Temple Of Saints - Come Back Dallas

Scottish Premier League - 26/09/98

Saints 1 Judas Scum and Cohorts 3 League Table Here

Team :: Main,McCluskey,Bollan,Dods,Kernaghan,Dasovic,O'Neil,McMahon, Kane,Georgio,Lowndes
Subs :: Preston,Legend,Whiteford,Griffin,Ferguson

So the great Whore of Hilltoon returns - nice to see final proof that the flowing attractive and sportsmanlike play has been pure St. Sandy all along. Finally the mystery of what Judas did with his 30 pieces of silver has been answered - it went to pay off the ref today. Saints fielded an unchanged side from Wed nights victory and from the start were on the attack with Nat King Goals (as christened by my dearest wife) causing all sorts of problems.

Of course we should have had an idea of how things were going to go early on when Saints were denied a blatant penalty as Sir Nathan was bundled to the ground in the box. Cue for Stuart 'Dallas ego' Dougal to wave play on. With all the fuss about whether or not any Saints players were going to go join Judas in Cogeyville, it was good to know we had someone like Main to rely on. At least until the slow Arab reject failed to react to a Dodds header which curled in at the top corner.

With Kane and Del non-existent in midfield it was going to be a day for our flair players. Until McMahon was chopped down (not that we got a foul of course). Gerry was in obvious agony by Dougal was plainly waiting for the signal from the Judas dugout before stopping play. Cue for a stretcher and the delights of seeing the reactions of the sporting Arab fans as he was stretchered round the back of the goal. Fucking animals who make you sick.

Of course things went from bad to worse. Biscuits was brought on to replace Gerry with Del moving to the right wing. But his lack of fitness and a rash challenge in the box by McCluskey on Olofsson led to the Arabs getting a penalty. Fair do but there was no way McCluskey was last man with both Dods and Kernaghan behind him. Of course the Arab-loving ref saw things differently and off he went. Dodds scored from the spot.

Half-time saw St. Sandy bring on Andy Whiteford for O'Neil. The second-half saw Saints dominate for long periods and if we had still had 11 players on the pitch then we would probably have gone on for at least a draw. Having said that the way war broke out we'll be lucky to have 11 fit players next week. Kernaghan was clobbered and looked concussed, Preston was chopped down and Nat was fouled every time by Skoldmark (who also escaped punishment twice for deliberate handballs). Roddy was brought on for Nathan and at least he got some digs in.

With 7 minutes to go though the game was over when Dods took advantage of slack defending to put a third past Main. After that apparently Roddy scored and Olofsson was sent off for a clash with Georgio but I'm afraid that I'd seen enough of the game being spoilt and left to get the tickets for the Hearts match - hopefully with a better ref.

Despite the defeat the Saints side were not outplayed. We sorely lack the firepower up front with an off-form Georgio missing a couple of chances which 9 times out of 10 he would have scored. In midfield Kane looked tired but Dasovic put in a helluva lot of work. Defensively we looked solid enough apart from losing the shape with the sending-off. Andy Whiteford looked ok at right-back although Bollan was definitely struggling for pace. Yellow cards also for Bollan, Preston and Dods. And praise for the Saints fans - all the anger was reserved for Judas. As guys like Billy Dodds show we can respect our opponents.

Dont worry though - we'll get the bastards next time.

Remember to vote on todays "ref" Stuart Dougal - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk

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