Since I started going to uni in Edinburgh I’ve been hoping that, at some point during my four years here, I’ll be able to watch a Saints away game. Each time a cup draw is made and Hearts, Hibs, Spartans (well, this year) and even Livingston (OK, wee bit out of Edinburgh) are drawn at home, I hope that we’ll be paired with them. It didn’t happen last year and it won’t happen this year. With us unlikely to be playing in the SPL in 2 years (due to no undersoil heating), that left it down to cup draws. A bit too much to chance for my liking. After a bit of investigating I discovered I could go to yesterday’s game, a suitable alternative. I’m usually reporting on the likes of Dalkeith Thistle on a Saturday, but hadn’t been given a game. Kirkcaldy was only 45 minutes away by train, wasn’t too expensive, and the stadium was only a short distance from the station. It is probably the only away game I’ll go to all season, and the first one I’d been to since we beat Morton 3-2 in the league cup last season!
Sadly, these things aren’t simple. When I went to get my ticket, I was about to walk off when I discovered it was for Ladybank. Now, I know that sometimes east and west coast folk sometimes have difficulty understanding each other, but how the hell does Kirkcaldy sound like Ladybank. I should have seen this as a sign of things to come.
After getting to Kirkcaldy with an hour to spare, the last thing in my mind was missing the kick off. Amazingly, I did. Stark’s Park is right beside the railway line, but as I was on the other side of the train I didn’t see it. I left the station and, using the directions I’d got off the internet, proceeded to go in the opposite direction. About 20 to 3 I gave up, asked someone and discovered I was a fair bit away. With some running (ok, fast walking) I thought I’d made it, only to discover a large queue thanks to only two turnstiles being open. No kick off delay despite a fair number of folk being outside, and no turnstiles opened. The guy behind me suggested to the Rock Steady security guys (always nice and willing to have a sensible discussion. Ahem.) that an extra gate should be opened as it wasn’t Morton they were playing, but St. Mirren. Unfortunately it didn’t work. Still, I got in the boys gate despite being nearly 20. The guy in front of me looked about 25!
This was my first visit to Stark’s Park and the first thing I noticed wasn’t the spectacular views of a bit of the Firth of Forth, but the fact someone appeared to have nicked half of Raith’s stand. The stand to the left of ours, which I assume to be the main stand, only stretched from the Raith end to the half way line. Now, our main stand only covers half the sideline as well, but it’s in the middle so doesn’t look as bad. This one made our main stand look state of the art.
Well done if you’ve made it this far, as I’m about to start on the game :-)
The second thing I noticed was, sadly, Kevin McGowne was back in the starting 11. Oh dear. Had I known he’d be starting before hand I might not have gone. He was in for Kirk Broadfoot, who was injured, whilst Allan Russell replaced John O’Neill.
Raith didn’t take long to get into top gear, with their number 10 chucking himself at the deck inside the box when a Saints defender tackled him. The referee correctly didn’t give the penalty, but why not book him? It’s a dive, which isn’t allowed, so book the cheat. Sadly, not once was a player booked for diving, and Raith’s reputation as diving cheats is entirely justified.
Raith fired a warning shot after about ten minutes, with a shot from the number 9 just going past the post. Now, despite not having a silly haircut or wearing nancy boy gloves, the number 9 is fairly noticeable. Sadly, our defence managed not to notice him after about 15 minutes, when they left him with all the time in the world to shoot, which he did, and score, which he did, though Woods should maybe have got it. I could have scored it. Hell, Brian McGinty could have. Ah no, sorry, that would have involved getting into the box. The number 9 took his shirt off when he scored, something else not allowed by the rules, and something else which went without punishment.
An absolutely brilliant comedy moment happened during the first half. Andy Millen ( I think) put his arm across a Raith player as he tried to win the ball. If there was contact, it was no more than neck high. Suddenly the guy is on the ground, clutching his face and needing treatment. And their fans wonder why folk call them cheats!
The rest of the half saw some decent chances and attacking for Saints, but an extremely suspect defence at the other end. A few times we had the linesman to thank, whilst another Chris McGroarty was caught out when he thought the Raith player was offside. He wasn’t, but they didn’t capitalise. The Saints defence was awful, with captain McGowne coming in for a load of abuse. Thoroughly deserved, he’s mince, and I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking that.
Saints had a string of corners which produced nothing. A tame header from someone had to be parried over by Raith’s goalie, who was confirming for me that he was a muppet. Sadly this didn’t lead to us raining shots on goal, instead our best chance came when Allan Russell decided to shot from 30 yards. Along the ground. Aye, nice one.
1-0 at half time, and it was probably fair.
Early on in the second half, Raith disappointed us all by taking off Andy Dow. I hadn’t even realised he was playing. Keep up the good work Andy.
Russell had chances to bring Saints level, but was wimping out of far too much. Obviously he has a modelling assignment on Monday. He seemed to be becoming a scapegoat, but some of it was a bit harsh. Shuggy Murray did well to put a cross in, but I’d doubt if former Saints Ricky Robb or Sergei Baltacha would have got to it. Fortunately, the ineffective eejit was soon replaced with Dunn.
We’d been getting stretched at the back, several times Raith players almost clean through on goal. One time, David van Zanten was tracking back with a Raith player and fell over. The ref gave us a foul!
Raith’s number 10 finally go himself booked for persistent fouling. Whether this was before or after he added a second I don’t know. I can’t even remember who was at fault. It seems, from memory, gash defending, something which happened all afternoon. Once again the scorer removed his shirt; once again he avoided even a talking to.
At this stage, two things happened. One was Gus MacPherson brought David McKenna and John O’Neill on, replacing Ricky Gillies and van Zanten. Now, people will know I’m not exactly a Gillies fan. In fact, I’d have been quite happy to see him go to Partick Thistle in the summer. However, there is no way he deserved to be subbed. Bringing them on at 2-0 down, what were they meant to do?
The other thing that happened was someone claimed it was all the fault of our “cricket loving chairman”. Now, I’m sorry, but just because the guy likes other sports doesn’t make him an eejit (unless it’s rugby or American football). Would you rather have Reg Brealey in? Do you know of someone else who can invest? No. Fair enough have a go, but don’t trot out the cricket nonsense unless you know how to get us out of trouble.
Raith came close to extending their lead as what little fight Saints had had to start with disappeared. The closest we went to a goal was McGinty heading over. I was shocked. He’d made it into the box!
McGroarty and Dunn all picked up stupid bookings late on for swiping folk. Well done lads.
We were, near enough to a man, gash. The strikers were rank, the midfield did sod all and the defenders didn’t defend. Despite conceding two goals, it was the best I’d seen Stevie Woods. Having said all of that, had we played a striker instead of McGinty and Russell, we could have won! We certainly had a reasonable amount of chances to, though it wouldn’t have been deserved.
New this week, is the player ratings out of ten. It was going to be out of five, then I realised most were the same whether it was five or ten :-)
Stevie Woods: 4/10. Sod all to do, not great either.
David van Zanten: 3/10. Looked half decent coming forward, wasn’t too bad when not getting whacked.
Chris McGroarty: 2/10. Gash.
Andy Millen: 1/10. Even gasher.
Kevin McGowne: 0/10. Gashest of the lot.
Mark Dempsie: 3/10. Probably our best defender.
Ricky Gillies: 4/10. Our best player, yet subbed. Nice one Gus.
Hugh Murray: 3/10. Not good, but better than most.
Alan Russell: 1/10. Awful.
Brian McGinty: 2/10. More rubbish from Brian. And he scored 40 odd in a season with Cumnock?
Simon Lappin: 3/10. Poor crossing, did sod all else apart from collect a silly booking.
David McKenna: 3/10. Didn’t do too badly when he came on.
Robert Dunn: 1/10. Awful.
John O’Neill: 0/10. What, did he come on? Didn’t notice.
Mark Crilly and Craig Hinchliffe: 10/10. Full marks. Neither came on, both men of the match.
All the playing staff at Love Street need to take a good look at themselves after yesterday’s result. There was no fight, no effort, and players wimping out of challenges. Gus MacPherson made ludicrous changes at ludicrous times. Andy Millen was awful yet stayed on the park. Kevin McGowne has been poor all season yet still plays. We're turning into a team for MacPherson's mates.
We need a striker, even if it’s just McKenna or someone like Jeff Ferguson. Guys who will actually get into the box. McKenna has hardly played yet has the same number in open play as Brian McGinty and Robert Dunn have.
Absolute nonsense, everyone should be ashamed of themselves. At this rate we can look forward to division two next season.
And to cap it off, I got wet and attacked by hail on the way to the station (though avoided getting lost), then waited half an hour in Edinburgh for the bus service which is meant to come at least once every 15 minutes on Saturday.
And Raith’s rather excellent tannoy had blared our Beautiful Day each time they scored…