Temple Of Saints - Another Club In Crisis

Scottish Premier League - 21/11/98

Relegation Fodder 0 Dodgy Saints 1 League Table Here

Team :: Main,McQuillan,Bollan,Dods,Kernaghan,Dasovic,O'Neil,Scott, Kane,Roddy,Simao
Subs :: Lowndes,Georgio,McCluskey,Keyring,Robertson

This is almost getting boring the way we beat that bunch of overpaid and overhyped 'big' Euro team. Anyway yet another 'Club-that-Saints-Beat In Crisis' headlines loom for tomorrow's headline writers as Saints got their 3rd win in a row at Pittodrie. Still there are plenty of other things you can rely on with trips to Aberdeen - it'll rain, blow a gale (thus removing the skill element), they'll rip you off at the turnstiles (14 quid) and the 'football experience' will be crap. The pre-match entertainment today amounted to a car being drive round the pitch, Angus the bull leading the sweetie-paper rustlers in the most subdued version of Northern Lights I've ever heard and a bunch of overweight junior Sheep Slappers doing a cheerleader routine in the centre circle (a la Scumdee). Oh yeah and a drug-crazed announcer who had to shout out the names of the home team and try and cajole the home support into cheering 'their very own A-Team' as the team came out. The A-Team were crap at finishing as well.

With Kane back from suspension, he replaced the injured Chief in the centre of midfield as St. Sandy stayed with the same team as last week. Georgio replaced Connolly on the bench and Robertson was reserve keeper. Saints started the game not too badly but the blustery conditions saw the Sheep play against the wind which meant their long balls to Luganis Newell (diver extraordinaire) were held aloft for ages. Added to that the poor clearances from Bollan, Dods and McQ and a certain keeper of ours who seemed to have a deathwish (or a move- wish) by not coming out for knock backs that were clearly his and it seemed that we were going to be in for a long afternoon. The total ineffectiveness of the midfield (Phizzy especially seemed to treat the ball like the proverbial hot potato) and the only hope for Saints fans were the amazing skills from Bandito on the wing and the holding play of Legend.

Having survived a couple of close calls which saw Main make a great stop with his legs and Dods and McQ make panicky clearances, Saints started to push forward. Miguel and Phizzy both had good shots on goal after the ref played advantage after Shite Whyte fouled Legend, and Saints had a perfectly valid penalty claim turned down just before the half hour.

The fightback paid off with 5 minutes left of the first half when Kane sent a long ball across the pitch just in front of the speeding Bandito. He outpaced the shite Sheep defence and slotted the ball past the stranded Bandy (MBE) in goal. From then until the half-time whistle Saints simply tore the home defence apart with Legend, Phizzy and Dods all coming close.

Second-half saw the Saints playing against the wind but continuing to struggle with high balls and to clear the ball to midfield. Dods and Main both had one of their worst performances of the season today and Bollan faded a lot at left-back allowing Winters too much room. With Saints defending that deep they had to rely on Main several times to prevent the equaliser. It wasn't all one-sided though and when Saints broke up field they made enough chances with Legend unlucky and Miguel almost scoring (but the ref decided to be sympathetic towards OAP Bandy (MBE) and awarded the foul.

By this time of course the home support were getting really agitated and the whispers of 'Miller must go' began to appear. As the game went on the Sheep looked more and more desperate - even sending on Ricky Gillies ferChrissake !!! St. Sandy put on Keyring and Nathan for Legend and Del. Nathan was in the thick of it straight away beating the Sheep OAP defence all over the place (Shite Whyte picking up the games only yellow card) and in a moment of sheer farce bundling Bandy off the ball as the keeper tried to prevent a corner - cue one OAP MBE in amongst the hoardings and not even a yellow for Nat King Goals. As the game drew to a close Saints should have increased their lead. Keyring and Nathan both looked hungry for goals with Keyring especially doing more in 20 minutes than Phizzy did in 90. Georgio was put on for my MoM Bandito for the last 5 minutes but the score remained the same.

A good win given the crap performances from the majority of the team. Let's just hope that Main, Dods and Bollan have got the crap out of their system before they're really tested next week. Still Father Dougal looked good and once Saints played the ball on the ground Del and Bandito were a lot more effective.

Arse of the day was the git in front of me that had his headphones on for the entire match in order to update everyone with the OF score - told not-so-subtly to "Shut the F**k Up" in the second-half.

Remember to vote on todays ref Mike McCurry (Wegieland) - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk

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