Match Day vs Blackpool

Saturday July 17th 1999 by Roving Ross Lafferty

Final Score Blackpool 0 Saints 1 by Roving Ross

From the minute the whistle blew on Monday night I suspected this game/weekend wouldn’t be quite what I had been expecting. When two of my mates pulled out of the planned Blackpool pub crawl on the Thursday I knew it wouldn’t be what I had been expecting.

Gone were the overnight stay and drunken adventures to be replaced by very few drinks of the alcoholic variety and a few hours in the town - half of which was spent watching the most uneventful game of football imaginable.

So uneventful was the game that the best part of the ninety minutes was a scuffle involving six stewards and 100 saints fans. To be fair, I suppose that would take the spotlight away from most games never mind one where neither keeper really had a save to make in the whole of the first half.
Junior Mendes and Steven McGarry were the main culprits for this,both having glorious chances in the first 45 minutes to open the scoring but both failing to hit the target.

Mendes’ opportunity came midway through the half. The Blackpool keeper fumbled in the box, the ball fell to Junior who despite being at an acute angle should have done better than put the ball wide of the goal.

We were made to wait until the stroke of half time for McGarry’s chance. Hugh Murray played a slide rule pass to put McGarry clear but he failed to show his form of Monday night in blasting the ball over the bar with only the keeper to beat.

In between these two chances came the excitement. With the rain pissing down it wasn’t long before one of the large travelling support asked NICELY to get moved to the empty,covered part of the ground.

For some reason ,known only to them ,the stewards refused to bow to the wishes of this saint before another fan in Black and White decided to forget the men in yellow - actually red but yellow sounds better - and move to the dry part of the ground.

Around 100 others soon followed before the rain stopped and Auld Toshie threatened to abandon the game if they didn’t get back to where they had came from (I know,I know he only runs a bus but when your as pished as these guys were you’ll believe anything some bloke in a suit and tie tells you).

The second half - the first half hour anyway - went the same way as the first with virtually no goal mouth action and only the odd moment of humour keeping me awake.

With Tom Brown, a first half substitute for Ian Ross ,playing in midfield you’re always guaranteed some pretty hefty tackles and despite this being a friendly it was no different. One tackle in particular really had to be seen to be believed with Brown flying horizontally through the air,two footed,before taking both the ball and the man - obviously making sure he’s ready for Paul F*nw*ck then.

Steven McGarry was another who’s feet were flying all over the place,not in tackles though just when trying to kick the ball. A routine clearance nearly put Mr.Muscles in hospital when he kicked the ground and did a 360 double pike before falling back to earth with a mighty thud.

With ten minutes left came the piece of action the Saints fans had been waiting for.Junior made up for his previous miss by latching on to a long pass before rifling a 20 yard shot into the keeper’s bottom right hand corner.

Despite a late rally from Blackpool ,which forced substitute keeper Derek Scrimgour into a couple of decent stops ,Saints held on for their second win of the summer.

Could we finally be going places?Only time will tell but for the first time in a good few years I’m feeling confident going into every game,bring on Oxford!

St.Mirren: Roy (Scrimgour), Drew (Rudden), Kerr, Turner, Baltacha, Walker, Murray, Ross (Brown), McGarry, Mendes, Yardley

Sizzling Saint: Not the best of performances but again Scott Walker really shone in defence.What a signing this guy looks to be,a good touch, pace, great passing ability, commanding in the air, etc, etc. Just like Ronnie McQuilter when you think about it.