Saints 1-4 Clyde

Last updated : 09 November 2002 By Stuart Gillespie

The reported inury problems weren't as bad as they seemed, with Ricky Robb being fit and Paul Rudden being on the bench. Kirk Broadfoot made his second St. Mirrens tart, and the lineup looked fairly good. What seemed even better was Paddy Keogh was missing from the Clyde lineup.

The first half was a pretty open affair, with Saints just edging it. Both sides had numerous chances, and the Clyde strikers will be wondering how they missed some of them, with several shots blazing over the bar. The Clyde fans didn't seem to like Junior Mendes (probably because of his last minute winner at Broadwood) every time he got the ball, and I wonder if this affected his game as he was rank all afternoon.

Saints had a few chances of their own through Martin Cameron and Brian McGinty, but Mendes' reluctance to pass when he got up front was infuriating. There were numerous occasions he could have played to a Saints man in a better position, but squandered the opportunity. Fortunately we didn't need to rely on Mendes for a goal, as Ricky Gillies somehow managed to hit a decent corner which Ricky Robb got his head onto for 1-0 Saints. It was Robb's second Saints goal, and his second in three matches.

The game continued to swing from end to end, with Saints probably enjoying the better of it. Martin ameron squandered a golden opportunity to make it 2-0, so we had to make do with 1-0 at half time. Saints were actually leading a match without going behind! The first half also saw some bizarre refereeing decisions from Tom Brown (who once sent off Saints player Tom Brown for, I assume, having the same name, despite the fact the ref is about a foot taller) and his assistants, including giving Saints a goal kick when it clearly came off a Saints defender's head. What was really funny was a Clyde player ran to get the ball, after retrieiving it looked up and realised it wasn't a corner, so chucked the ball back!

Despite a few players struggling, most notably Gillies, the Saints lineup remained unchanged at half time. Clyde came out fired up and it was once again the heorics of Saints goalkeeper Ludovic Roy which kept the goal down, as well as some last gasp clearances from Robb and Broadfoot among others. On one of Saints few attacks a superb move involving McGinty, Cameron and Gillies brought out a fantastic save from Clyde goalie Bryn Halliwell, somehow managing to tip the ball over the bar. The resulting corner led to the stranges refereeing decision I've seen for a while, which cost Saints some points and could well cost John Coughlin the managers job.

After another woeful Saints corner, this time from Simon Lappin, Clyde were attacing when David Lowing put in a fantastic tackle on a Clyde player, clearly winning the ball. I think the linesman might even have signalled for a Clyde throw in, showing he won the ball! However Muppet Brown had other ideas, deciding it was a free kick. Obviously winning the ball off a Clyde player was a free kick offence. Clyde played the ball down the wing, the pass across to the edge of the box was deflected into the path of Andy Millen who hit a fantastic strike to bring Clyde level.

At this point Saints didn't give up, coming close through Simon Lappin after some good build up play. Sadly that was the last real chance Saints had as Clyde dominated the remainder of the game, even more than before the equaliser.

Their second goal came in similar fashion to the first, except the ball was played to about the edge of the 6 yard box. Some shocking defending led to Colin Nish, on loan from Dunfermline, nipping in and putting Clyde ahead from close range.

It's at this point that managers would look to the bench for inspiration, usually in the shape of a striker. Sadly, with a bench of Jamie Dunbar (midfielder) Andy Dow (defender/midfielder) Kris Robertson (goalkeeper) Chris Kerr ( defender) and Paul Rudden (defender). We didn't have one. Coughlin came up with the relatively bright idea of taking off the injured Cameron for Dunbar, moving McGinty up to join Mendes, and also replacing Guy with Dow.

It was some "fantastic" work from Dow which led to Jack Ross scoring a screamer for 3-1. After some nice build up play, Dow stood beside the Clyde captain as he fired in the third goal. I've not made up my mind about Dow yet; is he Casper the Friendly Ghost, the Invisible Man, or Invisible Taff from the quality cartoons at http://www.htfc-world.com ? I'm tempted to run a poll on this and see what everyone else thinks.

Since Clyde went ahead the heads had dropped totally, especially from the younger players such as Robb and Broadfoot. We almost lost Ludo for the vital Abroath game after he handled the ball outside the box. Fortunately, with the ref having a stinker, he decided not to send him off.

Clyde bagged their fourth when Nish capitalised on someone giving the ball away. By this time we'd replaced the ineffective Mendes with Kerr. Shortly after it was full time and we could all go home, in the bad knowledge we are just 4 points clear of a relegation spot. We must beat Arbroath next week.

Gillies, Cameron and Roy get passmarks, what the hell has happened to Ross and McGinty this season god knows. Mendes was crap all game, and Dow was his usual self. The youngsters performed well in the first half, before the heads dropped in the second.

As for John Coughlin? Well, we keep hearing about how the players want him to get the job yet the performances the last two weeks have been shocking. If they are so desperate for him to get the job, why the hell aren't they performing? The guy deserved a chance, however things don't seem to be improving, and whilst I'm wondering if it's down to the players, Coughlin appears to be using different ones to Hendrie (for example the younger players over duds like Baltacha, Austrian trialists, Kerr and Dow). The bottom line is Coughlin has had his chance, there hasn't been an improvement, and it's time for a totally new management team.