It didn't take Saints long to score. No, that's not a typo, we really did score, and score first! O'Neill played in Crilly, who could have shot himself but decided to square to Dunn, taking the keeper out of the equation. Not even we could miss this time and, sure enough, Dunn tapped it away to give Saints the lead. The former Stirling pair had combined well.
Not long later it was two! Dunn chased down a lost cause, crossed in and some Brechin fool put the ball past his own keeper whilst under no pressure. Ah, a nice easy afternoon ahead.
Unfortunately, nothing is ever that simple for Saints, and within 10 minutes a Brechin player was unchallenged at a corner and headed past Craig Hinchcliffe. Oh dear.
Saints should have made it three soon after, when Shuggy Murray had an open goal but decided to blaze it into the Caley stand. Oops.
Then, two things happened which totally changed the game. Mark Dempsie went off, being replaced by Captain Chaos, or Kevin McGowne. As if this wasn't bad enough, Brechin lost a s triker in a collision with Hinchcliffe, although they could have had an equaliser as his effort hit the post, and brought on Chris Templeman. Think of someone with Paddy Keogh's build and you get the picture.
Half time and 2-1 Saints, though we were a bit lucky. Andy Millen had been pish in midfield, making a ludicrous passback which Hinchy had no chance with!
Early into the second half and Brechin had a free kick. It was so obvious what would happen. I knew it. My brother knew it. My dad knew it. Sure enough, it was crossed in and, unsurprisingly, Chaos was beaten to the ball by Templeman for the equaliser. Some reports say it was an own goal, which wouldn't surprise me.
Incredilby, it was Saints who got the next goal, when some McGowne-esque defending from Brechin saw one player miss it, and Crilly nip in to smack it past the Brechin goalie. Surely, surely, this time we could hold on.
Nup, though no one was really at fault this time. A corner was cleared to the edge of the box and some on loan Rangers bloke smacked it into the top corner. A racking goal, and I got a great view of it from the RKC Stand!
3-3 it finished then, though both sides had chances to win it. Saints should have had a penalty when Crilly was fouled in the box, and later on Dunn was as well, but as he was pushed into the goalie it clearly wasn't a foul. Kirk Broadfoot should have scored in the final few minutes but messed up.
At one point Millen made a good tackle, and got penalised. There then ensued a war of words between him and Brechin boss Dick Campbell, before Gus intervened. God knows what happened.
The ref was terrible, as were conditions, but we can't blame them for twice blowing the lead. We've failed to beat Brechin all season, the only team to do so. That's simply not good enough, and at this rate relegation is a possibility. Ayr drew so the gap is the same.
Next week it's off to Broadwood to face league leaders Clyde. Captain Chaos up against Paddy Keogh isn't worth thinking about.