Luggys Losers 0 Soaked Saints 1 League Table Here
Team :: Jesus,Danny,Blaster,Forrest
Gump,Weir,Dassa,Kano, Del,Keyring,Kid Goals,Miguel
Subs :: Legend,Chief,McCluskey,Il Biscotti,Robertson
What a night. With torrential rain turning Tannadice into the dreich Dundee dump that we all know it to be and listening to Chic the Prick tell us how he didn't think the game would go ahead as we parked at Dens (and I wish I had a camera - the view of the covered enclosure with ScotDem all over it brought a warm glow to my heart), it looked like a real depressing night ahead. First shock was in the team news.
As expected Kid Goals got a start with Legend relegated to the bench. But with Father Dougal missing out through some unspecified injury it was a central pairing of Cap'n Jim and Gump with Danny playing at right back.
From the start the conditions played their part with the main stand side of the park flooded to the point that the game was turning into a lottery. Still it settled down to the non- Grudge match we all love and cherish with rash tackles and hacks going in all over the place. Unfortunately McCurry was in the middle (or as a Saintee said at the end he didn't realise the 3 in the middle were modelling the new Arab black strip tonight) so it meant that most of the shoves and kicks went unpunished.
Still Keyring on the left (for left read dry) side of the park looked sharp and Eusebio and Kid Goals teamed up well to make the most of the Saints attacks. Eusebio especially seemed to be the only player on the park who could play on such a heavy pitch. The majority of the first half was fairly even with mistakes on both sides including a cracking Dods deflection off Weir which nearly ended up in the net and a Keyring volley at the other end which DickStraw did well to turn round.
With 5 minutes to go Eusebio broke through only to be scythed down by Hannah on the edge of the box. Needless to say no card was shown but at least we got the free kick. Up stepped the trio of Danny, Blaster and Keyring. With everyone in the large Saints travelling support expecting the usual complicated cock-up of a training move, Danny stepped up and sent a beautiful curling shot round the wall and into the net for his first of the season.
A nervous half-time saw some relief when the ref decided to come out for the second 45. Any feelings of goodwill toward him were soon dismissed by the Saints support.
2 minutes into the half and the Arabs get a free-kick for offside. As usual with these cheats they put the ball forward about 10 yards. Kid Goals kicks it back pointing out to McCurry that they were cheating. The Wegie was having none of it and booked Nathan. Then on the 50 minute mark he goes in and wins the ball off Skoldmark - a fair challenge that even Chic the Prick agreed with. But no Skoldmark does the dying swan act (more like the ugly duckling given the conditions) - its amazing how weird an Arab reacts when lying in water. So up comes McCurry and when we're expecting a warning out comes a second yellow and a red. Off goes the Ginger Bomber to applause from the Saints fans and past St Sandy who looked set to come on and kick Skoldmarks puss for him.
So down to 10 men and playing on a dodgy surface with an even dodgier ref and what do we do? Amazingly enough Saints suddenly got atuck in and began to challenge for everything. Christ even Kane and Dasovic started putting in the heavy tackles much to the annoyance of the sensitive Arab support who started crying foul every time they lost the ball.
With only an attack of Eusebio and Keyring and short a player Saints were struggling to piece any moves together but Keyring had a cracking shot and Eusebio took the piss out of Patterson and De Vos (and got fouled every time). St. Sandy took Eusebio off and introduced Il Biscotti with Keyring up front on his own. Del was replaced with 10 minutes to go by Chief as Saints at times struggled to hold on.
The Arabs had some shots go wide but Main was called into action several times and Danny earned his MoM award from me with a cracking goalline clearance. Of course there was the usual dodgy passbacks and loose balls from the defence but both Dods and Weir looked comfortable and Blaster at left back kept Diver Dodds in check.
The final whistle was a relief more than anything else. Still it was a pretty good match given the crap conditions. At least the second-half performance shows that we can still find some fighting spirit when needed.
And it was nice to shove it up Luggy yet again.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Rangers | 31 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 66 | 28 | 66 |
| Celtic | 31 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 77 | 27 | 62 |
| Kilmarnock | 31 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 44 | 24 | 53 |
| Saints | 31 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 36 | 36 | 49 |
| Motherwell | 31 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 31 | 44 | 34 |
| Aberdeen | 31 | 9 | 7 | 15 | 36 | 58 | 34 |
| Dundee | 31 | 9 | 7 | 15 | 27 | 52 | 34 |
| Dundee Utd | 31 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 33 | 38 | 32 |
| Hearts | 31 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 29 | 47 | 29 |
| Dunfermline | 31 | 4 | 15 | 12 | 23 | 48 | 27 |
Remember to vote on todays ref Mike McCurry (Wegieland) - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk