| For the final away Saturday trip of the season the small band of Saints fans saw a few changes in the line-up from the squad which drew with Dunfermline Athletic the previous week.
Kevin Cuthbert was given an outing in goal – his first in the league this season – and although Steven Milne was stripped, his battle with gastric flu this week saw him having to be content with a place on the bench. Steven Anderson took his place with Gary Irvine moving into a right midfield slot. Long-term injury victim Martin Hardie was on the bench and Rocco Quinn also took a substitutes jersey in place of the departed Barry Wilson.
There was a further change by the time the teams lined up for the start – Jody Morris had looked set to start and had taken part in the warm up but was posted missing at the kick off with Kevin Moon taking his place.
It took no time at all for the home side to settle their table-top nerves when they opened the scoring in only the 5th minute. Villain of the piece was Goran Stanic who was wildly inaccurate with a pass back across the face of goal to Cuthbert and the recalled keeper was unable to prevent the corner. However, the unfortunate defender could not have anticipated that his error would lead to a goal direct from the corner kick – Tony Stevenson swerving the ball over the head of everyone and into the far corner of the net.
Kevin Rutkiewicz tried his luck from long range but was well off target while Cuthbert had to get down quickly to save from David Graham but for the most part it was one-way traffic as the home side knocked the ball around on their plastic pitch with a degree of comfort although they didn’t create many goal scoring chances.
By the half hour mark the earlier sunshine had given way to a heavy sleet and hail shower but Kevin Cuthbert had no problem keeping himself warm as he was the busier of the two keepers in the 15 minutes before the interval. He was responsible for a moment of panic in the Saints rearguard in 36 minutes when he came all the way to the edge of his box to try and get a fist on a free kick but was never near the ball and the resultant Accies shot had to be cleared away from goal by Stanic.
Cuthbert then reacted well to beat away a close-range header from a corner kick before moments later watching with relief as former Saint Simon Mensing contrived to miss a great chance to make it 2-0 when, from a free kick on the right, he headed the ball into the ground and over the bar from six yards.
The closest Saints came to a goal in that first half – and as it transpired the whole 90 minutes – was on the stroke of half-time when Steven Anderson prodded the ball just the wrong side of the post from three yards after a Sheerin free kick had been pushed back into the danger area by Allan McManus and Rutkiewicz had headed goalwards.
The start of the second half saw the immediate introduction of Martin Hardie for McManus with Anderson moving to partner Rutkiewicz in the middle of the back four and Gary Irvine taking up a more accustomed right back role but within eleven minutes of the re-start it was 2-0 to the home side.
A corner from the right was headed away by Peter MacDonald at the expense of another corner and when the ball came in from the opposite side David Elebert headed goalwards unchallenged. Goran Stanic did appear to be standing on the wrong side of the goal line when he headed the ball away but whether the ball was fully over the line looked open to debate. Certainly the assistant referee gave the goal immediately.
Steven Milne and Rocco Quinn were introduced to the proceedings in a bid to get back into the game and it was the loan-Celtic player who was to have the more noteworthy involvement. In 75 minutes he sent in two successive long-range efforts the first of which was blocked and second of which went over the bar but within minutes he was clutching his hamstring and although he soldiered on for a while he had to admit defeat with eight minutes remaining and limp into the dugout, leaving Saints with only ten men.
In truth, it mattered little for an out-of-sorts St Johnstone side who, with the exception of a couple of shots on goal in injury time, didn’t trouble Accies goalkeeper Tomas Cerny all afternoon and who were out-muscled in too many challenges for second balls throughout the game.
Derek McInnes will be glad to have his side back on grass one more time next Saturday against Morton before the Scottish Cup semi-final takes place in a fortnight and he will be disappointed that such a good performance last week against Dunfermline (despite the lack of a win) was followed by such a poor showing in this one.
Website Man of the Match: A number of below-par performances today but captain KEVIN RUTKIEWICZ wasn’t among them.
SAINTS: Cuthbert, Irvine, Stanic, Anderson, Rutkiewicz, McManus (Hardie), MacDonald (Milne), Moon (Quinn), Jackson, Craig, Sheerin.
Subs not used: Weatherston, Main
ACCIES: Cerny, Stevenson (Gilhaney), Easton, Mensing, Elebert, McLaughlin, Graham (Gibson), McArthur, Offiong (Waterworth), Neil, McCarthy.
Subs not used: Taylor, Potter
Att: 1,825
Allan McManus rises above Richard Offiong |
Chaos in the Saints defence as Stevenson's corner flies directly into the goal |
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