It's hard to say whether this was a point earned or two dropped. At times the defending was shocking and we didn't start the match properly, but after equalising we improved a bit, went in front and then produced more shocking defending. And some more. Then we scored from a set-piece. All very strange!
Craig Dargo and Steven Thomson had good first halfs but they were blown away by Jure Travner, who was exceptional in the second half. Quite why he didn't start is a bit of a mystery.
The Saints team was predictable. The suspended Jim Goodwin out, Hugh Murray in. No return for Travner, meaning we once again had a back four of centre halfs. The only adjustments were on the bench as mystery men Sean Lynch and Jamie McCluskey were included. Still, this did mean Craig Dargo and Michael Higdon remained up front with Paul McGowan in midfield. There was no Ross Tokely for Caley Thistle due to suspension, but there was Chris Innes. The inclusions of Adam Rooney, Jonny Hayes and Richie Foran spelled danger straight from the start.
It was an impressively poor start, Lee Mair picking up from where he left off last week by failing to win headers against his man. Hayes had a shot saved after less than 20 seconds before the defence left a cross from Doran that picked out near namesake Foran, but he failed to get any direction on it from close range and Paul Gallacher saved comfortably.
As if that wasn't bad enough, no one bothered to try to clear a Ryan Esson free-kick after five minutes, allowing it to bounce through for Rooney to lift the ball over Gallacher and put Caley Thistle in front. Quite simply a disgraceful start to the game, capped off by giving Caley Thistle's keeper an assist.
There was hardly anything by way of a response from Saints. Once again the approach seemed to be to hammer the ball forward and hope for the best - despite the fact Innes and Chris Hogg are far better in te air than they are on the ground. Eventually we had a shot - but I could have saved David van Zanten's shot, so it was no surprise to see Esson hold it.
But help was at hand as midway through the half Danny Lennon and John Potter had a chat. Don't laugh - because whatever they talked about almost worked as Vanzy passed to Steven Thomson, who saw his shot tipped away. However, the ball was still lose and fell perfectly for Shuggy, only for him to somehow hit the post from a few yards out.
The replacement of the injured Hayes with Eric Odhiambo seemed to signal the start of an utterly crazy spell. As Dargo darted to go into the box he btried to pass David Proctor, failed, tried again and went down under a challenge. That was enough to convince referee Bobby Madden that there had been a foul and he gave a penalty, which Higdon fired home. 1-1.
Then Dargo further endeared himself to his former supporters by working hard to gain the space needed to lay the ball off to Thomson, who promptly rattled it into the net from 20 yards. A certain former TV pundit would no doubt have told Thomson to “Take a bow, son” and it gave Saints a rather undeserved lead. 2-1.
This was too good a spell to be a Saints fan and, unsurprisingly, within five minutes we were all tied up again. Darren McGregor lost possession out wide and Lee Cox was able to deliver a cross. Yet again the defence was caught flat footed and there was even time for Foran to produce a fresh air shot before Doran (different player, not a typo) arrived to prod home the equaliser. 2-2. Phew!
McGowan and Higdon both had goes at restoring the lead with efforts that would have matched Thomson's in the quality stakes, but neither found their luck was in. It's very rare that we get a penalty so it was no surprise that our second shout of the afternoon saw McGowan booked when he basically fell over with Hogg somewhere nearby. Proof that the fourth officials just make up stoppage time arrived when, in a half with four goals and one substitution, just one minute was added. In the final seconds Innes arrived at the backpost to meet a Doran free-kick but put it wide. You wouldn't have thought it was scientifically possible for a back four of centre-halfs to deal with crosses quite this badly.
Perhaps in a bid to solve this, Travner replaced Mair at half-time and we switched to a back three. Result? Cox firing in a cross that found Rooney and he volleyed wide. Hmm. What Travner lacks defensively, he makes up with his crossing and when his corner picked out McGregor, he headed it against the bar before Foran got all confused and headed it off the post! Further proof that the officials don't have a clue came when the North Bank linesman waited for the referee to signal it was a goal kick before confidently agreeing.
We had improved greatly since the break, Travner and McGowan doing superbly well down the left. However, it was getting rather predictable so we switched it to the right - and won a free-kick when Doran was booked for blatantly tugging Vanzy. Travner tried his luck with the set-piece, but it was cleared by Hogg.
Then, not for the first time this afternoon, it all went wrong. As we pushed for a third, Caley Thistle were able to break and Foran seemed to foul McGregor before playing the ball through to Rooney. John Potter was miles away from him so the former Stoke striker had all the time in the world to make his way towards goal before slipping the ball past Gallacher to put Caley Thistle back in front. It was shocking defending and Potter was booed by his own fans next time he touched the ball. Next time it happened, he seemed to snap back.
He had one of his fellow defenders to thank for digging him out of that hole as, with 17 minutes left Travner produced a perfect corner and McGregor got up to thump it into the net. No woodwork was there to deny him this time and we were all square yet again.
A rare substitute's appearance for Sean Lynch came along with eight minutes left as he replaced Murray, who must have been knackered after his first start for months. Like penalty awards, we rarely get two set-piece goals in a game - but we didn't half come close with four minutes left. Again Travner picked out McGregor with a corner, but this time his effort was superbly kept out by Esson.
All that was left was for Dargo to pick up his obligatory petulant booking for kicking at someone, although this time he was perhaps justified considering he'd been denied a blatant free-kick. Bizarrely, Doran decided to shove Dargo right in front of the referee and then ran away in a bid to avoid a second booking. It worked - and the clueness of the officials was highlighted once again when two goals and two subs is also only worth one minute of injury time.
So, a rather exciting afternoon but also frustrating. To give away such basic goals is unacceptable and to get in front only to lose the lead so quickly is annoying. However, after a slow start we showed a bit of character and on another day we could have won.
Plenty to work on over the next week then, but also some positives - for once.
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