Wigan 1 Saints 1 (Wigan won on penalties)
Team :
Main,McQ,Bollan,Dods,Griffin,Dasovic,Lauchlan,Kane,Keyring, Miguel,Nathan
Subs : Pope,Georgio,Weir,McCluskey,Ferguson
Welcome to the wonderful delight that is the Motorola Invitational Tournament. Otherwise known to the poor sods that turned up today as yet another pre-season job where all the vulnerabilities and worst fears of the fans will come true. Yup despite the results in Ireland we actually believed that it would all change when Saints had their first game back in Scotland. Well bollocks to that idea as the 90 minutes of total crap followed by some of the most pathetic keeping I've seen at penalties combined to start the alarm bells ringing with regard to the Finnish equivalent of Stenhousemuir in a few weeks.
To be fair we weren't expecting much after sitting through a pretty dire 2-0 win by Livvy over Partick. And given that Saints lost Martin 'Skinhead like Georgio' Lauchlan after 5 minutes with a cut on the ear (Pope replaced him on the far right), St. Sandy didn't have far to look for problems. But this was a bloody strong Saints side that was put out and even despite the lack of ability, far too many of the players seemed to still have their minds on their summer holidays. We all know results don't matter for these games but it would be nice to see the players show at least a little bit of hunger.
The game itself was fairly dire for both sides although Wigan had by far the greater amount of play and possession with Simon Howarth (no 9) and a nippy no 11 both looking dangerous on the ball. They were even cocky enough to play Derek bloody Stillie in goal. With the rain drizzling down for most of the time the play was scrappy with Wigan only having a couple of efforts in the first half. Saints sole contribution came from Miguel setting up Nathan only for the latter to blast the ball into orbit instead of waiting for it to drop to his feet for an easy chance. Personally I think that Lowndes has to start putting the ball into the net soon - the alternative for him will be another season on the bench as Legend and Georgio get the striking duties.
The same can't be said of Miguel though - easily my MoM he ran his arse off and looked eager to get on and play some football.
A goalless first half soon livened up in the second when Howarth's long-range effort squirmed past Main and into the net. Scotland's no. 1 prevented another goal soon after as Saints struggled to get back into the game. We had plenty of possession but the midfield seemed unwilling to push forward - both Kane and Dasovic looked too slow and Keyring was bundled off the ball too easily. Defensively we were solid enough though which is one thing.
With Weir on for Keyring (Danny moved to midfield) and Georgio for the ineffective Lowndes Saints started to press forward more. Georgio and Miguel have the makings of a good striking partnership but too often their selfishness got in the way of a good move. On the right McBride (who looked to be playing out of position) was fairly good and seemed to be trying to impress.
Saints equaliser came in the last 10 minutes. A couple of scrappy corners preceded a goalmouth scramble with Blaster himself rocketing the ball into the net - almost a carbon copy of the equaliser at Rugby Park all those months ago.
So it came down to penalties - Blaster, Georgio and Danny all scored and then Pope missed. Up steps Brian 'Rejected by everyone' McLaughlin to take the kick and Jesus couldn't even be arsed to dive for it.
Pre-season friendlies? Don't you just love them.