Airdrie  (H)  Bells League Championship - Saturday 8 January 2000  Match report by Roving Ross Lafferty Final Score   Saints  3     Airdrie 1 So often this season in the absence of Barry Lavety have St.Mirren lacked that all important killer touch in front of goal. Yesterday, however, with Lavety sitting out the second of a two game suspension, Junior Mendes and Steven McGarry at long last fulfilled their potential and as they both exhibited the full extent of their ability. Throughout the entire ninety minutes McGarry not only worked hard, linked the play well and, eventually, found the net but he also provided Saints with an additional aerial target against Airdrie’s tall defence. Mendes, on the other hand, simply did what is expected of him. It sounds harsh to sum up such an excellent performance in such a dismissive way but it’s true, Junior for once played to his full capability. Never was he scared to run at defenders, not once did he shy away from having a shot at goal - much to Saints’ benefit - and every chance that he had to use his blistering pace was seized upon. For the past three and a half years Saints fans have been frustrated at the former Chelsea striker’s amazing inability to perform consistently but at the same time it’s games like this that have endeared him to the fans. His first goal, after only two minutes, was a typical Junior strike with McGarry evading a trio of Airdrie challenges before laying the ball into his path down the left. From there, Mendes proceeded to sprint across the edge of the box before curling a low shot from 20 yards into the bottom right hand corner. It was reminiscent of his strike against the visitors earlier on in the season with Saints, on that day, going on to win by a five goal margin. It was clear that the crowd were hoping for a repeat of that days events but only six minutes later these thoughts disappeared when Airdrie levelled the scores. A throw in on the right found it’s way to Barry McLaughlin who attempted to clear the ball up the park. Trigger’s attempted clearance was miskicked wildly into the box and Alex Neil climbed above Iain Nicolson at the back post to loop a header over Derek Scrimgour and into the net. From there on, as with M*rt*n last week, Airdrie looked content with a draw and Saints struggled to break them down for the remainder of the first half with only Tom Brown, when he played a one-two on the edge of the box with McGarry before sending an angled drive narrowly wide, coming close. Only six minutes after the break though Mendes grabbed his second to restore the lead. A long pass from defence found Mark Yardley at halfway and his precision pass sent Junior racing clear to the left of the goal. For a moment it looked as if he had wasted his chance and taken the ball too far wide but on this form he was never going to miss as he somehow managed to squeeze a left-foot shot between Scott Thomson and the near post. Within a minute, Airdrie almost equalised for a second time but Eddie Forrest’s deflected free-kick was blocked well by the fans new target of abuse, Derek Scrimgour. With 74 minutes went and with Mendes replaced by Sergei Baltacha it was now McGarry’s turn to make the majority of the 3,664 crowd happy when the skies were grey (I know, poor stuff indeed). Tom Brown, who was outstanding throughout, was the creator this time when his tremendous reverse pass sent McGarry clear to score with a delicate chip over the oncoming ‘keeper. With a little more luck he could quite easily have added to that goal when first of all he half-volleyed a Scott Walker knock-down from 15 yards against the underside of the bar and then with time fast running out he found himself clear on goal only to be cynically tugged back by a mystery Airdrie defender who amazingly escaped punishment. St.Mirren: Scrimgour, Nicolson, Ross, Turner, McLaughlin, Walker, Murray, Brown, McGarry (Robinson), Mendes (Baltacha), Yardley  Sub not used: Rudden Airdrie: Thomson, Boyce, McCann, Jack, Forrest, Stewart, Moore, Johnston, Ingram, Taylor, Neil Sizzling Saint: Although Tom Brown and Tommy Turner were also outstanding my report will have made it clear that in my eyes two individuals stood out from the rest. Steven McGarry’s overall play was perhaps the better of the two but for the sheer class of his two strikes Junior Mendes is this week’s Sizzling Saint.