Before the game we got to witness some police stupidity. Seats at each end of the stand were taped off not to be used. Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to have one of the turnstyles open which lead directly to the taped off seats. Good one. Needless to say, with the large Saints travelling support, there came a time when people walked over the tape and into seats. Fair enough, there wasn't enough space. The police decided this wasn't on and tried telling everyone to go and sit in the empty ones and twos which were around the stand. Wonderful idea. So everyone who had sat in this taped off section just stood at the front of the seats, with no intention of moving. Eventually common sense prevailed and people were allowed to use the seats.
Anyway, within minutes of the game starting Clyde should have had a penalty. The ball bounced through into the Saints box and for some reason Ludo stayed on his line. The Clyde player was flattened but for some strange reason no penalty was given. This was to be the first of many farcical refereeing decisions.
Both sides created some good chances, with Clyde possibly having the better of it. Saints best chance came from Brian McGinty who, when within shooting range, took a terrible touch and his shot was easily saved. What was worrying was when Clyde gained corners they had several players at the edge of the box unmarked.
Around the 25 minute mark Saints went in front. Junior Mendes was sent running down the right, and despite playing the ball too far in front of him still got to it before the Clyde goalkeeper. Junior shot, and despite the attempted save by the Clyde goalie it still went in, for Junior's first goal of his second spell with Saints.
Within 5 minutes it was 2-0, this time Junior taking the mickey out of the Clyde players down the left before firing in a shot. It was parried out as far as Martin Cameron, who made a right mess of his shot. Instead of having a stab at it, he did the sensible thing and played it to Junior who fired it in for 2-0.
Just minutes later the Clyde goalie Bryn Halliwell should have been sent off after bringing Cameron down when the striker had flicked it past him. Clyde then proceeded to dominate the remainder of the second half, and it seemd a matter of time until a goal came.
At half time Clyde made a few subs, including the introduction of Pat Keogh. They continued to dominate and it was no surprise when they pulled one back, Keogh scoring from close range. A hint of offside perhaps but there was nothing Ludo could do about it, having been in immense form until then.
Clyde continued to dominate the match and Keogh notched a second with 11 minutes left. Before then Clyde hit the woodwork and had a goal disallowed for offside. The Clyde players decided they'd had enough of Junior and tried hacking lumps out of him, two receiving bookings cards. Gerhard Fellner was in outstanding form, but picked up a booking for obstruction, while a decent looking Andy Dow was replaced by David Lowing due to injury. Also, Paul Rudden replaced Ricky Robb.
Keogh's second had been coming and it was no surprise when it went in. After that it was more end to end stuff, with both Cameron and Sergei Baltacha squandering good chances. For the last few minutes Cameron was replaced by Yardley, after he'd received a bit of unfair abuse. Saints should have had a penalty before this when one of our players was flattened in the box.
With just seconds left on the clock, Mendes cut inside a Clyde player and set himself up with a great chance. Unlike some of his previous chances which he'd been unlucky with, he made no mistake this time and sent the sizable travelling support into hysterics as he completed his hat trick. I'd have taken a draw after the second half performance but this was brilliant! Just seconds after the kick off the referee blew for full time and Saints had somehow emerged with three points, when one was looking good.
A big round of applause to Junior today who was outstanding, and looked like scoring every time he went up the park. The hat trick was just rewards, and after the game he shoved the match ball down the back of his shorts. Hmmm.
Everyone else performed well today, with standouts being Ludo Roy and Gerhard Fellner. Here's hoping we can sign Fellner on a longer deal as he's only here for a month.