Saints get back to winning ways
SAINTS had long been dreaming of a match on Sunday May 22 2016, unfortunately the much-longed for Scottish Amateur Cup final appearance at Hampden Park was not to be and a considerably less prestigious Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division match against Inverclyde was arranged instead.
With only 11 available players it was perhaps fortunate that the opponents were Saints’ old foes from the tail o’ the bank rather than the all- conquering Colville Park as manager Alex Craik’s resources were again stretched to the limit.
Dropping out from Friday’s squad were Thomas McCulloch, Willie Gemmell, Donald Campbell and Ross Maitland with Craig Campbell and Jamie Graham joining the lengthening injury list.
Graham Douglas and Paul Carmichael made welcome returns, however, skipper Marc Maccallum’s planned return from the foot injury sustained against Alba Thistle on April 27 had to be abandoned when he pulled up during the warm-up.
With East Kilbride FC Amateurs already crowned as league champions and neither side under any threat of relegation the match had more than a hint of that end of season feel to it.
Notwithstanding the fact there was nothing at stake, the teams produced an entertaining match played at a good tempo in warm sunshine.
Saints kicked off attacking the Mossfield end and had a first sight of goal in the second minute.
Carmichael made a good run forward from his left midfield berth to get on the end of a lay off from Dean Smith.
Carmichael burst into the box and shot left footed for the near post but a nasty bobble just before connection was enough to ensure the shot missed the target and hit the side netting.
A moment of indecision from ’Clyde keeper Stevie Docherty was almost punished in the sixth minute by Allan Mackay.
Docherty dallied too long on a clearance with Mackay closing him down and taking the ball off his toes before the big keeper recovered and dropped to smother the ball at Mackay’s feet.
The visitors had their first attempt on goal in the 11th minute with Darren McGregor firing wide from 22 yards.
Revelling
Normally deployed as an attacker, Carmichael was revelling in his unaccustomed midfield role but still made every effort to get forward wherever possible.
A 16th minute give-and-go with MacEwan on the halfway line saw Carmichael race through the inside left channel and unleash a low shot inches wide of the near post.
Saints continued to make good use of the wide areas and made a deserved breakthrough in the 25th minute.
Dene Cassells played a terrific long ball out from the back to the overlapping Dougal Graham on the left wing. Graham outpaced Christopher McGivern and sent a tempting cut back to Allan Mackay, who stroked an excellent first time finish into the bottom corner past keeper Docherty’s left hand. Keith Millar and skipper for the day Paul Kerr were making a good job of anchoring the midfield allowing Carmichael to push forward with another run, winning a 27th minute free kick for a push in the back just outside the ’Clyde box.
Mackay took responsibility for the kick and sent a good ball in looking for the head of Cassells who was just beaten to it by ’Clyde centre half Fraser Gunn at the expense of a corner kick.
A relatively quiet first half for Douglas was brought momentarily to life when he took too much time with a clearance allowing McGregor to close him down and get in a block which cannoned just over the crossbar much to the keeper’s relief. Referee Kevin McIntyre issued the only yellow card of the day in the 44th minute taking the name of Nick Jack for a heavy challenge on Kerr.
The visitors had a loud appeal for a penalty kick dismissed by Mr McIntyre in the 42nd minute when McGregor tumbled theatrically to the ground claiming he had been held by Cassells.
After a sloppy start to the second half Saints eventually clicked into gear in the 64th minute with Graham starting and finishing the move for the second goal.
Graham closed down and dispossessed Docherty just inside the ’Clyde half and worked a give and go with Mackay.
Mackay’s pass through the inside left channel was perfectly weighted for Graham who arrowed a crisp left foot finish from 18 yards just inside the far post before the keeper had time to set himself.
Saints were by now firmly back in the groove and added to the scoring four minutes later.
David McArthur made a good run on the right wing and clipped a cross to the near post for MacEwan to bullet a header into the far bottom corner of the net.
After several tight offside decisions had gone against him, Mackay finally received the benefit of any doubt in Mr McIntyre’s mind in the 72–minute rounding the ’Clyde keeper and tucking the ball into the bottom corner for Saints’ fourth goal.
Penalty
The consolation goal for the visitors came from the penalty spot in the 79th minute.
Smith found himself on the wrong side of Graeme Leslie just inside the Saints box on the ’Clyde right.
Leslie went down under Smith’s challenge and referee McIntyre had no hesitation in awarding a penalty kick.
On his only previous appearance since rejoining the club in March, Douglas saved two penalty kicks in a Jimmy Marshall Trophy shoot- out win over Kings Park Rangers.
Unfortunately there was to be no repeat of those heroics with Neil McCole sending ‘Sugar’ the wrong way tucking the ball into the right hand corner of the net.
Alex Craik kept his troops well marshaled comfortably seeing out the final 11 minutes for a well deserved 4-1 win to guarantee a fourth place finish in the league.