Jimmy Marshall Cup final for Saints
Oban side will need to improve if they are to take home the silveware
OBAN Saints and old foes St Joseph’s FP staged a dress rehearsal for their impending Jimmy Marshall Trophy final showdown at a midgie-infested Glencruitten last Friday night.
If the old adage that a bad rehearsal equals a good performance then Saints can look forward to things being ‘alright on the night’ at Millburn Park Alexandria next Friday as this was one of Saints’ worst performances of the season. However, if this saying is just a lot of superstitious nonsense Saints will have to raise their game considerably if they are to win a second Jimmy Marshall Trophy in three years.
Saints added Craig Campbell, Dougal Graham, Jamie Graham, Ross Maitland and Allan Mackay to the threadbare squad that had secured a draw away at champions elect East Kilbride FC Amateurs on the previous Saturday.
Still missing through injury were Martin Bonar, Myles McAuley and Marc Maccallum. Joining the missing list was Scott Maitland, who is currently in Lithuania with the Scottish Amateur Football Association squad.
The visitors kicked off attacking the Mossfield end where, after a quiet opening spell, they enforced their shoot- on- sight policy for the first time in the fourth minute with skipper Colin Gailey firing over from the edge of the box after a good run and cross from Martin McGowan on the right wing.
One minute later Thomas McCulloch made the first of a string of excellent saves getting down well to his left to stop a Michael McGowan shot.
Saints’ normally crisp passing was non- existent at this stage with cheaply conceded possession keeping them constantly on the back foot.
The busy evening for Thomas continued just 60 seconds later when Blair Mulgrew fired in another shot from the left which the big keeper held well at his near post.
It took Saints fully 20 minutes to muster their first attempt on goal when Craig MacEwan set up Dean Smith for a shot from the right hand side of the St Joe’s box.
Smith’s right-foot shot across the keeper was well held by Kevin Goodwin with Donald Campbell waiting to punish any handling error.
Saints’ best opportunity of the first half came in the 23rd minute when a defence- splitting Campbell pass was quickly latched onto by MacEwan.
A clear path to goal opened up for MacEwan, however, the ball seemed to stick under his feet on the 18-yard line and he was closed down by Kearn Docherty and Kieran Boyce.
MacEwan retained possession and laid the ball back to Campbell who lofted the ball to the back post where Paul Kerr had made a good run but was unable to generate enough power on his header to seriously test Kevin Goodwin.
The visitors took the lead in the 28th minute when Martin McGowan won a corner off Dougal Graham on the St Joe’s right and took the kick himself sending a good delivery into the box.
Scott Dornan lost his marker in the box and had the simplest of tasks with a free header to nod the ball into the net past the helpless McCulloch.
Manager Alex Craik was clearly unhappy at the way things were going and made a swift tactical switch dropping Campbell back to bolster the midfield which was being overrun by their St Joe’s counterparts.
The switch certainly helped steady the ship and set Saints up for a good 15-minute spell to close the first half.
Referee Jimmy Litster was the object of some heated words from the touchline when he harshly ruled what appeared to be a perfectly timed run by MacEwan to get on a defence splitting pass from Campbell to be offside.
MacEwan ran on and stroked the ball into the net but all to no avail as the Lochgilphead whistler had already awarded a free kick in St Joe’s favour.
Saints ended the first half with another chance as Smith broke into the St Joe’s box on the left hand side but was forced wide by the combined efforts of Craig Cameron and Boyce.
The encouraging end to the first half should have been the catalyst for Saints to kick on in the second half; alas all of the good work was undone in the first minute of the second 45.
Martin McGowan beat Graham on the St Joe’s right and played a low ball into the box.
Jamie Graham and Campbell looked clear favourites to clear the danger, however, no clearance was forthcoming and Ryan Craig pounced on the loose ball dispatching it past a bemused McCulloch to make the score 2- 0.
Saints eventually sparked into life on the hour mark with Ross Maitland making a good run up the right wing winning a throwin level with the six-yard line.
Willie Gemmell wound up one of his long throws which found the head of MacEwan whose flick on unfortunately found no takers in navy blue and was cleared by the St Joe’s defence.
Saints were handed a one-man advantage for the closing 20 minutes when Scott Dornan saw red for a bad tackle from behind on MacEwan.
Tempers were inflamed briefly but Mr Litster was quick to restore order before giving Dornan his marching orders.
The extra numbers helped Saints dominate possession in the closing stages, however, chances were few and far between with the St Joe’s rearguard standing firm.
Saints eventually pulled one back with just five minutes remaining after a good run up the left wing from Graham was halted by a tug of the shirt from Cameron. Gemmell bent his free kick from level with the 18-yard line around the St Joe’s wall, through the ‘corridor of uncertainty’ in front of the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner of the net.
After riding their luck for long periods of the match the stage now looked set for Saints to grab an unlikely point.
However, the anticipated grandstand finish failed to materialise and it was the visitors who came closest to adding to the scoring. Gary Redpath was allowed to run unchallenged at the heart of the Saints defence and brought out the last of McCulloch’s saves in a tremendous performance from the big keeper.
Referee Litster brought the match to an end without further incident almost certainly confirming Saints’ lowest league finish for seven seasons.