Winning In The Rain: Dazed And Confused

Saints have no fixture on Saturday 6th December.

Last Saturday's Fixture

Saints defensive woes continued on the 3G at Glasgow Green last Saturday against a very much in-form Finnart. The 4 - 1 final score was extremely harsh on Saints who played some good football throughout but struggled to find a way past a resolute home defence. Saints battled hard until the final whistle but were once again undone by defensive lapses which were eagerly gobbled up by a clinical Finnart attack.
Desperately seeking a solution to Saints defensive problems, Manager Iain Jackson made the bold step of dropping the ever present Alex Craik to the bench and deploying midfield anchorman Paul Kerr in the centre of the back three flanked by skipper Marc MacCallum and Jamie Graham. Paul's midfield berth was taken by Roy McLuckie with the returning Myles McAuley and Ross Maitland also making the starting eleven, After an even opening ten minutes Finnart began to exert some pressure and forced a succession of corner kicks with which the Saints defence coped comfortably. In the 15th minute Allan Mackay rose superbly against Finnart skipper Brian Blair to flick on a long Daniel Cassells clearance. Lewis Cameron was onto the flick-on in a flash and burst into the box only to be dispossessed before he could pull the trigger. The Finnart clearance was met on the edge of the box by Donald Campbell who flashed a terrific drive narrowly wide. Saints were enjoying a good spell of possession at the this point with Roy McLuckie, Myles McAuley and Donald Campbell pulling the strings in the centre of the park. Ross Maitland came agonisingly close to opening the scoring in the 18th minute with a dipping 20 yard volley which cleared the cross bar by a matter of inches. With 20 minutes on the clock Saints were caught out by a long ball from the back down the Finnart left wing. Marc MacCallum appealed in vain for what looked to be a clear off-side decision and was unable to prevent his man from picking out an unmarked Jason McArthur in front of goal to put Finnart in front. Shortly afterwards Saints were indebted to Daniel Cassells when the big keeper made a fine point-blank stop to prevent Finnart increasing their lead. On the half hour mark Allan Mackay had a well placed low shot tipped around the post by Finnart's very accomplished keeper Brian Paton. Two minutes later Finnart doubled their advantage with a good passing move on the left wing. Full back Andy Barnes and wide man Jason MacArthur, younger brother of Scotland international James McArthur, linked up well to find Ben Mills inside the Saints box and the youngster made no mistake from close range with the Saints defence again all at sea. Saints survived another scare in the 38th minute when, for the one and only time in the game, they failed to deal with a Finnart corner kick. Fortunately for Saints Ross Maitland had taken his customary position of guarding the far post and was able to block the Finnart header on the line and clear the ball to safety. Saints closed the half pushing forward for a way back into the match and were desperately unlucky not to get it in the 43rd minute when Allan Mackay, Donald Campbell and Lewis Cameron linked up well on the right wing. Lewis got to the bye-line and cut back for Donald Campbell to fire in a fierce shot which was blocked but spun loose to Allan Mackay whose shot shaved the outside of the post with the Finnart keeper rooted to the spot.
In spite of the 2 - 0 half time score line the Saints camp felt they were still very much in the game and started the second half in positive mood. Finnart were now content to protect their two goal advantage and try to hit Saints on the counter attack, a tactic which was to proved very successful. Despite their territorial advantage Saints found clear cut chances hard to come by against a well drilled Finnart defence which was excellently marshaled by their Skipper Brian Blair. Saints best openings fell to Ross Maitland and Allan Mackay who both shot straight at the Finnart keeper when they ought to have done better. In the 58th minute Saints carved out a good shooting opportunity for Donald Campbell whose net bound shot was deflected wide of target. From the resulting corner kick Finnart launched a long ball up field which left Jamie Graham one-on-one with the pacy Jason McArthur. The youngster's electric pace outstripped Jamie whose last ditch tackle just inside the box won the ball but was adjudged by referee Gordon Hay to be a foul. The referee later explained that, although Jamie had won the ball he had "gone through" his opponent to get it. With the penalty kick awarded Saints were relieved that the referee elected to caution Jamie rather than the anticipated dismissal.When the two sides met at Glencruitten in a crucial top of the table clash towards the end of last season Daniel Cassells pulled off two excellent penalty saves unfortunately for Saints the big keeper was unable to reproduce those heroics and was well beaten by Andy Robertson's spot kick.
Manager Iain Jackson freshened things up by introducing David McArthur and David Beaton to replace Roy McLuckie and Ross Maitland respectively. In the 70th minute another Finnart counter attack brought panic to the Saints defence. Paul Kerr felt that he was body checked in the build up, as he forlornly appealed for a free-kick Marc MacCallum rashly hauled back a Finnart striker in the box for the game's second penalty kick. The Saints skipper was booked but on another day may well have seen red. The penalty kick was again expertly dispatched by Andy Robertson for his second and Finnart's fourth goal of the game. In the 74th minute Dean Smith came on to replace Allan Mackay for what was to prove a very brief appearance for the Saints substitute. After just three minutes on the pitch Dean was involved in a nasty clash of heads in the centre circle with Finnart central defender Philip Blair. It was the Oban man who came off worse and after a lengthy stoppage a dazed and confused Dean was helped from the field of play. Saints coach Peter MacCallum enjoined Manager Iain Jackson to "tell him he's Pele and send him back on". It's not clear whether Peter was referring to the Brazilian superstar or Saints legend Pele MacCallum but in any event his advice was ignored and Alex Craik replaced the stricken Saints striker. With Alex taking up his usual place in the heart of the Saints defence and Paul Kerr moving forward into his accustomed central midfield role Saints continued to take the game to the hosts. In the 83rd minute Saints were finally rewarded for their perseverance when a short corner routine involving Lewis Cameron and Craig MacEwan found Donald Campbell unmarked on the edge of the Finnart box. Donald's well placed curling shot through a ruck of players gave Brian Paton in the Finnart goal no chance. Saints were desperate to reduce the deficit still further and should have been awarded a penalty kick when a Donald Campbell shot was clearly handled in the box by a Finnart defender. The referee decided that he had already shown Saints enough sympathy and dismissed the appeal. In stoppage time Saints launched one last attack down the right wing, David Beaton sent over an inch perfect cross for Lewis Cameron whose header under pressure went narrowly wide of the keeper's left hand post. There was no time left and the referee brought another disappointing afternoon for Saints to an end.