Temple Of Saints - Ups and Downs

Scottish Premier League - 24/10/98

Jammy Killie 2 Generous Saintees 2 League Table Here

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

My God sometimes for a magnificent example of Gods Chosen Forces of Light that St. Sandys boys obviously are, they really test your faith. I mean when even Bobby Williamson admits that we should have won, it gives you an idea about how depressed I am about only leaving a drenched Rugby Park with only one point - even if at 2.55 I would have settled for that.

To say the least we dominated this match for 75 minutes apart from a short spell in the middle of the first half. With St. Sandy fielding an unchanged lineup from that which humped Well last week and Killie without McGowne in defence and forced to field an 18 yr old debutant who looked well dodgy the omens looked good. Christ even Dallas had allowed the pitch to pass inspection earlier on despite the constant downpour all day in Wegieland.

The early stages saw Saints pressing forward a lot and Killie only threatening on the break. However we did struggle up front as San Miguel did his customary 15 minute warm up starting at 3pm. But with Il Biscotti getting plenty of room on the left-wing and Georgio showing to the world the difference scoring a couple of goals can make to his play, along with Kane and Dasovic stringing together countless passes in midfield we dominated the early stages. The chances fell to Dods and Del in the box with Georgio and San Miguel coming close as well. But it was at the other end that Killie came closest to opening the scoring with McQ struggling to keep pace with Monkey Durrant and the ex-TFOD spawn just shooting over from a narrow angle (with Main helpless). Killie had another shot go over as they pressed forward but with Dods looking every inch a potential Scotland cap and Bollan showing some pace at last we pulled ourselves back into the game.

Del came close for Saints with a narrow angled volley which Marshall just managed to tip round the post before Saints opened the scoring on the 38 minute mark, thanks to Dods heading home a cross, and looking like he'll get a few more like that before the end of the season.

The second-half started with Shuggy Dallas going card-happy and booking McQ (for a late tackle), Simao (handball?) and Georgio (dissent) in quick succession. Still even with free kicks on the edge of the box courtesy of the Bonkle Bugger, Killie couldn't find the equaliser. Instead it was Saints that pressed forward with Kane coming close with 2 spectacular volleys that hit the post and were cleared off the line. With San Miguel struggling (and already booked), St. Sandy threw on Kid Goals on the hour mark.

It didnt take long for him to make an impression on the game either. Some good work with Il Biscotti on the left saw Saints win a series of corners. Then on 62 minutes, Nat King Goals found himself through on goal. He took his time freeing himself of the attentions of the Killie defence before sending a beautiful curling volley into the net. Sheer class. After that Saints pressed forward and began showing off and taking the piss out of Killie. With backheels and flicks over defenders we kept up the pressure. Any time Killie tried to break through the Saints defence sent long passbacks to Main to clear. Guess what was to be our undoing?

78 minutes and a long passback to Main finds him arsing about and coming off his line. In keeping with the rest of his kicking today, the clearance goes straight to the feet of Mark Roberts who proceeds to do a Georgio from 45 yards making Main look like a total amateur. I mean after last week you would have though he might have learnt to stay on his line and concentrate. Of course that was the sign for Killie to start their fightback and Saints to lose all their discipline and skills.

With every attack by the home side looking dangerous and Main panicking at any passback (including an attempt to dribble past 2 Killie forwards which only avoided ending up in a goal when he was fouled), things just got worse for the away support and you could almost predict the outcome. Sure enough with 7 minutes left Killie broke down the left and with McQ stranded the low cross came in for Father Dougal to put into his own net. St Sandy sent McMahon on for Del and even then we had a few shots on goal but the real escape happened in injury time when (according to the radio) a deliberate handball was adjudged by the Bonkle Bugger to be accidental and Killies penalty claim disallowed.

Overall it was a great performance by Saints if you just look at the first 75 minutes but nightmare for the last 10. San Miguel did struggle on the heavy pitch and I'd be tempted to play Kid Goals from the start on Tuesday. MoM for me was Kane though - he had an outstanding game in the middle of the park and deserved to be on the scoresheet.

As for the semi? I'm getting worried about how confident I feel !!

Remember to vote on todays ref Shuggy Dallas (Bonkle) - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk

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