Saints 2-0 Queen of the South

Last updated : 29 October 2005 By Stuart Gillespie
After the 2-1 win over Stranraer in midweek, it was expected that Saints would field the same lineup. Wrong. Andy Millen replaced Mark Reilly, whilst Kevin McGowne replaced Kirk Broadfoot. Strangely, the big defender wasn't even on the bench, and his absence wasn't due to injury either.

Today's game had some strange incidents in it. Saints actually scored goals from corners! The first came in the first half, Simon Lappin producing a good effort that John Potter volleyed home for his first Saints goal, Stewart Kean added the second after a few minutes of the first half, heading Lappin's corner past the helpless Colin Scott to secure the points.

Saints were rarely threatened, Chris Smith having to produce a good save from a Paul Burns effort in the second half. Burns had a few other efforts that were awful throughout the game, whilst former Saint John O'Neill twice went close, once aiming a poor shot straight at Smith and later trundling an effort just past the post.

Saints didn't have too many clear cut chances apart from the ones they scored. John Sutton had a few poor headers, Kean just failed to connect with a cross whilst Billy Mehmet also headed wide after coming off the bench. However, Scott had little to do apart from pick the ball out the net a few times.

A special mention must go to referee Steve Conro who was a joke. Chris Carr flattened Mark Corcoran in the second half and escaped with a warning, whilst a few moments later Kean slipped and fell over, an incident that saw Jim Thomson booked. Nice one ref!

The only worry for Saints was the injury to Ian Maxwell, who had to be replaced by Reid. A few other Saints players picked up knocks, hopefully they'll be fit enough to play in the cup final against Hamilton next week.