Sheep 1 Slack Saints 0 League Table Here
Team :: Jesus,Danny,Blaster,Forrest
Gump,Weir,Dassa,Kano, Del,Keyring,Chief,Miguel
Subs :: Legend,McQ,Il Biscotti,Ginger Bomber,Robertson
Why oh why oh why oh why? With yet another chance to put the club in the driving seat for Europe and after all the hype from last week's win and in front of one of the largest Saints travelling supports of the season, why the hell did the team have to go and screw it all up yet again?
Make no mistake, this is one of the worst performances of the season against a Sheep side that although hungrier, had a defence that even a blind Judas team would have tried to attack. Christ knows what St. Sandy was playing at with the 4-5-1 defensive side that took on TFOE last week remaining unchanged. It was plain to see from the first 5 minutes that there was little or no willingness in the midfield or defence to push forward and attempt to put some pressure on the worst defence in Scotland.
Instead the best we got from a pretty crap first half from both sides was a Danny 20-yarder that went about 5 miles over. Even the sheep were no better faced with a Saints defence which seemed bent on suicide with such delights as a Blaster square pass straight to Winters or Weir and Dods clearing the ball straight to a red shirt 99% of the time.
Of course there were the usual problems with the ref but at the same time players like Eusebio should know that they won't change an officials mind so there is no point in moaning about a decision for 5 minutes when all that you're likely to get is a stupid yellow card.
Second-half ironically saw some improvement from Saints when the ineffective O'Halloran was replaced by the Ginger Bomber who played up front with Del moving to the right. Of course with Saints now pushing forward the inevitable happened on the hour mark when a sheep break down the left saw the Saints defence missing an a square ball to Winters put the home side ahead.
After that there was a spirited Saints fight back but even when St. Sandy put on Roddy for Miguel and Il Biscotti for Keyring the side were always missing the creative spark from midfield and up front. We did put together some good attacking moves down the right with Danny and Del teaming up well but even when the ball got to a forward the cross usually found no one in support.
Even the team seemed to suffer from a lethargy - Dasovic Kane and Del all spent far too long standing about watching things rather than get on with supporting attacks or else covering unmarked sheep. Perhaps this is a symptom of a lack of belief in the team but at times Saints were playing like it was the last game of the season with nothing to play for. Unlike Aberdeen who could even afford for keeper Warner to impersonate Leighton and drop the ball at Nathan's feet and still recover with the Saints forward trotting back to the halfway line.
I wish I could pick out a bright spot in the performance but it's nigh on impossible. Up front I'd still like to see Nathan and Miguel START a game together. One thing sticks in the mind though - a fit Georgio would have torn that defence to shreds. As for MoM? - the Saints fans for sticking it out to the end.
It's going to be a long 3 weeks.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Rangers | 32 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 69 | 29 | 69 |
| Celtic | 32 | 18 | 8 | 6 | 77 | 28 | 62 |
| Kilmarnock | 33 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 45 | 27 | 53 |
| Saints | 33 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 37 | 37 | 52 |
| Dundee | 33 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 31 | 53 | 40 |
| Motherwell | 33 | 9 | 10 | 14 | 32 | 48 | 37 |
| Aberdeen | 33 | 10 | 7 | 16 | 38 | 61 | 37 |
| Dundee Utd | 33 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 35 | 42 | 33 |
| Hearts | 32 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 33 | 47 | 32 |
| Dunfermline | 32 | 4 | 16 | 12 | 25 | 50 | 28 |
Remember to vote on todays ref Bobby Orr (Kilbarchan) - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk