AWRIGHT MESS
Saints join Rangers in our hall of shame
EVEN playing the final half hour against ten men made no difference as St Johnstone joined Rangers in Scottish football’s hall of shame.
Tommy Wright’s side dominated this Europa League clash but the two goals they needed to progress was beyond them before they were caught by a late sucker punch.
The damage, of course, had been done in last week’s first leg at McDiarmid Park which the Lithuanians won 2-1.
But Saints must have been kicking themselves all the way home after crashing out at the first hurdle because their rivals looked average at best.
The visitors still couldn’t find a way through and, apart from a couple of Joe Shaughnessy headers in the first half, they didn’t create enough chances.
When Trakai were reduced in numbers after Arunas Klimavicius was sent off for two bookings, Wright’s men still couldn’t take advantage.
And they were caught at the end when Maksim Maksimov — who also netted last week — scored the only goal of the game.
This defeat won’t create the same shock waves as Rangers’ elimination in Luxembourg, but it’s highly doubtful that Swedish side Norrkoping will have much difficulty disposing of the Lithuanians in the next round.
Wright brought in Stefan Scougall, Scott Tanser, Chris Millar, Murray Davidson and Chris Kane. But Paul Paton, Graham Cummins, David Wotherspoon and Brian Easton missed out. Steven MacLean was sprung from the bench in the second half despite Wright’s fears over the effects of the artificial pitch on his dodgy knee.
That surface at the tiny LFF Stadium, where Scotland will play their World Cup qualifier in September, looked very dry and far from ideal. Saints were backed by a healthy and noisy support of around 500 fans who had made their way to the Baltics.
Former Celtic cult hero Dariusz Dziekanowski, the UEFA match delegate, saw Saints survive an early scare when keeper Zander Clark was hesitant in collecting a Shaughnessy pass back and appeared to bundle Maksimov off the ball. Fortunately for Saints the Bulgarian referee ignored appeals from home fans.
They had another let-off when skipper Millar was short with a headed back pass and Mykhaylo Shyshka lofted an attempt over Clark which drifted off target.
But the Perth men slowly took control of the game and twice came close to making the breakthrough within the space of a minute through the aerial prowess of Shaughnessy.
A Liam Craig free-kick was met at the back post by the Irishman but his header was tipped over by keeper Ignas Plukas.
From Blair Alston’s corner, Shaughnessy saw another header blocked on the line by Valdemar Borovskij. Kane shrugged off a weak challenge from Justinas Janusevskis. But his tame lob was straight at the keeper.
Saints allowed Trakai no time on the ball and Klimavicius was lucky just to be booked for a cynical trip on Davidson as he burst through on goal.
Clark had his first save of the night when Alma Wakili flashed a low shot at him from out wide.
And Saints were handed a huge boost in the 57th minute when Klimavicius was shown a second yellow for catching Kane late.
Wright wasted little time in sending out an SOS to veteran striker MacLean, dodgy pitch or not. The sending-off only seemed to galvanise the Lithuanians, however, and they looked an increasing danger on the break.
Saints continued to huff and puff, but their deliveries from the flanks were poor and the Trakai keeper remained untested.
The Lithuanians sealed the deal when Shyshka threaded a pass to Maksimov, who tucked the ball past Clark. An already disastrous week for Scottish football had plumbed new depths.