Sizzling Saints 8 Parscelona 3

30 October 1999

Match Report
(by Alan Maxwell from Parscelona)

Sizzling Saints gave a remarkable demonstration of the importance of substitutes on Saturday morning dishing out a heavy defeat to the Pars despite the visitors having an extra man for the majority of the game. The game didn't take too long to get going, with the first goal arriving inside the first minute.

Saints won a throw in, which was launched into Parscelona's box. The Parscelona defence failed to clear the ball, which broke to a Mark Logue. He snatched the chance and fired in from nine yards. A quicker keeper may have saved it but Alan Maxwell in the Pars goalcould only manage a half hearted dive and the ball was in before he hit the ground.

Saints could have made it even trickier for the Pars in the fifth minute when the ball once again found its way to the Saints forward line.  Incredibly the young striker managed to hit it wide and spare the Pars a few blushes. Saints must have wished they'd made more of this chance when, after only six minutes, they received a major blow.

Parscelona finally managed to overcome the wind and put an attack together. The result was a close range header from Keith Mackie which was a certain goal, but for the interventions of Saints defender John P.  A rush of blood saw him leap up and rather stupidly punch the ball clear. The referee was left with little choice of action, and Saints were left to play the rest of the game with ten men. Cammy Wilson stepped up to take the penalty and his weak effort straight down the middle somehow managed to find its way past the Saints keeper and restore the balance.

Play was reasonably even at this point despite Saints having the strong wind at their backs. The home team almost got a second in the seventeenth minute but the blistering low drive sailed wide of Parscelona's goal.

Parscelona gave it their all but continued to struggle against the wind. Saints continued to pile on the pressure and on the twenty minute mark won a corner. The resulting header was wide of the target, but gave Parscelona another warning of what was to come. 

Three minutes later, Saints found themselves with another half chance. A low drive from twenty yards was blocked by Alan Maxwell's knee, and the rebound was sent inches wide.

Under such constant pressure Parscelona were never going to hold out, and the Saints got their second goal in the twenty-seventh minute when Mark Logue managed to turn in the box and send a volley into the Pars net. It could have been three just one minute later but some resiliant play by the Parscelona defence and goalkeeper eventually extinguished the threat

Just one minute later again, and this time it was the Pars who managed a rare first half chance. Cammy Wilson was fouled from behind, giving the Pars a free kick thirty yards from goal. The ball was swung in to the far post, but the referee quickly spotted Dunfermline's Ross Arnott in an offside position.

Ten minutes before the break, Saints got the inevitable third goal, albeit in confusing circumstances. They mounted pressure on the Pars down the left wing and the ball was eventually fired into the far corner of the net bu Marko 'Van Haddock' and straight through it. The referee didn't appear to have given the goal at first but after a lot of debate involving the Saints, the Pars defence and goalkeeper, the referee and a brick, the goal stood. There was never any doubt in my mind really that the ball had gone in - there was most definitely a suspicion of offside however.

Saints weren't finished there however, and won a corner a minute later. The ball was swung in along the six yard box and Mark Logue was left with a free header from close range, which he sent downwards under the body of Alan Maxwell. Pars almost snatched one back a few minutes before the break when Keith Mackie let rip with a tremendous drive but the Saints keeper pulled off an excellent save.

Pars were confident going into the second half, having both an extra man and the wind on their side - so much so that Johnnie MacDougall, somewhat cruelly dubbed "Barry Lavety" by the Saints, tried what is known among the Parscelona WorldNET 99 squad as a "Colin McKean effort". Firing the ball towards goal straight from centre, the wind carried the shot goalbound, but 'Gloves' never really looked like dropping it. Johnnie was to try the same later on, but with less impressive results, as well as sending a free kick wide of the post.

It was the Saints who genuinely threatened first however, and a close range shot was half-blocked by Parscelona's Steven Clark. The deflection spun the ball but took away just enough power to put it within reach of the already-diving Alan who caught while reeling back to land on his arse.


With only five minutes gone of the second half, Saints threatened again. Once again however the opportunity was wasted as the shot was sent wide. Having soaked up this pressure, the Pars began to dominate, hoping for the comeback that seemed well within their reach.

In the fifty-sixth minute, they came one step closer when Ross Arnott gathered the ball at the edge of the box and fired a low left-foot drive into the opposite corner of the Saints' net, notching up his first goal for Parscelona and giving them the boost they were looking for.

A few minutes later Parscelona brought it back to 4-3 when Chris Ozog ran into the box and grabbed his first Parscelona goal with a screamer into the far top corner of the net.

With sixty-nine minutes gone Saints attacked again, but after breaking down the Pars defence the Saints attacker fired his shot over the bar.

With twenty minutes remaining, Parscelona twice came close to grabbing an equaliser. Chris Ozog found his way into the box and from the same position as he had scored in, he fired another strong shot at the Saint goal. The Saints keeper managed a good save, sending the ball wide of the post. From the ensuing corner, Keith Mackie almost made it four each but he couldn't quite connect properly and his glancing header went wide of the target.

Then it all went wrong. The wind assisting Parscelona suddenly died down and the lack of substitutes rendered the one-man advantage irrelevant. As the team tired the strike force ran out of steam, the midfield broke down and the defence and goalkeeper caved in. Suddenly Parscelona were torn apart. The lack of defending from the Pars allowed Derek Money to gather the ball on the right wing, where he had all the time in the world to compose himself and produce a quality finish, firing the ball across goal into the far corner of the net.

Five minutes later Saints got their sixth goal from virtually the same position, this time Tony McGuire beating off the challenges of the Pars defence to fire the ball under the outrushing Pars keeper. Only a minute had passed before Saints grabbed their seventh. The Pars defence was M.I.A. and Tony mcGuire found himself with a free header just a few feet in front of goal.

Saints could have grabbed an eighth goal just one minute later, but luckily for Parscelona the referee awarded offside against the hosts. By this time the Parscelona defence and goalkeeper had completely lost the plot, demonstrated most visibly by Alan Maxwell's bizarre decision to rush out of goals and attempt to tackle Mark Logue at the edge of the box. Skinning the keeper, the Saints eventually managed to get a shot in, but thankfully enough time had elapsed to allow Steven Clark to get back onto the line and clear the rather weak shot away.

Saints' eighth goal did come however with only five minutes remaining. The ball was fired across the edge of the Parscelona six yard box and volleyed in by Sean Ritchie.

This disastrous ten-minute spell buried Parscelona, but they did still manage the occasional appearance in the Saints' half. In the eighty-sixth minute they were caught offside, and in the dying seconds of the game were awarded a corner. Unsurprisingly, Parscelona keeper Alan Maxwell was sighted in the Saints box on this occasion, but when the ball was played short and found its way into the box it was Dunfermline's Ross Arnott who collected it. His shot was well wide of the target and summed up the latter part of the second half as far as Parscelona were concerned. This proved to be the last real action of thegame.

All in all, a pretty convincing win for Saints. I don't mean to take any credit away from them as they did outplay us, but one can't help wondering what might have happened if we had even one substitute. How appropriate that such a horrifying defeat was saved for the Halloween weekend. (And of course it was followed in the afternoon by a matinee showing of "Nightmare on Love Street".)

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