Flashback We’ll always love Basher and Yards
Mark Yardley and Barry Lavety banged in the goals for St Mirren over the years.
So much so, many regard them as some of their favourite players from the nineties.
They were a match made in heaven, later supplemented by the likes of Steven McGarry and Junior Mendes.
The duo of Basher and Yards bring back memories of a halcyon era of free-flowing football as they rampaged their way to the First Division title.
The Mark and Barry show saw Lavety fire home 16 goals that season while on loan from Hibernian, who he joined from St Mirren in 1996.
And Yardley wasn’t too bad himself, showing up his teammate as he amassed a stunning 19 goals that campaign.
But Lavety was to be plagued by injury woes near the end of his stint on loan. Legends
St Mirren FC is a club with a proud tradition – and a history to match.
They have been at the centre of the Scottish game since their formation in 1877.
This week we look back at one of Saints’most popular partnerships – Mark Yardley and Barry Lavety.
Everyone and their Paisley granny had their fingers crossed that he would return for the following season on a permanent deal, but boss Tom Hendrie had other thoughts as his injury woes piled up.
Instead we were treated to some delightful new forwards: Graham Fenton, Mikael Renfrum and Stephen McPhee to name but a few.
In total they would rack up only three goals between them.
Without Lavety, Yardley’s goals dried up too thanks to just four goals, though he didn’t feature half as much as the previous season.
What if Lavety had managed to stay on for the SPL season?
Of course his fitness was a concern but if he had managed to rekindle just an ounce of the partnership with Yardley and the other two from the previous year then it may, just may, have been enough to beat the drop.
He wouldn’t have kicked a ball until January of that year but it wasn’t the last we had seen of him as he returned for a third stint in 2003.
Yardley, who had joined from Cowdenbeath in 1995, would remain until 2003 before he wound down his career at Albion Rovers.
Neither would match their exploits from that title-winning season, but the players have both gone down as legends with Saints fans.