Far from it, as things turned out. Things went wrong from the very first game, when Queens Park, thats a third division amateur side, strolled to a 2-0 lead at Love Street in the diddy cup. We managed to turn things around after a great second half performance, winning 3-2 in extra time. Lesson learnt? No chance!
We started off the league campaign with two draws against Raith and St. Johnstone, the latter being frustrating as the only time we looked good was in the short spell we were behind. We followed that up with a 2-0 defeat to Ross County, including a stunning own goal from Saints youngster Scott Gemmill.
The first league win was just around the corner though. By this stage we were out of the diddy cup, having beaten Berwick 2-1 but the cheats of Raith beating us 3-2 in the quarter finals. Clyde was next up, and the prodigal son was on the bench. He arrived just after Saints equalised, but new signing Allan Russell stole the show with a double in a 2-1 win, proven he not only looked like David Beckham, he could play a bit as well.
That was as good as it got for quite a while. The fake Saints put us out of the league cup a week later, and we followed this up with a 1-1 draw away at Brechin. Brechin hadn't scored a point all season, so it was inevitable. The bad results continued with a 2-1 defeat at home to Queen of the South and the traditional defeat in Inverness, though only 2-0 rather than four.
A 0-0 draw at home to Falkirk was next, though we had Craig Hinchcliffe to thank as he saved a penalty. Saints next game saw a bit of a shock. We won! Ayr were defeated 2-0 at Somerset, Kirk Broadfoot scoring twice. Sadly we had to leave it at one in a row, as St. Johnstone beat us the following week. We did pick ourselves up after that though, with a 2-1 win at home to Raith's cheats, thanks to a controversial late goal from Ricky Gillies. One of the Raith asulym seekers faked injury, and we didn't give the ball back. Seems fair.
That was the last win, and indeed the last goal, under John Coughlin. Brechin drew with us again the following week, despite being down to ten men. For me he should have walked then. If we couldn't beat a team as bad as Brechin, especially with ten men, at home, we wouldn't beat anyone. The next week saw Clyde beat us 2-0, going on 22-0, at Broadwood, before Caley Thistle came calling at Love Street.
In September 2002 they beat us 4-0 to finish off Tom Hendrie, and in November 2003 they did the same to finish off John Coughlin. A Celtic fan I know tries to tell me that their players deliberately lost 3-1 to Caley in 2000 to finish John Barnes. You have to wonder if thats what the Saints players did. With increasing pressure on Coughlin's head, they would know a bad result would finish him. It was a bad day all round, as Engerland had jammily won the egg chasing world cup that morning.
On Tuesday it was all over. Coughlin was out, and based on his record in 02/03 he should never have been in. Assistant manager Gus MacPherson was caretaker and, with the exact same players, pulled a 2-1 away win at Queen of the South out of the bag, and followed that up with a 3-2 win over Ayr at Love Street, thanks to some great free kicks and a last minute winner. Former Saint Ludovic Roy in the Ayr goal got slagged, and managed to get the Saints fans chanting his name and the Ayr fans booing!
After a decent 0-0 draw away at Falkirk the following week, the board decided enough was enough and made Gus the permanent manager. The next game against Raith was postponed, so Ross County at home was his first proper game, with new assistant manager Andy Millen playing. Despite a goal form Ricky Gillies in the first half, a decent Saints performance was ruined by poor defending as 10 man County grabbed a late equaliser for a 1-1 draw. Things were even worse the following week when Clyde took a 3-2 victory, Saints having clawed things back twice thanks to first Saints goals from Robert Dunn and Millen. We weren't helped that LAurie Ellis broke his leg and effectively finished his season.
The following week saw Saints first ever game against Airdrie United in the cup, which we won 2-0 thanks to Basher's only goal of the season and a late one from David McKenna. Any high from this was lost the week after when we lost 2-0 away to Brechin, the first time we'd lost to them in the club's history. Fortunately the week after we destroyed Queen of the South 3-1, with John O'Neill getting a double against his former club. It was to be the last win for a while.
A 1-1 draw away to Caley was a phenomenal result, and should have been a win but for a late equaliser. They popped us out of the cup the following week thanks to some dodgy refereeing after a great Saints performance, and the following week Shuggy Murray got his first goal in four years in a 1-1 draw with Falkirk.
The next three games saw away defeats with Ayr, Raith and Ross County, plunging us back in the relegation battle. No goals were scored by Saints. We followed this up with four draws, against the fake Saints, Brechin, Clyde and Caley. Shuggy scored against the fakes, Dunn, Crilly and a funny own goal saw us lead Brechin twice, whilst Allan Russell turned it on against Clyde once more, crossing for a stunning Simon Lappin volley and then scoring one himself. However, we just couldn't get a win, and Queen of the South beat us 1-0 away.
By this stage we were only six points above the drop zone, and we hadn't won in three months. Ayr were next at Love Street, the team second bottom, so a win was a must. Despite being reduced to ten men, Ayr went ahead with ten minutes remaining. As we pushed for a goal, Eddie Annand, back after injury and Allan Russell, who had both missed sitters, were replaced with Barry Lavety and Brian McGinty. The fun really started now, as Saints managed to find a goal hero in an unlikely form. Right back David van Zanten! He cracked hom the equaliser for his first Saints goal, before McGinty put us 2-1 up. van Zanten got his second and Saints third, before an Ayr defender turned home a Lappin cross. Four goals in the space of twenty minutes! 4-1 and relative safety.
It did, however, take us too long to secure the points. We lost to Falkirk the next week, and could only struggle to a draw with Raith Rovers. Fortunately Ayr only drew with St. Johnstone, so we were safe.
With no pressure on, Saints romped to two easy victorys, winning in Perth for the first time in 12 years thanks to a Brian McGinty hat trick, then beating Ross County 2-0 at Love Street with Kevin McGowne scoring the worst header ever and McGinty notching another. The positive thing about that match was the performance of the younger players, who'd been given starts. In particular, left winger Ryan McCay was outstanding.
There's no point picking out individuals for criticism in a review of the year, as most of them performed poorly throughout the season. The only real exception is Craig Hinchcliffe, if it hadn't been for his displays we'd have been down. The defence improved considerably over the past year, however we had one of the worst goals for tallys in Scotland, so it's obvious what needs to be sorted.
We've already got a new striker for next season so it will, hopefully, be an improvement in our last year at Love Street. As long as it isn't like the last three years I'll be happy.