Killie 1 Comeback Saints 1 League Table Here
Team :: Jesus,McQ,Blaster,Danny,McCluskey,Dassa,Kano,
Del,Chief,Nathan,Miguel
Subs :: Paddy Thingy,Parker,Ferguson, Whiteford, Keyring
One
thing that St.Sandy's team appears to have inherited from the days of
Judas is an unerring ability to drag the season out to the last match.
After today's game of 2 halves it all comes down to Saints needing a win
against Scumdee at home next week whilst Killie avoid beating TFOD at the
Heart of the Evil Empire. That happens and it's time to look out the
passports.
With the defence shattered by injuries it was a Danny and McCluskey partnership that took the field. Chief was brought into midfield on the right whilst Del went to the left and the Ginger Bomber and Miguel partnered one another up front. 4000 Saintees in the capacity crowd and a sun-kissed pitch meant a great atmosphere with the Rugby Park PA putting McD's to shame. Still at least we can outsing the pseudo-Wegies.
From the start though Saints were poor on the park. An early set of the jitters by McCluskey meant that Veraille was through on a 1 on 1 with Main. Scotland's no. 1 rose to the occassion though with an excellent stop. It was only a foretaste of what was to come though as on the 10 minute mark the home side broke down the right and left Blaster for dead. A cross into the box saw a Saints defence posted missing and from 20 yards out Roberts fired a cracking volley into the net.
The away support tried to find some backing for the team but within 5 minutes it could have been 2 when the French diver got through again only to meet another excellent Main stop. Saints at this point were all over the place with a lethargic midfield meaning little support to the front men and a home player first to every ball.
But we fought back and as the half wore on Saints came more and more into the match with Eusebio looking the classiest player on the park. The first and only bookings came soon after with Lauchlan yellow-carded for persistent fouling (although in the 2nd half he carried on and should have been red-carded), closely followed by Blaster for a late challenge.
Saints best chance of the half came just before the break when Del slipped the ball to Eusebio in the box (just before being felled by a Killie defender for a blatant penalty), who chipped the onrushing OF-reject tub of lard Marshall. Unfortunatley Lauchlan intercepted the ball on the line to leave Saints trailing at the break.
No substitutions at half-time despite both Kane and Dassa looking very poor in the first half. Saints started well and the midfield began putting in some good tackles, if not stringing together some sexy football. With the Saints fans cheering them on though they started to get some breaks of the ball and a poor clearance from outside the box by Marshall as he tried to beat Nathan landed at Chief who was just wide with a long lob from the half-way line.
Still Saints lacked the killer touch. The shots were getting closer and the corner tally mounting up though as Nathan and Eusebio came close before Blaster sent a long-range drive straight at the keeper from 25 yards. 67 minutes gone and it all changed. A bad foul on the right on Chief led to Kane sending a free-kick into the box. A quick knockdown by McCluskey and there was Blaster in the 6 yard box to send the ball into the net and send us mental.
After that Killie had a couple of shots (with Del stopping one on the line and a dubious handball as well) but Saints were in control. Dassa put the tackles in in midfield and Kane for some reason was given acres of room in the centre of midfield to run forward (yup it was a day for miracles) and feed the Ginger Bomber and Eusebio on the wings. The latter came closest when he just missed a knock on by Nathan although the Bomber had some good chances himself.
With 5 minutes left St. Sandy put on Kiegan and Keyring for the Bomber and tiring Del but to no avail. Parker in particular showed the results of the Legend coaching method by getting a foul against him within a minute of coming on, whilst Keyring is starting to look like a possible first-choice player next year.
The final minutes were pretty end-to-end stuff but the boys got the well-deserved point to set up the big one next week. MoM for me was Miguel - he ran his arse off and showed some classy touches on the ball. He was also about the only player to put in any tackles in the first half.
Congrats to Killie as well - despite some dubious choices in 'official' scoreboard lyrics, cutting prices to a fiver made for a cracking party atmoshpere. Almost makes you regret spoiling it all for them. Almost.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Rangers | 35 | 23 | 7 | 5 | 77 | 30 | 76 |
| Celtic | 35 | 20 | 8 | 7 | 82 | 34 | 68 |
| Kilmarnock | 35 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 46 | 28 | 55 |
| Saints | 35 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 38 | 38 | 54 |
| Dundee | 35 | 13 | 7 | 15 | 36 | 55 | 46 |
| Hearts | 35 | 10 | 9 | 16 | 39 | 48 | 39 |
| Motherwell | 35 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 33 | 53 | 38 |
| Aberdeen | 35 | 10 | 7 | 18 | 41 | 66 | 37 |
| Dundee Utd | 35 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 36 | 46 | 34 |
| Dunfermline | 35 | 4 | 16 | 15 | 27 | 57 | 28 |
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