Fortunately Scotland's top ref (aye right) Hugh Dallas was on the spot straight away to dish out a red card in one of the few decisions he had managed to get right all day. As MacDonald took half an hour to get off the pitch, Millen received treatment whilst his team mates went to extract retribution. When Millen was up on his feet again he tried to chase MacDonald down the tunnel before being stopped. The incident was the last action of the match, as Dallas bottled out of restarting the game and blew for time up.
Millen stayed on the pitch slightly longer than everyone else to try and regain his compsure and not do anything he regretted. As he walked off the pitch the St. Johnstone manager, John Connolly, tried to do something. Whether it was apologise or moan I'm not quite sure, but Millen and the Saints staff weren't too impressed. The fact that there doesn't seem to have been any incidents in the tunnel is remarkable.
If I was Andy Millen I'd be all for getting MacDonald charged. It was a disgusting tackle with no intention over than to injury Millen as much as possible. Chances of the SFA actually doing something about it? Same as the chances of Scotsport showing it tomorrow.
It wasn't the first controversial moment in the match. Midway through the second half, Kirk Broadfoot had managed to win the ball from Ryan McCann, leaving the St. Johnstone player in a heap, off the pitch, as a result. Quite interesting considering he hadn't made contact with him. Broadfoot was about to be booked before Mark Reilly and Stewart Kean tried to alert the useless Hugh Dallas to the fact that McCann was at it. They were booked, and Broadfoot somehow escaped. Even more amazingly, Dallas' yellow card seems to have mystical powers as after it was shown, McCann sprung to his feet and ran around without needing treatment. Dallas had a word with him, god knows what about, but took no action. Reilly should probably have been booked for protesting, but there were some St. Johnstone players who avoided punishment.
Dallas was awful all afternoon, often preventing teams from using the advantage rule and making some bizarre throw in and corner decisions. And he's Scotland's best.
Anyway, on to the game. Saints were poor in the first half, showing little creativity up front. The Fake's scored with their first real chance, Kevin McGowne playing MacDonald onside and Kirk Broadfoot giving him the space to finish past Hinchcliffe. MacDonald was showing signs of being the new Keigan Parker, wearing gay looking gloves and acting like a ned. He just needs a silly haircut and he's all set. MacDonald fouled all afternoon but no punishment was forthcoming until his assault. Had he been booked earlier then we might have been spared his disgusting challenge.
Saints best chance of the first half came through John O'Neill, who dragged an effort just wide shortly after the opener. Apart from that it was poor.
The second half started much more brightly, Saints drawing level early on with a Hugh Murray corner being drilled home by Broadfoot. Wow, Saints scoring from a corner. What next? Brian McGinty was removed soon after, thankfully, and whilst Saints had more possession than the Fake Saints, there were few chances and they weren't taken.
At the other end the Fakes had a few chances to win, but Craig Hinchcliffe made some superb saves. He must get a new contract this week.
A draw was probably fair, but the disgraceful antics of MacDonald ended the game on a sour note. We must improve if we don't want Hibs to hammer us next week.