Perhaps helped by the two strikers, Saints were a lot more attacking throughout the match. Mehmet had a good chance blocked by Gary Mason (yes, that's the Gary Mason that plays for St. Mirren), and Franco Miranda headed wide.
Whenever Gretna went forward - usually as a result of some schoolboy mistake from Saints - it was their Uruguayan midfielder Fabian Yantorno who was doing most of the work. Admittedly, that only meant a few poor free kicks, one which was from miles out. Someone's been spending too much time watching Youtube methinks.
Saints made their dominance pay off ten minutes before the break with a well worked goal. Burke found Mason, who played a great ball to Miranda and his superb first time cross was prodded home by Mehmet from close in. Mehmet's second of the season makes him our joint highest scorer (yes, we are that bad at present!).
After the break, it was more of the same. Burke should have added a second after good work by Hugh Murray, but his shot went just wide. He was later replaced by Kean, who forced Greg Fleming into a good save when he got onto the end of Mehmet's cross. Gretna cleared the ball straight to David van Zanten, who seemed to think he was actually a right footed John Arne Riise as he hammered in a shot from 30 yards that rattled the bar!
It looked to be game over ten minutes from the end. Kean's shot was saved by Fleming, but sub Stephen O'Donnell tapped home the rebound. Except the flag was up. O'Donnell was allegedly offside, although it will be interesting to see the replays.
In the last few minutes things went a bit mad at the other end of the pitch. First, Craig Barr was sent off for a shocking tackle on Will Haining. Barr had already been booked, but chances are he'd have been sent off even if he hadn't. Fortunately Haining was OK to continue.
Saints decided that 11 v 10 wasn't very sporting and did their best to gift Gretna a point. Fleming came up for a free kick before Alan Jenkins forced a corner with a close range shot he took ages over. Jenkins swung the ball in and a massive scramble ensued before the referee decided that someone had gone near Chris Smith and he gave a free kick. Fortunately, he then blew for full time to seal Saints first win since August.
This was a much needed three points and it was a reasonable performance as well. A few more goals would have been nice but we can't have everything!
Next up his Hibs - who lost for the first time today. Oh dear.