Saints 4 Motherwell 3League Table Here
Team ::
Main,McQuillan,Preston,Dasovic,Kernaghan,Griffin,Scott,O'Neil,Grant,Georgio,Tosh
Subs :: Kane,Farquhar,O'Halloran
Well they can say what they want in the papers about Saints but they cant say that we dont provide entertainment and frustration for the fans. 7 goals, 3 penalties, only one Saintee booking, and an incredibly unhappy home support who had just seen their team go to 4th in the league. But if you had seen such a sudden change in tactics and morale in a team which totally dominated the first hour of the game then proceeded to struggle to a 4-3 win then you might have some sympathy with the feelings of the average Saintee tonight.
With Attila, McCluskey and Jenko all failing to make the match El Luggino introduced Scott and Georgio back into the line-up and put Tosh on the wing. All seemed to be going fine as Saints piled on the pressure in the early stages with Phizy coming close with a header well saved by Woods after 5 mins. There was always the danger of a Motherwell breakaway but the only real problem for the Saints defence was in trying to contain the veteran Tommy Coyne who seemed to always make a chance from nothing. Having said that, Main had very little work to do in the first half with only a couple of long-range efforts coming close to troubling him.
Saints were obviously fired up and took the lead after 20 mins when they won a free kick on the right 25 yards out. Tosh sent a high ball over which was met perfectly by the onrushing head on Kernaghan to score his first goal for the club. Things improved just after the half hour when a defensive error from the Well Icelandic no 5 fell kindly to O'Neill. Del ran up the park and sent a low shot into the net to make it 2-0. Saints became a more settled side after that and finally began to move the ball about a bit more in the midfield and defence as opposed to the long ball they had been using for most of the first half.
Second half started well for Saints with Roddy getting pushed off the ball in the box - a soft decision but a definite penalty. Amidst the angry reactions of the small away support The Legend stepped up to make it 3-0 from the spot and the home fans finally began to relax.
It didnt last long though as Saints did their level best to lose the game by following the now-traditional method of letting up on their opponents. The Motherwell strikers pushed forward and Danny Griffin conceded the 6th penalty of the season by upending Billy Davies - again a definite penalty but the little shit deserved it for his fouling throughout the first half.
Main came to Saints rescue once more though with an excellent save and credit to the Saints defenders who reacted quickly to prevent any score from the rebound. When John O'Neill got his second and Saints 4th after the Well defence failed to clear their lines on the hour mark you could hear the home support finally starting to breathe more easily as the chants of 'We want 5' began to surface in the East Stand. Both McQuillan and Georgio had chances to increase the lead before the rot set in as Motherwell fought back.
From then on it got a lot worse for the Saints as within a minute we conceded a penalty after Kernaghan handled (though IMHO it was accidental). This time Henry scored despite Mains efforts at getting the kids in the Ormond stand to put him off. Still worse was to come as Motherwell began to get back into the game and Saints discipline and organisation went to fuck. Shitter Davies made it 4-2 after 66 minutes when Main and his defence failed to clear their lines and 6 minutes later substitute Owen Coyle reduced the deficit to one with a curving header past Main.
After that it was real backs to the wall stuff with Luggy putting on Kane and Chief for Georgio and Tosh as Saints appeared to go on the defensive. With only a very knackered Roddy up front Saint suffered from a lack of support from midfield (with Scott in particular being especially shite) as any clearance from the Saints defence was immediately punted back up the park by Well keeper Woods. It all made for several nervous moments towards the end especially as Coyne went for a 3rd penalty by making a spectacular dive in the box.
Still we held on to win the match so its not all bad. MoM for me was a joint award for Kernaghan and Tosh with the latter especially doing more in his 75 mins on the park than a certain Mr. Jenkinson has done most of the season. As for the rest well Dasovic and Scott have to learn to work as a team although on the form shown today Farquhar could replace either. Up front Georgio still doesnt look too sharp and Roddy although OK is still tiring far to early to make any real impact.
Remember to vote on todays ref John Rowbotham - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk