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.
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