.
The one man who I havent mentioned so far and who was by far the best player on the park today was keeper Alan Main. A string of good first half saves would have been enough on their own to get him MoM but what happened in the second half guaranteed the award to the man who Bob Crampsey described at half-time as showing the form to ensure the no. 1 jersey in France !!
The second-half started the way the first ended with Killies French diver missing an open goal in the opening seconds. After that they had a fair bit of pressure although Saints tried to hit them on the break. It was during an attack like this that Farquhar (who had a good game in central midfield) was hacked down. There was no action from the ref and it seemed like Saints luck had run out when Killies no. 10 took a tumble in the box to get a penalty. A yellow card was also dished out to McQuillan in the ensuing protests before Reilly stepped up to take the spot-kick. Time for Jesus to earn his pay and another excellent penalty save saw Saints stay in the match.
After that the fight seemed to start to go out of Killie although Saints lack of discipline meant that we gave them the ball enough time to keep the travelling support nervous. Farquhar was replaced by Dasovic who proceeded to do more in the last 20 minutes than Dinos done all season - suffice to say that the Austrians days must be numbered now. There was further bad news for Saints when Kernaghan went down injured and he was replaced by Phizzy with Georgio coming on for the ineffectual Jenko (who managed a yellow card for diving). The introduction of Georgio seemed to sharpen Saints up and Roddy, who up until then had been almost invisible, teamed up with the Irishman to give Saints a few more chances in the closing minutes to extend the lead.
The score remained unaltered though and you could almost sense the relief on the Saints players when the final whistle went. No question about the MoM - it had to be Scotlands No.1 !! As for the overall play the return of Nick Dasovic showed some of what we've been missing in midfield but the defence showed several weak points and up front we are struggling if we play Roddy on his own.
Remember to vote on todays ref John "Homer" Young - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk