Temple Of Saints - Jammy Jambos

Scottish Premier League - 04/10/98

Jammy Jambos 1 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team :: Main,McQuillan,Bollan,Dods,Kernaghan,Dasovic,O'Neil,Preston,Kane,Georgio,Simao
Subs :: Lowndes,Legend,Scott,Griffin,Ferguson

Dear God dont let this be the result that prevents us from making Europe. Saints should easily have won this after absorbing plenty of pressure and suffering from the traditional ailment of not being able to put the ball into the net.

McMahon failed to make the starting line-up but John McQuillan recovered from his shoulder injury to return to first team action. St. Sandy went for a 4-5-1 formation with Miguel Simao making his second start in midfield and Nat King Goals dropping to the bench.

The first-half was fairly even with the Jambos suffering from an overdose of Euro-sympathy and thinking that every decision should go their way. With professional divers Quitongo and Hamilton in their line-up the ref was always going to have a busy day. Kane was first in the book for a non-existent offence but this was evened-up when Concorde Salvatori was eventualy penalised midway through the half (although how he wasn't red-carded before half-time I dont know).

Chances were few and far between for both sides but 'San' Miguel caused plenty of problems on the left wing and with Georgio in the middle and Del working wonders against 'wonderkid' Naysmith on the right Saints were unlucky not to take the lead on several occasions. Whilst the central midfield pairing of Dassa and Kane struggled for most of the match, Bollan and Il Biscotti are obviously forming a good partnership on the left and McQ was back to his usual form at right-back. Add to that the rock-solid performance of Darren Dods and Father Dougal at the middle of defence and it was nice to know that we didnt have to rely on Main in goal (and given the muted reception he got as skipper no less it seems that the Saints support might hold last weeks media comments againts him).

Saints weathered some early pressure in the second-half before starting to take control of the game. First up was Georgio who just failed to hit the target with a header from an excellent Simao cross. Then after 57 minutes a cross from the right saw Georgio fouled in the box. With the world and the Jambos defence waiting on the penalty to be given (unlikely based on the refs performance), the ball broke to Il Biscotti sneaking in from the left who sent a rocketing shot into the net. After that Saints dominated for a fair spell with Kane, Dods, Dasovic and the inimitable Georgio all coming close and the away support could lie back and relish the sight of a disintegrating Jambos side. With San Miguel tiring St. Sandy replaced him with Phizzy.

However Saints failed to capitalise on their chances and some poor defending from midfield 10 minutes from time allowed Makel to run up the park and volley home the equalizer. Bastard. Nat King Goals was put on for Georgio but despite some good runs couldn't get the winner. Bookings for Kane and Bollan but nothing too nasty. MoM for me was Darren Dods who played an outstanding defensive game to ensure that diver Hamilton couldnt do a thing.

Overall it was a good team performance from the lads and we were unlucky not to win the match. Suffice to say though that San Miguel is a cracking wee player (1 million times better than his Ibrox debut). If Georgio can recover his goalscoring touch we have no worries. As for the Jambos, lets just say they look like exiting the League Cup at the semi stage.

Remember to vote on todays ref Garry Mitchell (Arbroath) - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk

Saints Index Fixtures Index Grange Index

Any problems / comments mail webmaster@grange.demon.co.uk