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St JOHNSTONE 2 : 0 QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 20th October 2007
MacDonald
Rating: 5.73
Paton
Rating: 5.74
Thomson
Rating: 6.52
Nixon
Rating: 6.26
McQuilken
Rating: 5.96
S1
Robertson
Rating: 5.13
Scally
Rating: 5.87
S2
O'Neill
Rating: 5.00
Harris
Rating: 6.04
Gilmour
Rating: 5.52
S3
O'Connor
Rating: 6.22
SUBSTITUTES
S1 - 66
Dobbie
Rating: 4.43
S2 - 71
Burns
Rating: 4.65
S3 - 78
Bingham
Rating: 3.14
Aitken
Grindlay
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Members of the Internet Fan Club can award players marks out of ten for their performance today. The player with the most points awarded in the two days following a match will be the IFC Man of the Match. All of the points will then be added to a running total for each player and the results published in the mom League Table.

Name or IFC No.
MATCH SUMMARY
Gordon Chisholm patched together a team to face St Johnstone with most of his pre-match doubts eventually declaring fit, even if there was some concern over some of them. There was no Steve Tosh nor Neil McFarlane but Sean O'Connor started despite having had knee surgery 12 days earlier and Eric Paton also returned from injury. New signing David Nixon, on loan from Motherwell, took over the problem left centre back role alongside captain Jim Thomson whilst Brian Gilmour and John O'Neill stepped up from the subs bench against Dunfermline to take starting shirts. Messrs Aitken, Burns, Bingham and Dobbie made up the bench along with goalkeeper Stephen Grindlay. Owen Coyle too though had his problems with long term absentees Kevin James, Martin Hardie and Steven Milne unavailable for a Perth side on a run of eight matches unbeaten.

Inside the first minute Brian Gilmour, perhaps anxious to redeem himself after the penalty shennanigans at the end of the previous game, earned a free kick 25 yards from goal and fired it over the top himself. A minute later at the other end Kenny Deuchar found himself on the end of a charged down shot and should have done much better than fire over from six yards out. St Johnstone soon started to assert themselves though and Nixon scrambled one cross out from the six yard box before MacDonald had to move smartly to palm away a Jackson shot. The opening goal arrived on 10 minutes as Gary Irvine's deep, and somewhat aimless, ball from wide right floated towards the top left corner and, as MacDonald attempted to catch a ball he should maybe have just tipped over, Kenny Deuchar arrived and outmuscled the young keeper to nod home.

Ten minutes later came the first real chance for Queens as Robertson pressured Stanic into a short back-pass and O'Connor nipped in to take the ball around Main but was forced too wide and his attempted shot from a narrow angle drifted wide before it reached the goal. St Johnstone soon re-asserted their dominance though and on 26 minutes from another telling Irvine cross his diving header should have made it 2-0 but he headed over when it was surely easier to score. With 37 minutes gone Rocco Quinn made an untracked run to the by-line and, as Scally tried to get across to him, send in a looping cross that caused chaos in the six yard box. Deuchar had a backheel at goal that deflected up off Jim Thomson and MacDonald palmed the loose ball away before it could drop for Jackson.

Sean looks to make an impression in the home sides box
Up the other end Steven Anderson picked up the first booking of the game for a foul on Gilmour as he tried to break through. Queens made a mess of the free kick though and Jim Thomson picked up a booking for a foul preventing a break forward. A minute later Thomson was the hero though as his block denied Andy Jackson the second goal.

The second half started cautiously and it took quarter of an hour before O'Connor knocked a header away from goal when he should have got one on target and then at the other end Deuchar's snap shot was smothered by MacDonald. On 63 minutes Stephen Dobbie replaced Scott Robertson as Queens looked to get back into the game. It was St Johnstone who kept pressing though and MacDonald was in the right place at the right time to pluck Sheerin's powerful header from a McLaren cross out of the air. The stay of execution only lasted a further minute though as Quinn got down the right and crossed deep for Andy Jackson to head home, climbing above Eric Paton.

Harris and Gilmour line up the free kick
In 70 minutes Rocco Quinn went down injured just outside his own goal area and, what initially looked innocuous, turned out to be quite serious as the player received lengthy treatment before being stretchered away with his neck in a brace. Kevin Moon replaced him on the park.

With 14 minutes to go Paul Burns came on for John O'Neill and shortly afterward McQuilken and Harris worked a move down the left side that ended with the former placing a shot wide of target. Owen Coyle then made his second change as Wetherston replaced McLaren. Seconds later Jim Thomson denied the speedy front man a strike at goal with a last ditch tackle. Gordon Chisholm made his final change with 8 minutes left as Bingham replaced O'Connor.

Paton starts to climb
On 84 minutes Andy Jackson burst through onto a pass and eluded Eric Paton long enough to hammer a strike off the woodwork before MacDonald saved Sheerin's follow up. Paton was injured in the incident and also had lengthy treatment before continuing as Owen Coyle sent on Peter McDonald for Kevin Moon, whose appearance lasted about 10 minutes of actual playing time! The match saw considerable injury time but other than a yellow card for David Bingham for dissent, a last ditch block from Nixon and a decent save by MacDonald from Wetherston, little else happened.

Ewan Lithgow
Photographs - David Gow


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