Temple Of Saints - Next Time?

Scottish Premier League - 25/09/99

TFOD 3 Saints 1 League Table Here

Team : Main,McQ,Bollan,Weir,Danny,Dasovic,Kane,O'Neil,Chief,Nathan Messiah
Subs : Ferguson,McCluskey,Eusebio,Keyring,Parker

With the 28-year old record of not winning at the Death Start and TFOD on a reasonable run of form, given the score above you might think that we were slaughtered today. But if I point out that their 3rd came with 3 minutes to go and they got a penalty from referee Stuart Dougal, then you might like me realise that it was a pretty good Saints performance - well the second half anyway. Dasovic made his return to the squad as Keyring dropped to the bench. The other surprise was the inclusion of Kiegan Parker, Saints latest youth internationalist to the subs list ahead of Georgio.

Unfortunately due to a combination of thick TFOD neanderthals who queued at the wrong turnstile and a stupid cow behind the snack counter that couldn't work the till, I was 5 minutes late in taking my seat. But it was only the first half and it followed the long tradition of first halves against the OF - Saints with their backs to the wall and under a lot of pressure as TFOD try everything to break us down. We did defend deeply with Nathan and Messiah struggling to put any sort of attack together - the former looked sharp but Thomas is looking well short of match fitness. Unfortunately the midfield decided to defend deeply as well with Chief rarely venturing forward on the left whilst Del and McQ for some reason didn't look as keen as last week to play to their potential.

There were some good points - Danny looked excellent in the centre of defence and Dasovic chased everything as Saints tried to close TFOD down. And we managed to frustrate them for a full 30 minutes before Kane got the ball off the Hun Hun. Then he proceeded to lose it again to the Hun Hun who took one touch before sending a 20 yarder into the net. A good goal but created by Saints.

After that Saints were under a fair bit of pressure with a couple of panicky clearances off the line. The TFOD cavemen were left crying into their Buckie when Barry "Potential" Ferguson went off with a hamstring injury without getting a penalty.

Half-time came and showed just why no-one likes TFOD. For those of you that know me, my away top has 7 and Eusebio on the back (in tribute to the great Miguel). So there I was standing doing the business in the Gents when in comes one of Govans finest knuckle-draggers. "Eusebio" quoth he, "Aye I always knew you lot were a bunch of f**kin' Papes". Combine that with the new lyrics to Simply the Best and it just disgusts me. To think that these scum represent us in Europe?

Second-half came with Eusebio himself making an appearance off the bench for Thomas and the change in the Saints forward line was apparent straight away. We were more eager to push forward and put their defence under some pressure and with Hendry resorting to kicking the ball out whenever it came to him we began to see some results with a couple of corners and some long range efforts. Keyring came on for Kane on the hour mark and boosted the attack.

Of course the sucker blow was still to come and when TFOD broke upfield, Andrei the bread-queuer collapsed in the penalty box. Stuart Dougal was well behind play and gave the penalty, booking McQ in the process. I'm not so sure it was a penalty and post-match comments suggest that the Bread Queuer might have taken a dive. No matter what, the Hun Hun got their second. Cue for the knuckle draggers to sing some more bigoted shite. We soon shut them up though.

Miguel broke up the right and was upended by Hendry. Keyring takes the free kick and wee Eusebio leaps up unmarked at the back post to head home and send us wild. After that the game was fairly even although Saints suffered from being unable to take their chances. A Keyring free kick from the same spot (after Eusebio was clobbered by Gary Numan - no yellow card of course) was netbound until Charbonnier punched clear past 3 or 4 Saintees. Nathan and Miguel both had chances but weak finishing let us down. Parker came on for Nathan with 10 minutes to go and put in some good running on the wing.

It didn't stop Saints from setting up TFOD's third though. Chief was caught in possession on the halfway line and forced back to the edge of his box with 2 minutes to go. He lost the ball and Mols turned the Saints defence and scored a good goal.

That was it really - we lost the same fixture 4-0 last year so it can be looked on as an improvement. Nathan and Miguel are a much more effective pairing up front as today and the last quarter of the Scumdee game showed. Thomas looks unfit and Kane tired. Chief to me is becoming a weak link in midfield when either Pope or Frankie-Boy possibly deserve a chance and McQ looked crap today.

On the plus side Danny had another excellent game in central defence and Dasovic made a welcome return. The heart of a good team is now there and we are playing well - it just needs a bit more confidence.

As for TFOD - their fans are scum pure and simple.

Remember to vote on todays ref Stuart Dougal - send marks out of 10 to refvote@grange.demon.co.uk or just select a rating and press the button below ::

Saints Index Fixtures Index Grange Index

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