Parscelona 4 Sizzling Saints 3

11 September 1999

Match Report

Sizzling Saints journey got off to a bad start with the news that one of the car convoy had broken down near Bellshill.  Iain Cochrane, Brian & Chris McCorry would miss the game! 

After the world cup type handshake Karin (Gerry Creaney's Jock Strap) was asked to run the line and the the game kicked off in time with the remaining Saints confident of a win on their debut.  However, it was Parscelona who opened the scoring in 18 minutes when a Grant Cotter shot beat Kenny 'Gloves'  Morrison in the Sizzling Saints goal. The score only remained at one-nil for six minutes.

Tony Tiger' tried to find his way into the box, and was fouled just outside it by Johnnie MacDougall. Having retained the ball, referee Keith Rapley allowed the advantage but when the tiger was again fouled in the box by Ally Mooney the ref had no choice but to award a penalty. Mark Logue claimed Sizzling Saints first competitive goal by putting the ball just out of the reach of Ronz in the Pars goal and one-one it stayed until half time.

Sizzling Saints started the second half as the stronger team, and put the Pars defence under intense pressure. Claims for a second Sizzling Saints penalty were amazingly waved away by the ref after the tiger was again up-ended in the box following a blatant foul from Ronz. However, the goal came soon enough.

With 62 minutes on the clock (halves were 40 minutes each way), the Pars defence were split wide open by a through ball. Claiming offside against Tony Tiger who was running back, they were caught out by Mark Logue who, despite protestations to the contrary from a few Pars players, was in his own half when the ball was played.  Mark Logue   found himself one-on-one with Ronz and put it away with some style to give Sizzling Saints the lead.

Pars tried to get back into it but of the few shots which went on target their closest effort came from a Fraser Clark shot which was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Kenny Morrison.

Two minutes after Sizzling Saints had taken the lead, they strengthened their position courtesy of some more poor defending from Parscelona. Davie Galloway failed to clear a cross, which ended up at the back post. As Pars' Chris Ozog found himself trying to mark two men (a situation which cost Parscelona dearly against Hibs the week before) he could nothing to stop Mark Logue completing his hat trick by slotting away from close range.

Parscelona then got lucky when the breeze at their backs turned into a light gale, making it more difficult for Saints to mount an attack, and spurring Parscelona on to an inevitable fight-back, starting just two minutes after going two goals down.

In similar circumstances to Saints' second goal, a through ball caused all sorts of difficulty, this time for the Saints' defence. Ali McLeod found himself with all the time in the world to run in at Kenny Morrison but at as the ball sat up just right he tried a long range shot instead. The ball swerved and dipped, giving the keeper no chance.

Parscelona continued to fight back and managed to win the ball straight from Saints' kick-off when Tony Tiger gave the ball away needlessly.  When Colin McKean finally found enough space to shoot he did so, and it was three-all.

With 8 minutes remaining Sizzling Saints were gutted when  an Ali McLeod cross from the right made its way through a huddle of players and eventually dropped in front of Pars' Ally Mooney who made little mistake in hammering it home from a few yards out.

As Saints went all out for an equaliser a disputed offside decision (from linesperson Karin!!) after Ben Fica headed on a through ball to Mark Logue robbed Saints of what would have been a deserved draw. 

The Pars may claim some dodgy defending for the Saints' goals however they still had to be put away and Mark Logue did with some style.  A good all round performance from Sizzling Saints whose squad will be further strengthened next game by the addition of the Bellshill breakdown mob. Parscelona put in a good performance but Sizzling Saints will feel that this game was there for the taking.

Putting in a good shift for Sizzling Saints were Anthony McIver, Kevin the Glenburn Saint, Kenny Kelly and of course hat trick hero Mark Logue. However the tigers man of the match award goes to Brian McNelis for an impeccable display at sweeper.

Sizzling Saints Squad (in no particular order)

Harpo, Tony 'B&W' Tiger, Kenny 'Gloves' Morrison, Brian McNelis, Mark Logue, Sean Ritchie, Ben Fica (Alan), Anthony McIver, 'Roving' Ross Lafferty, Glenburn Saint (Kevin), Bobby Farmer, Kenny Kelly, Mark Gallacher, Jim 'Jimbo' Reid

Parselona Squad

A. Mooney, F. Clark, J. MacDougall, C. Ozog, A. Maxwell, C. Wilson, G. Cotter, K. Mackie, A. McLeod, N. Holland, Alex Mercer, Alasdair Mercer, D. Galloway, R. Arnott, C. McKean, M. Povey, Ronz, K. Rapley (ended up as referee), H. Nicholson, and Chris somebody

Match report courtesy of Parscelona website, modified by Tony Tiger to give a Sizzling Saints slant to the game.